ABOUT OUR TEAM
The OpenWorld Atlanta project is part of a consortium of international scholars and practitioners who seek to transform historical-geographical data and knowledge of urban settlements, including their development and morphology, into innovative and accessible digital resources. This website provides a venue for sharing the methodologies that transform archival maps, data, and research into visualizations, interfaces, and interpretive commentaries. The members of the Urban Spatial History consortia engage in each other’s projects from consultation to production to sharing resources with the aim of producing platforms and data sets that are open-access and open-source.
institutional partners
The Digital Visualization Lab of ECDS is a production focused entity that connects with various faculty projects and includes both graduate and undergraduate students from many departments and the professional schools that engage in learning in a production-focused environment. These students engage in work of the lab and many have contributed to the production of OpenWorld Atlanta and its proceeding development projects that was focused on the development of historical geodatabases and the continued effort of building historical geocoders. The Rose Library Special Collections Library, the Department of Environmental Sciences, and the Department of History, continue to play a role in the development of this project.
ECDS is partnering with UI/UX design experts from Yonsei University’s department of Creative Technology Management to develop an interactive website for the OpenWorld Atlanta project. The Yonsei team, lead by Dr. Younah Kang and Dr. Keeheon Lee, is helping to improve the user experience and accessibility of the interface. Funded by a collaborative grant from Yonsei’s Frontier Lab and Emory’s Halle Institute for Global Research, teams from Atlanta and Seoul have been able to visit their counterparts and work together in person.
Pauliceia 2.0 is a joint research project of four institutions: UNIFESP (Guarulhos and São José dos Campos Units), INPE (National Institute for Space Research), the State Archive of São Paulo, and Emory University (United States). The objectives of the project include the collection, selection, digitization, and creation of historical data for São Paulo and to produce a computational platform that allows researchers to explore and share urban historical data sets. Like OpenWorld Atlanta, the study area includes the central area of the city and the period from 18070 to 1940. By design, the collaborative project encourages the input of spatial data and information from researchers and the public. Collaboration with Emory University focuses on the interchange of knowledge regarding production methods and best practices. The partnership was funded by a collaborative grant from FAPESP (Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo) and Emory’s Halle Institute for Global Research and enabled teams from Atlanta and São Paulo to visit their counterparts in 2017 and 2018.
Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) is partnering with Kaziranga University’s Center for Virtual Reality (KUCVR) to develop a spatial, historical map of the ancient Ahom Kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, India. As part of this collaboration, ECDS will help KUCVR with technical support through subject matter expertise. ECDS will also provide a project team of qualified professionals to help plan and execute the development of the approved digital project.
The goal of this collaborative research is to enhance scholarship in the field of historical mapping. ECDS will help train Kaziranga University students with the new paradigms of data visualization such as Geographic Information System (GIS), Augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) to enable the students to contribute and sustain the digital project. Training will be provided through an online webinar series.
The collaboration with University of Bonn experts aims to create curriculum around Atlantan geography and history. The Emory-Bonn team will develop OWA as a resource for research and teaching, centering public scholarship for audiences in and outside academia.
To further develop OWA, the Emory-Bonn collaboration will create a public-facing open educational resource (OER) with tutorials, lesson plans, and instructional resources on a responsive website, improving usability for students, researchers, and community members. Our partnership will explore Atlanta’s urban geographical history, its social structure, and transformation over time, while also creating and publishing adaptable best practices and examples for digital urban history projects worldwide.
people behind owa
Arya creates, modifies, and configures 3D models using a variety of computer modeling, simulation software, and geospatial data. In partnership with faculty and ECDS staff, Arya prepares aesthetically composed digital media through graphic design, image processing, and data visualization for use in ECDS-supported digital scholarship projects. He also researches and explores new methods of visualizing data, including 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Steve consults with faculty about how to incorporate video into teaching and research. He also develops video content for ECDS projects, typically for projects where video is embedded within web-based research and on occasion for stand-alone short films.
Ian works in the digital visualization lab on projects that push the boundaries of traditional humanities work with a strong visual or experiential focus. Many of his projects involve 3D modeling historic sites for the purposes of pedagogy, research, and cultural posterity.
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.
Yang is a Senior Software Engineer at the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship and an Information Designer at the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiries. He has been the UI/UX designer for this project since 2019 and completed visual design for the current site.
Michael manages map and data libraries, GIS infrastructure, and consults on research projects that have a geospatial technology/spatial data component. His primary research focus involves cartography, geospatial technologies, and urban geography, and his key projects include American Excavations Samothrace, Georgia Coast Atlas, and OpenWorld Atlanta. He is coauthor of Sacred Places: A Guide to the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, Georgia. His maps have been published in many print and digital journals and books.
As the lead software engineer at ECDS, Jay takes the great ideas from the Emory community and turns them into code.
Primarily working in Ruby, Python, and JavaScript, he strives to develop usable and accessible applications to aid and showcase scholarly research. He enjoys creating new ways for people to interact with old stuff.
Jay also holds a master’s degree in User Experience Design from Kent State University.
Students
Arya Basu
[position]
Arya creates, modifies, and configures 3D models using a variety of computer modeling, simulation software, and geospatial data. In partnership with faculty and ECDS staff, Arya prepares aesthetically composed digital media through graphic design, image processing, and data visualization for use in ECDS-supported digital scholarship projects. He also researches and explores new methods of visualizing data, including 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Alexander Cors
Digital Scholarship Specialist
Emory Center for Digital Scholarship
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.
Alexander Cors
Digital Scholarship Specialist
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.
Arya Basu
[position]
Arya creates, modifies, and configures 3D models using a variety of computer modeling, simulation software, and geospatial data. In partnership with faculty and ECDS staff, Arya prepares aesthetically composed digital media through graphic design, image processing, and data visualization for use in ECDS-supported digital scholarship projects. He also researches and explores new methods of visualizing data, including 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Alexander Cors
Digital Scholarship Specialist
Emory Center for Digital Scholarship
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.
Alexander Cors
Digital Scholarship Specialist
Emory Center for Digital Scholarship
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.
Alexander Cors
Digital Scholarship Specialist
A historian by training, Alexander leads the Historical Research Team. He develops research guidelines for graduate and undergraduate students on the project, collects materials in archives around Atlanta, and wrote the Cabbagetown ArcGIS Storymap example. Alex works with faculty and students on projects relating to mapping, digital publishing, project management, and community-engaged research.