Site and Projects Under Development
The “Sandbox” makes available a number of resources that utilize and explore the data underlying Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640 created by the Making and Knowing Project at Columbia University.
The Sandbox presents experimental, provisional, and in-progress work that expands upon the engagement and analyses with the data, topics, and content of Secrets of Craft and Nature, with the manuscript, BnF Ms. Fr. 640, and the larger themes explored by the Making and Knowing Project.
The Making and Knowing Project hopes to create an online environment for students, scholars, and others to explore and experiment with the Project’s data using a variety of digital tools, where others can add and create their own tools, case studies, and resources presented here. This is also a space for sharing teaching resources, exploring methods and processes across disciplines and levels of expertise, and engaging in knowledge exchange wherever possible.
Editors: Pamela Smith, Naomi Rosenkranz, Terry Catapano, Caroline Surman, Gregory Schare, and Sophia Qureshi.
Projects showcasing textual analysis, data visualization, explorations of M&K's encoding of Fr. 640, and methods for using Fr. 640 as data.
In the development of Secrets of Craft and Nature, a number of iterations, mockups, wireframes, and prototype editions were created and deployed.
From 2019 onwards, M&K's courses at Columbia University have asked students to create exploratory final projects. These have included:
ENGL84031 / HISTGU4031 / COMS4495: Transforming Texts (Spring 2019)
The Spring 2019 course Transforming Texts: Textual Analysis, Literary Modeling, and Visualization built upon M&K's previous Digital and Lab Seminars. Geared towards students from the humanities and computer science, the course encouraged the disciplines to work together to analyze, explore, and understand historical texts.
GU4962: Hands-on History (2021- )
The Final Project in the undergraduate/graduate lab seminar Making and Knowing in Early Modern Europe: Hands-on History are intended to serve as companion pieces to the Digital Critical Edition, Secrets of Craft and Nature, or form a part of the Making and Knowing Project’s Research and Teaching Companion to Secrets of Craft and Nature. These exploratory and experimental projects are meant to help brainstorm, design, and implement alternative paths by which to access the material in the Edition and/or provide other forms of disseminating and engaging with the themes.
From Fall 2014 onwards, syllabi for all courses taught by M&K at Columbia. These include:
- HIST GR8906: Craft and Science: Making Objects in the Early Modern World (2014-2018)
- HIST GU4962: Making and Knowing in Early Modern Europe: Hands-On History (2021- )
- HIST GR8975: What is a Book in the 21st Century? Working with Historical Texts in a Digital Environment (2017)
- ENGL84031 / HISTGU4031 / COMS4495: Transforming Texts: Textual Analysis, Literary Modeling, and Visualization (2019)
Materials from courses taught by Project collaborators, some using resources from this Sandbox or developed in consultation with M&K.
Presentations, handouts, and other reference materials for teaching or research.
Lesson plans for hands-on assignments and resources for reconstruction in the classroom, laboratory, studio, or kitchen.
Tools for assessing digital literacy, developed in collaboration with Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning.