About

Compatibility

This site is best experienced on a computer. If you’re on a phone or small tablet, some interactive visualization features may not work. In those cases, we show a static version of the visualization and suggest switching to a computer to explore the interactive version when time allows.

Accessibility

We have designed this site to be accessible to blind and low-vision users. All images and interactions are accompanied by alt-text. We provide two versions: one shorter and more traditional, and the other longer and more conceptual. Inspired by art historian Tina Campt’s idea of “listening to images,” as discussed in Chapter 6, this longer version emphasizes the resonance of the image with the argument expressed in the text. The long alt-text is the default version for the site. To switch to the short version, click the toggle located at the top-left of each chapter.

Chapter 1, which contains sensitive images, also contains an option for sensitive alt-text.

References

Clicking on any inline reference (a number with a circle around it) 1 will expand the reference inline with the text. Should you want to expand all of the references at once, click the “show references” toggle on the top-left of each chapter. Should you prefer to wait until the end of the chapter to view the references, they also appear at the bottom of the page.

Navigation

We are under no illusions: these chapters are long! Should you wish to navigate (or link) directly to a specific part of the chapter, you can use the chapter navigation bar at the top of the page. Icons indicate archival images a, new visualizations h, interactive features g. Hovering over each icon will display the feature’s title. Clicking the icon will take you to that part of the chapter. A navigation bar displays your reading progress.

Clicking the site navigation icon, which remains sticky on the top right, just below the chapter navigation bar, will allow you to move between chapters. The Archive As with any creative project, so much of our work ended up on the proverbial cutting-room floor. The good news is that, on the internet, this work can still find a home! Our “archive” (in quotes because it is not actually an archive in the formal definition of the term) is our home for these prototypes and other creative explorations. The [ADD IN] icon that appears throughout the site indicates when an earlier version of the visualization, or other feature, can be found in the archive. A direct link to the archive is here.

The Stack

For more information about the libraries, tools, and processes that contributed to this site, please consult Chapter 6, “Labor.”

Data by Design, a project of the Emory Digital Humanities Lab, was created by an interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, students, and professionals, collaborating across two continents, three states, and four institutions. We write about this collaboration in depth in the “Labor” chapter. More information about each contributor is below.

Lauren Klein (Emory, Departments of Data & Decision Sciences and English) is the director of the project and conducted all of the historical and archival research. She also wrote most of the words that appear on the site.

Tanvi Sharma (NYU, MS ‘23, Interactive Design and Media) is the lead designer on the project. She designed the project website, including both site-wide and page-specific interactions, as well as the custom visualizations and other illustrations. She also coauthored the “Labor” chapter.

Jay Varner (Emory, Center for Digital Scholarship) is the lead developer on the project. He implemented most of the project website, including the final versions of all of the interactive components that appear throughout the site. He also contributed to the writing of the “Labor” chapter.

Margy Adams (Emory, PhD ‘25, English) wrote the alt-text for the project site, and contributed research and ideas to the "Data" chapter. She also coauthored the “Labor” chapter.

Shiyao Li (Emory, PhD ‘26, Computer Science) prototyped the visualizations for the "Data" and “Labor” chapters. He also contributed to the writing of the “Labor” chapter.

Nicholas Yang (NYU, BA ‘22, Computer Science) is a developer on the project and former lead developer on the project. He implemented the "Introduction" and led the migration from Vue to React.

Dan Jutan (Georgia Tech, BS ‘24, Computer Science) was the first lead developer on the project. He built the project prototype and alpha version of the site, including most interactive components.

Jianing Fu (Georgia Tech, BS ‘21, Computer Science, Univ. of California, Berkeley, MEng ‘22, Computer Science) was a developer on the project. She built the components on the project’s front page, including the interactive timeline, for the project prototype and alpha versions of the site.

Anna Mola (Emory, BA ‘22, Computer Science and Visual Arts) was a developer on the project. She built the components of the Playfair chapter for the project’s alpha version.

Zhou Fang (Emory BA ‘22, Quantitative Sciences) was a developer on the project. She built the image browser component of the Change chapter for the project’s alpha version.

Yang Li (Emory, Center for Digital Scholarship) is a developer on the project. He built the chapter navigation component for the project site, and contributed to the visualizations in the Change chapter.

Silas Munro (Polymode) created the initial design concept for the site. Also at Polymode, Edgar Casarin and Brian Johnson contributed valuable ideas and feedback.

Following the community review, the Data by Design project team convened an advisory board to help parse the community feedback and contribute additional domain expertise. Advisory board members also participated in a manuscript workshop, and offered feedback on subsequent revisions. The members of the advisory board, in alphabetical order, are: Derya Akbaba, Alberto Cairo, Catherine D’Ignazio, Alex Gil, Laura Harjo, Jessica Marie Johnson, Matthew Jones, Miriah Meyer, and Britt Rusert.