History is full of stories that have not received the attention they deserve or have not been made available to a wider audience.
Putting some of them together is the mission behind a joint summer research project involving a graduate student majoring in strategic communications at the College of Saint Benedict and a graduate student majoring in computer science at Saint John’s University.
Elizabeth Wold and Matthew Utsch have been working for the past few months on a project entitled “Digitizing the Past: Building a Digital Archive for Women’s History.”
The goal is to provide written biographies, source materials, and videos focusing on women who have been influential in a variety of fields throughout history on a website that can be used by both students and teachers to create lesson plans.
Wold is responsible for creating and editing the content, reviewing a variety of student projects completed in various courses at CSB and SJU over the years.
Meanwhile, Utsch focuses on the technical side of website development.
In doing so, the two gained valuable insights and knowledge about all aspects involved in realizing such an idea.
“It was helpful for me to learn more about what it actually means to build a website and see how my work impacts Matthew’s work,” Wold said. “Then I saw how both of our roles come together to create this necessary tool.”
A collaboration that also resonated with Utsch.
“I saw this posted on one of the summer research sites and it seemed like a project that really fit my interests and skills,” said Utsch, who was part of a research project last summer developing a new web-based tool for use in the introductory computer science course series.
“It was interesting to collaborate with someone from communications because it was a chance for both of us to combine our skills and create something pretty cool.”
The idea for this project came from Emily Berg Paup, an associate professor of strategic communication studies at CSB and SJU who has taught numerous courses on women’s history (especially in the political arena) and other gender issues.
“This is something I’ve wanted to build for several years,” said Paup. “I’ve accumulated a treasure trove of student work over time and was looking for ways to use it.”
“I realized there’s a real lack of resources like this out there – places that compile not just biographies, but first-hand source material, videos, and more. When I was teaching, I had to piece things together bit by bit from many different sources. I wanted to bring it all together on one website.”
This prompted Paup to contact Peter Ohmann, an associate professor of computer science at CSB and SJU, to develop a summer research project that would combine the research and development skills needed to realize her vision.
“We thought, why not give a computer science student the chance to build it from scratch instead of me just trying something like WordPress,” Paup said.
The project is still a work in progress, but Wold is excited about what has come out of it so far.
“It was really cool to learn more about these women and all the things they’ve accomplished,” said Wold, who is minoring in global business leadership. “Oftentimes these women didn’t get full recognition for what they accomplished. I think it’s important to find a way to preserve their stories in one place to make more people aware of their contributions.”
Both Wold and Utsch said the project allowed them to apply what they learned in class in a new environment.
“That was the most valuable part of this experience for me,” said Utsch. “The opportunity to tackle problems outside of the task context and use previously learned skills to find solutions. And then create something new from scratch together as a team.”
Karyl Daughters, dean of curriculum and assessment at CSB and SJU, said this is part of what makes summer research projects so valuable.
“Undergraduate summer research is a fundamental opportunity for our students,” said Daughters. “It is a transformative experience in which students develop mentoring relationships with faculty on meaningful projects that help them develop problem-solving skills, technical proficiency, and intellectual curiosity.”
“Through summer research, students become learners who contribute insights and knowledge about the world.”
Wold and Utsch worked independently, but met regularly with Paup and Ohmann via Zoom and occasionally met in person.
“I lived in my cabin in Brainerd this summer,” Wold said. “Matthew worked on campus and Emily and Peter were everywhere.”
“But we were able to use technology to collaborate, and that was a really valuable experience, too.”
“I think a project like this is very relevant to my future career,” added Utsch. “Hopefully it will give me a head start that will help me when I enter the industry after I graduate.”
