Hello. I'm Chantal. My undergraduate studies were in history and computer science, and now I've recently completed a combined master's degree in History & Data Science at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr Shawn Graham. My master's research project, "Metadata in the Margins: Reshaping Archives as Data Through Early Modern Marginalia", centered around the creation of an application to situate the data machine learning models are built on. The functionality of my application was then demonstrated through a case study on the automated detection of marginalia found in early modern texts.
Unsurprisingly, with this unusual combination of education and research, my primary area of interest is digital history & humanities, with a current focus on social history in Early Modern Europe, particularly in relation to the history of objects and the book.
I'm also interested in the more practical applications of these concepts, exploring the ways that cultural artefacts are being digitally preserved, and how this information can be made easily accessible to the public or aide in community building and reparations.
Projects
RocketAnno
Learn moreDetecting Marginalia
Learn moreThe Met Map
Learn moreDo We Take Shelter?
Learn moreHistory, Digitized.
Learn moreObserving Chapbooks
Learn moreKnitting in Public
Learn moreFates of the Fair
Learn moreDigitized Devotions
Learn moreA Dreadful Visitation
Learn moreExperience
Contract Instructor
MacOdrum Library
Teaching workshops focused on the fundamentals of computer science and programming in Python for those without prior experience but interested in digital humanities.
August 2022 - PresentDigital Humanities Research Support
MacOdrum Library
Primary focus working with Interdisciplinary Studies librarian Martha Attridge Bufton to develop a series of introductory workshops to the digital humanities and associated technical foundations for Carleton University's MacOdrum Library. Further helped advance other digital humanities initiatives within the library using knowledge of programming and related technology. Currently producing a Twine version of 'Do We Take Shelter?', a game-based learning activity on identifying primary sources.
February 2021 - PresentResearch Assistant- ISSAP
Carleton University
Worked on the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP) as part of a joint venture led by Dr Justin Walsh (Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA) and Dr Alice Gorman (Flinders University, Adelaide) conducting the first full-scale investigation of material culture of a human habitat in space. Created a bespoke application using Svelte for the annotation of images sent to the team of ISSAP researchers from the International Space Station. Providing ongoing support as needed.
January 2022 - January 2023Teaching Assistant- HIST 2000A: Medieval Europe
Carleton University
Facilitated in-class activities, group discussions, and debates to encourage critical thinking and enhance understanding of historical content among students. Designed and led supplementary discussion topics to complement weekly lectures, promoting deeper engagement with course material. Managed the distribution of course materials such as lectures and assignments across digital platforms. Ensured the accessibility of course materials through methods such as adding captions to video materials. Collaborated with fellow TAs and course instructor through regular meetings to share insights and pedagogical approaches ensuring consistency and alignment in course content and assessment strategies.
September 2022 - May 2023Research Assistant- New Organigram Project
Carleton University
Worked on The New Organigram Project: A Macroscopic View of the Illicit Antiquities Trade, a collaborative project led by digital archaeologists Dr Shawn Graham and Dr Donna Yates at Maastricht University. Developed ways to automate the generation of knowledge graphs from newspaper articles, auction catalogues, the Panama Papers, and other public sources to predict otherwise hidden relationships within the illicit antiquities trade. Research focused on Natural Language Processing techniques for Relationship Extraction for the training of knowledge graph embedding models.
September 2021 - May 2023Contract Researcher- GoC Contract Analysis
School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University
Worked with Dr Amanda Clarke and Sean Boots at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University on technology to aid their research analyzing Government of Canada procurement contracts. Cleaned data on procurement data and used it to train a BERT-based text classifier to identify and categorize contracts that lacked descriptive information.
April 2022 - October 2022Teaching Assistant- HIST 1001A: The Making of Europe
Carleton University
Graded and provided constructive feedback on written assignments and examinations, aiding students in improving their research and writing skills. Assisted students in developing research topics, refining research methodologies, and structuring essays. Managed course-related administrative tasks, such as directing students to university resources, maintaining attendance records, organizing course materials, and ensuring the efficient functioning of digital platforms (e.g., Brightspace).
September 2021 - May 2022Communications Officer
Carleton Computer Science Society
Responsible for designing social media content and promotional materials. Helping to maintain the CCSS social media accounts and replying to student inquiries. Moderating the CCSS virtual Discord community to ensure appropriate conduct and encourage inclusion and participation.
August 2020 - May 2021Student Partner
Carleton University
Collaborating with Dr Shawn Graham in developing the Winter 2021 course HIST4916A: Digital History + Museums. Collecting, cleaning, and formatting sets of data from Ottawa GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) institutions for students to use in creating a GLAM workbench. Building tutorials for applications such as Jupyter Notebook and RStudio to aid students in gaining the technical skills needed for the course. Compiling relevant additional resources for students to utilize beyond the course content. Contributing to the creation of the course website.
September 2020 - January 2021Undergraduate Research Fellow
Carleton University
George Garth Graham Undergraduate Digital History Research Fellowship. Explored the history of urbanism in ancient Rome through the lense of city-building games.
October 2019 - April 2020Administrator
Carleton Computer Science Society
Managed the CCSS (Carleton Computer Science Society) social media and replied to inquiries across all platforms. Collaborated with other members on the Board of Directors in the organization and execution of events.
August 2019 - May 2020HOK Summer Intern (Room-by-Room/Heritage Team)
CENTRUS- HOK Architecture-Engineering Firm
Centre Block Rehabilitation Project. Gathered and recorded information on heritage and non-heritage assets being removed from the Centre Block. Entered aforementioned heritage assets into a database for long-term tracking. Wrote scripts to automate the comparison of data using Python. Utilized architectural models and floor plans to locate missing assets. Revised preliminary forms generated for heritage assets assessed on-site for correctness.
Summer 2019