Project GIS, Data Collection, and Mapping Shakespeare's London Program Margo Katherine Wilke Undergraduate Research Internship Program Term Summer 2025 Status Accepted Research Area GIS, Data Mining, Drama History, Description Project part of a larger interdisciplinary study called "Shakespeare's Theaterscape" supported by a National Endowment of the Humanities collaborative research grant based at Purdue. The student research contribution involves mining topographical data from seventeenth-century manuscript and print sources to reconstructs playgoing practices in Shakespeare's London. It also uses mapping and distance tools in ArchGIS to create cartographic reconstructions of theater neighborhoods and track patterns of movement through the city. One exciting area of research concerns recent applications of ChatGPT to GIS in the collection and analysis of data. Supervisor Paul W White Mentor Paul W White Type of work required Engaging in original research via reading, analyzing and collecting data from early modern manuscripts, printed texts and artefacts (e.g. coins). Objectives of the research include reconstructing an early modern London neighorhood, creating a raised-relief model of a Shakespearean theater and its immediate surroundings (taphouse, residential housing, gardens, walkways, etc.). This is achieved while learning and using basic tools of archGIS and exploring ways ChatGPT and ArcGIS work togethe. The student researcher's work is supervised by Prof White (Dept. of English) or the project's doctoral research assistant, Muhammad Tariq Khan (doctoral candidate in Civil Engineering). Websites shakespearestheaterscape.org
Qualifications An interest in intersecting STEM and Humanities-based methods of research. Some experience with medieval/early modern manuscript culture, OR with ArcGIS or research involving databases, is especially welcome but certainly not essential. Students need to be a Minor or Major in a CLA Department or School. Credit Hours 0 Weekly Hours 6 (estimated)