A Stitch In Time: Using data embroidery to tell Australian convict stories

Monika Schwarz, Kim Marriott, Jon McCormack, Hamish Maxwell-Stewart

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The Stitch in Time project extends a traditional timeline visualisation of Australian convict women's lives by creating physical data embroideries drawing from the available historical data of individual women. The timelines visualise the individual life courses of over 13,600 nineteenth century Australian convict women according to the paper trail left behind in the Colonial Archives. In this project we created 18 embroideries of 21 convict women, based on sketches inspired by specific pieces of information in each woman's life. This novel approach illuminates the personal lives of individual subjects, of whom little imagery has survived. By exhibiting the embroideries in the Penitentiary Chapel in Hobart, Tasmania, we hope to arouse interest in the largely forgotten lives of this first coerced generation of European settlers. We use the unusual medium of embroidery on fabric because it is tightly connected to the daily experiences of convict women. By extending traditional data visualisation using this specific form of data physicalisation, data embroidery, we aim to create compelling access points to engage with individual Australian convict stories and therefore make this significant part of Australian history more approachable1.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2023 IEEE 8th Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities, VIS4DH 2023
EditorsEric Alexander, Alejandro Benito-Santos, Angus Forbes, Florian Heimerl, Houda Lamqaddam, Yangjinbo Zhang
Place of PublicationPiscataway NJ USA
PublisherIEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages1-6
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9798350381627
ISBN (Print)9798350381634
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
EventIEEE Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities 2023 - Hybrid, Melbourne, Australia
Duration: 22 Oct 202322 Oct 2023
Conference number: 8th
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/10353067/proceeding (Proceedings)
https://vis4dh.dbvis.de/#:~:text=23%20October%202023%20%2D%20IEEE%20VIS%202023&text=The%20VIS4DH%20workshop%20brings%20together,years%20can%20be%20found%20here. (Website)

Conference

ConferenceIEEE Workshop on Visualization for the Digital Humanities 2023
Abbreviated titleVIS4DH 2023
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityMelbourne
Period22/10/2322/10/23
Internet address

Keywords

  • Human-centered computing
  • Information Visualisation
  • Visualization
  • Visualization application domains
  • Visualization design and evaluation methods

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