Cathy Melamed (Researcher/Documentation/Outreach) is a master’s degree student in the Digital Humanities program at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. Cathy first worked as an editor for Stagebill and Art & Auction magazines. While raising two children, she became a reading specialist, an adjunct college instructor and, later, a school administrator. Cathy is also studying archaeology; she currently volunteers in a lab where she is learning to identify ancient pollen. Gender Disparity in Professional Wrestling is Cathy’s first group digital project, to which she contributed skills in writing, editing, and outreach. She has developed much affection for women’s pro wrestling and has greatly enjoyed learning about its overlooked, but fabulous history.
Bio & Contribution Statement
Kelly Karst (she/her) is the User Experience and Emerging Technology Librarian at CUNY Brooklyn College and a current M.A. student in Digital Humanities program at the CUNY Graduate Center. With a diverse background in psychology, art history, and film studies, she delves into various topics reflecting her experiences and academic pursuits. With roots in Panamá, Kelly’s personal research interests are in Latin American and Caribbean studies, as well as exploring her toddler’s hometown: NYC! Kelly was the Project Manager for this project and assisted with website development.
Carousels of NYC Project Work Plan
Carousels of NYC Project Work Plan
| Week | Tasks |
| Week 3: Feb. 10-16 | Planning and Research:
Establish group norms (all) Revise and submit project proposal (Kelly + all) Create project management tracker and input tasks (Carla + all) |
| Week 4: Feb. 17-23 | Design:
Establish website presence (Leonard) Planning: Begin drafting Project Plan (Kelly + all) |
| Week 5: Feb. 24- Mar. 2 | Planning:
Finalize and Submit Project Plan by March 3 (Kelly + all) Discuss (and finalize) data collection categories for carousels (for map vs. website) by 2/28 (all) Discuss data management plan (Carla + all) Technical Development: Attend ARCGIS Storymap workshop 2/26 (Carla, Kelly, Julissa) Consult with Digital Fellow on Carousel shapefile or other alternatives by 2/26 (Carla) Content Development: Create preliminary layers on ARCGIS by Feb. 28 (Carla) Collect data from Bryant Park carousel to test data collection categories and provide preliminary media assets. (Leonard) Design: Create canva account; create social media tracker (Julissa) |
| Week 6: Mar. 3-9 | Planning:
Create first draft of data management plan by March 3 to discuss and finalize in class with team on March 4 (Carla) Submit Data Management Plan by March 5 (Carla) Collect ideas for outreach plan (Leonard) Content Development: Personal bios and contribution statements by March 3 (All) Research and Rough Clean demographic data by March 3 (Carla) Watch Youtube videos and read other online resources to learn how to layer collected carousel data by Mar. 4 (Carla) Layer Bryant Park data & picture into Map (Carla) Confirm what location code is needed for carousels by Mar. 4 (Carla) Visit and collects data for Queens carousel sites by March 7 Design: Provide logo options, develop social media plans (Julissa) |
| Week 7: Mar. 10-16 | Planning:
Present rough draft of Outreach plan to the rest of the group. After the group meeting, finalize it. (Leonard) Content Development: Provide media for Manhattan carousels to use on social media/website (Leonard) Layer Manhattan/Queens sites data into Map (Carla) Clean Demographic Data and prepare for layering (Carla) Design: Create instagram account, develop graphic design for the website (Julissa) Incorporate preliminary graphic design guidelines into map (Carla) |
| Week 8: Mar. 17-23 | Planning:
Presentation on collaboration March 18 (Kelly) Technical Development Presentation on consultation(s) March 18 (Carla) Read and watch online resources to learn how to code in Map to website (Carla) Content Development: Website draft complete by March 19 (Kelly) Check progress on data collection for remaining sites, primarily Brooklyn (Carla) Layer in neighborhood demographic data (Carla) Design: Presentation on Social Media Plan March 18 (Julissa) Outreach: Presentation on Outreach Plan March 18 (Leonard) |
| Week 9: Mar. 24-30 | Content Development:
Insert 2-3 Manhattan/Staten Island/Bronx site data (Carla) Design: Discuss logo design plans (if not done so already) (Julissa + all) Incorporate graphic design plan into website aesthetic (Kelly and Leonard) Begin creating social media draft posts (Julissa) Evaluation: Check Map features and layering, test site for user experience (Carla) |
| Week 10: Mar. 31- Apr. 6 | Content Development:
Insert 2-3 remaining site data (Carla) Design: Continue creating social media draft posts (Julissa) Draft project presentation slidedeck (Julissa) Continue refining website and adding carousel posts (Kelly+Leonard+all) |
| Week 11: Apr. 7-13 | Project Presentation for class April 8
Evaluation: Continue Map maintenance and end user testing, focus on mobile devices (Carla) |
| Week 12: Apr. 14-20 | SPRING BREAK
Evaluation: Check data in all google forms for discrepancies to ensure accuracy and uniformity (Carla) |
| Week 13: Apr. 21-27 | Content Development:
Check on progress of carousel posts (Kelly + all) Design: Begin creation of mobile version of website (Kelly + Leonard) Begin to post on social media (Julissa) |
| Week 14: Apr. 28- May 4 | Final deadline to visit carousels and submit posts
Planning: Develop and practice “dress rehearsal” (All) Evaluation: Test website/map on various devices and browsers while considering different user roles: Families, tourists, city parks/planners, carousel enthusiasts (All) |
| Week 15: May 5-11 | Project launch dress rehearsal May 6
Planning: Take in feedback to revise presentation for public project launch (All) |
| Week 16: May 12-18 | Public project launch at the GC Digital Showcase May 13 |
| Week 17: May 19-25 | Post final group project reports as public posts to Commons blog by May 20
Email individual reflection papers to the instructor by May 20 |
Women of Bandura Work Plan
Overview
The first phase of the project serves to deploy a minimum viable product of the site. Over the Spring semester (roughly mid-February to early-May 2025), the team will launch the website on GitHub Pages containing two program pages and pages for each song within those programs. An About section will also be provided with a brief overview of the project, any necessary historical or cultural context, names of the contributors, and links to the WBENA site for any relevant information such as the instrument’s history (subject to approval from the ensemble).
The second phase of the project involves adding the rest of the programs and their songs into the already existing framework. The Project Lead will add the rest of the Program PDFs and songs to the framework, not including the context. This phase is intended to be completed by the end of May 2025.
The final phase of the project will include adding the rest of the context to the Song Pages. Only the Project Lead will be working on this phase of the project with 14 additional programs containing songs to research; however, the Ensemble does often keep most of the same repertoire from performance to performance. Given these factors, this phase will likely conclude by 2026.
The Project Lead will stay on to aid the Ensemble in running the site after these phases end. The Ensemble will also have full access to the site’s GitHub repository.
Below are the steps to Phase 1 of the project:
Ongoing Responsibilities
Throughout the development process, we will have weekly check-ins with our liaison Teryn, and we aim to meet with the Ensemble Board at least once per phase / month. We will defer to the Ensemble Board’s schedule as they are preparing for a show in April. We also have a standing agreement with the WBENA outlining expectations for both sides. In addition, the Ensemble will have full visibility into all documentation.
- Weekly syncs between team members on Thursday evenings.
- Weekly check-ins with Teryn, to be attended by the Project Lead and any other available/interested team members on Tuesday evenings before class.
- Team Meeting with outside advisors to consult on research approach, sources and history of women in bandura.
February to March 2025 – Song Research and Development Education Design
The first month of the project is dedicated to compiling notes for the two programs and approximately 20 songs, split amongst the two researchers. For programs, the researchers will record the name of the concert, its location(s), the date(s), any collaborators if applicable, the performers’ names, the song titles, any other notes, and the PDF file path. For songs, the researchers will record where available the title, composer, original year or period, language, location of origin, genre, themes, tempo, description, YouTube link, lyrics, and soloists. The researchers will also be free to record any other relevant or interesting information that they find for the song. The WBENA has generously offered to share their records available on Google Drive with the team which will be an invaluable source for research. The wireframes will be created, the group agreement will be shared and the team will seek approval from WBENA within this period.
February 24 – March 2
- Researchers begin research on the first thirteen songs from the Boston program provided by WBENA. Additionally, researchers will flag any information found on women’s bandura history.
- Frontend Developer gives a walkthrough of wireframing to the team.
March 3 – 9
- Frontend Engineer and team members who want to shadow/share work draft highest-priority wireframes (home, program, and song pages)
- Deliver to WBENA for feedback
- Research on the first song set continues.
- Submit data management plan by 3/5.
March 10 – 16
- Researchers will switch songs assigned from the first round of research and do an additional round of research
- Frontend Developer drafts a walkthrough of Wax to go over with the team
- share with Backend Developer for feedback and planning
- Team submits group outreach and social media plans by 3/12.
March 17 – 23
- Backend and Frontend Developers deliver Wax walkthroughs to the larger team.
- Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute draft lower-priority wireframes (about pages and search page).
- Adapt wireframes for submission of Project website draft (basic landing page, about page; methods; social media) by 3/19.
- Choose a second program and assign individual songs to the researchers.
March 24 – 30
- Researchers will switch songs from the second program and do an additional round of research.
- Team finalizes logo design
- Social media specialist create outreach content and copy editor review it.
Late March to Early April 2025 – Backend Development
Towards the end of the Research step, the Backend Developer will begin assembling the CSV structure that will provide the data for the site. Towards the end of the Backend Development period, the Backend Developer will work with the Frontend Developer to confirm the information provided and needed for the user interface. The Developers will also generate and briefly deploy sample pages at this time to ensure that the csv is connected properly.
March 24 – 30
- Backend Developer assembles a rough draft of the program CSV and the song CSV from the existing research notes and presents them to the team for feedback / group code review.
March 31 – April 6
- Backend Developer to finish filling in the CSV’s with current research data and work with Frontend Developer on sample pages to ensure all necessary data is provided in the correct format.
April 7 – 13
- Deploy sample pages to test csv format. Make any necessary changes to csv.
Mid-March to April 2025 – Frontend Development and ongoing Development Education
As a part of research and development, in coordination with the WBENA, the Frontend Developer and Project Lead will produce wireframes for the WBENA liaison review. On receipt of the wireframe approvals, some tasks of the Frontend development will be initiated and run parallel to the Backend development, with use of placeholder data.
Towards the end of the Backend development step, the Frontend Developer will add higher-fidelity to the site UI/UX, with the Researchers aiding in finding images and other material for site content. The Frontend Developer will also collaborate with the Backend Developer to ensure that all the information required for this design is available to them. The Frontend Developer will then collaborate with the Content Editor to incorporate the content for the site. The Frontend Developer will work under a model of deploying often to production, to ensure that the site behaves as expected.
March 24-30
- Frontend Developer will ticket out work for implementing the draft version of the wireframes in GitHub.
- Frontend Developer will develop a workshop and/or written resource on use of GitHub, git, and version control
- Share with Backend Developer for feedback and planning
March 31 – April 6
- Frontend Developer deliver GitHub/git/version control resource to the larger team
- Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute can start picking up tickets that are not reliant on data from the backend
- Team will implement feedback from WBENA on wireframes
- Deliver an updated draft to WBENA
April 7 – 13
- Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute can begin working on tickets that involve dummy data from the preliminary CSV structure.
- Based on the work ticketed thus far, Frontend Developer will compile an ongoing, collaborative resource document for frontend coding concepts that may be useful for other team members.
April 14 – 20
- Development work continues, and team members will update the collaborative resources document
- Frontend Developer continues to create tickets that respond to updated wireframes and project requirements as-needed
April 21 – 27
- Researchers aid Frontend Developer in finding images for site content.
- Frontend Developer will consult with Researchers and Content Editor to incorporate higher-fidelity copy into the site and make adjustments
April 28 – May 4
- Team to conduct final testing and prep for project launch dress rehearsal.
April 2025 – Women’s Bandura History Research
At this time, the team will turn their attention to researching the history of Women playing Bandura to publish on its own page at the request of the WBENA. This time has been chosen since the WBENA will have finished their March concert series, and the team will have assembled the back-end for the song pages. This research will be inserted into its own static page featured in the About tab.
Mar 31 – April 6
- Researchers to interview WBENA representatives to collect information on the history of women playing the bandura.
April 7 – 13
- Researchers to continue with WBENA representatives interviews.
- Researchers draft history content..
April 14 – 20
- Researchers collate information with any history flagged from academic sources during the research phase.
- Copyeditors review and finalize history content.
April 21 – 27
- Frontend developer deploys the text in the relevant section of the About tab.
- Conduct final test runs.
May 2025 – Revisions, Testing, and Deployment
After the completion of Frontend Development, the team will take the WBENA through the MVP of the site and resolve any edits provided. Once the WBENA is comfortable that the outcome has stayed true to the approved wireframes and okayed any minor deviations, the team will test all pages and links locally before deploying the site and testing all pages and links publicly for bugs or errors.
April 29 – May 13
- Team gives WBENA walk through of site for final approval.
- Incorporate necessary edits recommended by WBENA and test run by May 5.
- Project launch dress rehearsal on May 6.
- Team incorporates feedback from rehearsal, makes necessary edits and retests.
- Public project launch at the GC Digital Showcase on May 13.
Hutnick Bio and Contribution Statement
Anastasia Hutnick (she / her) is a CRM Specialist by day, Digital Humanities Master’s student at the CUNY Graduate Center by night. So far, her graduate school career has included crafting an interactive map of Eurovision winners, turning both Alice and Wonderland and death planning into their own respective video games, and now working as the Project Lead, Wax Backend Developer, and Assistant Researcher for the Women of Bandura project. In between, you may find her playing the bandura, crocheting, or listening to her cat’s endless words of wisdom. Looking to the future, expect to see more from her in video games, digital archives, memory studies, death positivity, and Ukrainian cultural preservation.
Carla Ordonez – Personal Bio
Born and raised in New York City in a large, close-knit Latino family, I’ve always been surrounded by people, stories, and connections. Bridging ideas to share with others and build community has been at the core of my professional journey.
Currently, I work as a consultant for the Administration of Child Services (ACS), where I focus on policies and initiatives that support New York’s children and families. My passion for researching the lived experiences of NYC’s youth and communities fuels much of my work. Alongside my consulting work, I channel my creativity as a bridal and salon hairstylist, crafting styles and hair colors that help people feel their best on their most important days.
Merging my data-driven mindset with my artistic sensibilities, I also serve as the lead digital cartographer and data analysis expert for the Carousels of NYC Project. Through this initiative, I use mapping and spatial analysis to highlight disparities in access to recreational spaces, advocating for a more inclusive and family-friendly city. For me, maps are more than just data points—they’re a way to tell stories, reveal hidden patterns, and bring together the worlds of data and creativity.
My professional journey reflects that dynamic blend of analytical expertise and creative expression. Whether I’m analyzing policies, styling hair, or building interactive maps, my work is driven by a deep love for New York City’s families, communities, and the ways we all navigate and shape this ever-evolving city.
Bio & Contribution Statement
Alexandra Millatmal is a software engineer in love with the world outside of (impacted by, apart from, in spite of) tech. As a Digital Humanities masters program candidate, she hopes to bring her artistic, personal, and professional worlds in closer alignment, using the tools of her trade to engage in questions that deeply resonate with her personhood.
On the Women of Bandura project team, Alex contributed as the frontend developer. Additionally, drawing on her past experience as a teaching assistant and curriculum designer for multiple learn-to-code programs, she also planned shadowing and educational opportunities for team members looking to level-up their development skills.
Protected: Personal Journal #2
Julissa blog 2
In noticed I am still struggling to get back into the swing of class, I think it is because work style is different, which makes sense given it is a project-based course. What I wasn’t planning on is for both of my program for work to become busy at the same time, along with other changes happening at work. In short, work as me stressed! However, my team’s weekly meeting and my planner are helping me find that rhythm.
My role in the carousel project is social media and graphic design and field worker. What I am most excited about is using my creativity. While I will primarily use Canva and even considering finally paying for it, I have the opportunity to explore other tools, and ensuring what I use is open source. I also know that once I begin to design the logo, or draft post I will spend hours on it, out of simple enjoyment of selecting a color, or adding a sticker.
I’m looking forward to leading our next meeting, as I feel that my part in the project won’t really kick in until later. Which I know it’s really more in theory as time flies. I believe I think this way as I tend to favor actionable items, but we need to first visit the parks and get pictures before I can really dive into the work. For now drafting the work plan will help me get a better understanding of when I can dive into creating the posts.
Tasha Personal Log Week 2: The Sound of One Hand Typing
Going to bullet journal this week.
- Lesson of the Week (TM) – Life happens and we move on, or: Don’t get tendinitis
- What We Accomplished:
- Finished the project proposal!
- Shared the project proposal, project Google Drive, and proposed agreement with Teryn, our WBENA liaison
- Received the last three program folders and some recordings from Teryn, with more to come
- We’re going to start with the Boston / Providence tour from last year
- Set up the team Asana board – gotta love that feeling of moving tasks from To Do to Done!
- Started pooling resources for song research
- Finding English language resources can be tough
- Finding resources on these specific songs at the jump can be tough – Teryn agreed to send us the sheet music and any other documentation that they have, so that should be a great starting point.
- (My Nancy Drew senses are tingling!)
- Going home to DE to pick up some books this weekend
- A trip to the Ukrainian History and Education Center library in South Bound Brook, NJ may prove useful in the future as they do have a large collection of sheet music and literature (though most of the literature is in Ukrainian).
- Lini pitched some awesome logo ideas and copied the shared WBENA files to our Project Drive
- Alex is planning on setting up our programming lessons, including our first official team Wax deep dive
- Melissa reached out to 3 potential project advisors (with one reply so far!)
- Coming Soon
- We’re going to wireframe the home page, individual program page, and individual song page as a team tomorrow
- We’re also going to assign out songs to research tomorrow!
- I feel like I’ve said this a lot in the past few weeks, but – And so it begins!
