I would describe last week’s class as, the evolution of an idea turning into reality. Last semester, I went into an Intro to Digital Humanities class without a topic and a very rudimentary foundation for making a project of this scale. Now, I have a solid team, an interesting topic (Gender Dispartity in Professional Wrestling, aka GDPW ), and a much better understanding of what DH is and how to use the tools, or at least know they exist. Though these two sentences describe the start and present of my experience, it doesn’t capture all the work, changes, and struggles that evolved a simple idea over time, week after week, reading after reading into what it is today and what it will look like at the end of this semester. Working among peers who are as dedicated as I am to making the GDPW project a reality means a lot to me. Their contribution to our project will allow us to share this experience as we advance.

The GDPW began as such a large-scale idea that needed to be trimmed to accommodate the short time frame. It was huge, focusing on various global promotions, other topics of disparity in the world of professional wrestling, and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ wrestlers. At one point, the title was rustic, called Using Data to Analyze the Matches Differences between Male and Females in Professional Wrestling, aka UDAMDMFPW. That’s a mouthful. Now, it has a shorter title, a catchier name, and a catchy acronym, GDPW. Deciding what to keep in the project and what to cut from it proved as difficult as coming up with a new title. So much was left out, but still enough to create something from nothing.

This journey has been a long one, and it is still not over. After my project was selected, I felt both relief and sadness. I am relieved because I am part of a project I know plenty about, and all the roles being adequately allocated by classmates I know are more than qualified for their positions on this project. I am sad because now I have to consider another capstone idea. Regardless of that initial sadness, I have begun dwelling on possible new topics in professional wrestling with a DH twist. Still, for the moment, I am dedicating my full time to managing and leading my team for the big showcase event.

Currently, we are using Signal to communicate and share Google Drive to upload notes, research, data, and account information. Everyone has been pitching new ideas, and we hope we have enough time to submit our revised Research Proposal with all these new changes and additional research.