Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Digital Medievalist Rock Stars
Martin Foys and Asa Mittman in the New York Times, an article on
digital humanities featuring a photo of a looming Martin at his
dapper best: Figuring out how to collect, house and connect more
than 350 years of scholarship motivated Martin K. Foys, a
medievalist at Drew University in Madison, N.J., to create a
digital map of the Bayeux Tapestry, a gargantuan 11th-century
embroidery displayed in a museum in Bayeux, France, that depicts
the Battle of Hastings, when the Normans conquered England. At
224 feet long, about two-thirds the length of a football field,
this tapestry is both a work of art and a historical document
that mingles text and image. “It is almost impossible to study
traditionally,” Mr. Foys said. No one person could digest the
work’s enormous amount of material, and no single printing could
render it accurately, so Mr. Foys created a prize-winning
digital version with commentary that scholars could scroll
through. Such digital mappin