About Me

My work explores the history early modern Europe through the lens of sound and space, with a focus on festivals and military events. I use digital humanities methods, like digital mapping, audio recording, and 2D and 3D animation, to analyze the political and social dynamics of communities, both in everyday life. My work has been supported by major federal, provincial, and institutional research grants, and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Sixteenth Century Journal.

I am the creator and coordinator of a digital humanities project called the Digital Soundscapes Project. This project is a collaboration between the DECIMA (digitally encoded census information and mapping archive) project: https://decima-map.net/ and Brock University’s Department of Digital Humanities https://brocku.ca/humanities/digital-humanities/. Through this project, students and Research Assistants design 3D and 2D scenes of early modern historical events based on a range of textual and visual early modern primary sources.

Curriculum Vitae

Forthcoming Publication:

“A Fraught Fanfare: Acoustic Enemies in Ducal Siena.” Sixteenth Century Journal (2025)

Upcoming Conference Presentations:

“Community as “Nation”: Livorno as a Trans-Local Geographic Space.” Sixteenth Century, Society Conference (SCSC). Portland. October 2025. Paper Presenter.
“Audio Soundscapes as a Tool for Researching the Early Modern.” Early Modern Celebration, Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (CRRS). Toronto. November 2025. Invited Speaker.

Awards:

2025 Ontario Graduate Scholarship Scholarship (OGS) – $15,000
2024 Victoria College Junior Fellowship
2024 Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) – $15,000
2022 Sixteenth Century Studies Conference’s Graduate Student Stipend – $320
2022 Pre-Dissertation Award, Department of History, University of Toronto – $3000
2021 Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships-Doctoral (CGS D) SSHRC – $105,000
2020 Victoria College Bursary – $1000
2019 FAST (Faculty of Arts and Sciences Top) Doctoral Fellowship – $26,000
2019 Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s (CGS M) SSHRC) – $17,500
2019 Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Toronto Graduate Fellowship – $4000

Link to full CV

Teaching

HIS350: Topics in European Histories: Digital Approaches to Pre-Modern Europe

Course Overview:

How can digital technologies help us learn about life in pre-modern (1000- 1800 CE) Europe? This course revolves around this central question. Each week, we will learn about a different geographic region through a Digital Humanities (DH) project (or projects) focused upon that region. In doing so, we will examine the social, political, and cultural dynamics of pre- modern communities while observing how scholars have employed digital technologies to study them. Our weekly digital projects will introduce you to a variety of tools, such as ArcGIS, OpenLayers, OpenStreetMap, html, and TEI (Text Encoding Initiative). You will engage critically with these digital tools and assess how they have been applied to historical research.

Through weekly active learning tutorials and workshops, you will build knowledge and skills across a range of digital media, including WordPress, Storymaps ArcGIS, and Audacity Audio Software, and learn to effectively incorporate these tools into your own projects. The combination of theoretical and practical knowledge accumulated in this course will present you with new ways of looking at big questions surrounding identity, politics,society, and culture in pre-modern Europe. This course will also
prompt you to investigate some of the challenges facing Digital Humanities-based research.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will:
• Use digital tools (WordPress, ArcGIS Storymaps, Audacity Audio Software) with introductory-level proficiency
• Assess academic articles and books, pinpointing the introduction, thesis, sub-arguments, and conclusion
• Identify major regions in pre-modern Europe, as well as some of the political, social, and cultural developments across regions
• Develop writing skills, and integrate digital media within traditional written formats
• Have a broad understanding of digital humanities projects, their benefits and their limitations

Grade Breakdown:

1) Digital Project Profile: 10%

2) DH Workshops (Hands on workshops Voyant, Blogger, Audacity audio software) : 15%

3) Active Learning Tutorial Participation: 15%
4) Final Assignment (Blogger digital essay with embedded digital maps, Voyant, and audio soundscape: 30%
Final Exam: 30%

Digital Project Profile: students select a digital project from the list provided in the assignment description and write a 1000-1500-word report on the project. Please refer to the assignment description for a detailed description and breakdown of sections and grading scheme.

Workshops (15%): In three workshops, you will build the skills needed to complete the digital components of your final project. You will learn to use WordPress, Storymaps ArcGIS, and Audacity Audio Software. In Workshop #1, students will set up WordPress and build sample blogs. In Workshop #2, students will build a Storymaps ArcGIS mapping tour. In Workshop #3, you will learn basic techniques for audio editing and create your own audio soundscapes. 2.5% of your grade for each workshop is allocated to attendance and participation. The other 2.5% is allocated to submitting your files and/or links.

Active Learning Tutorial Participation (15%): You will engage in class discussion and group activities about the week’s readings. You are expected to come to tutorials prepared to share your insights, and complete any preparation outlined in the Required Reading list below.
Participation includes both attendance and active engagement in activities and discussions for full marks.

*In certain cases, students may opt for alternative modes of participation, such as written reflections. This must be pre-approved by the course instructor. Come and talk to me or send me an e-mail if you would like to speak further about this option.

Final Assignment (30%) A Digital WordPress essay focused around a specific category from the Map of Early Modern London (MoEML): https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/

Students select a category from the Map of Early Modern London project (eg. theatres, Victualling Houses (ie. restaurants and taverns), parishes etc.). You will investigate your selected category using the drop-down list on the map, exploring the links associated with various locations (we will go through a demonstration of how to do this in Week 2). You will then research secondary sources relevant to your category, and to early modern London more broadly, and craft a digital essay with an analytical argument about your specific category, embedding a range of digital media into your essay, and using these tools to support your argument. For instance, you may embed images, static maps from the Map of Early Modern London website, a Storymaps mapping tour, audio files, and other rich media sources, such as Youtube videos. This essay should demonstrate your overall grasp of the digital tools used in workshops and active learning tutorials throughout the term, and how these can contribute to methods of historical research.

Digital Soundscapes Project Gallery

3D soundscape of Cosimo de’Medici’s triumphal entry into Siena in 1560

3D modelling: Simon Cummings, Adam Julien, Jamie Wong. Sound Design: Heather Smith

2D digital soundscape of Maria Maddalena’s bridal entry into Florence at Porta al Prato (1608):

2D animation Maxwell Jones. Map animation: Gerald Ananaba. Sound Design: Heather Smith. Woodcut by Matthaeus Greuter (d. 1638).

Cuccagna (food competition) for the Infante Carlo of Spain in Livorno, 1731:

3D Modelling by: Sava Beric, Tanisha Bhayani, Jordan Bruyère, Ryan Carolan, Ben Cohen, Simon Cummings, Rory Dunton, Carl Ferma, Nathan Frève, Grady Hu, Maxwell Jones, Sam Koroma, Mark Krutik, Amelia Leppik, Aasim Noorani, Omar Nori, Dean Patrizio, Pavly Riad, Naym Salam, Ekraj Singh Narang, Jiying Song, Jack Stahl, Marcus Werner, Isaac Wiliszewski, Jamie Wong, Paul Wyers. Sound Design by: Heather Smith

Close-up of triumphal arch model for Cosimo de’Medici’s triumphal entry into Siena (1560).

3D models by Simon Cummings, Adam Julien, and Jamie Wong. Sound Design by Heather Smith.

3D soundscape of an ephemeral triumphal arch modelled based on architect Ferdinando Ruggieri’s 1731 design for the triumphal entry of Carlos, Infante of Spain (d. 1788).

3D model: Jamie Wong and Simon Cummings, Sound Design: Heather Smith

2D Digital soundscape of Maria Maddalena’s bridal entry into Florence in 1608 at Santa Maria de Fiore:

2D animation: Isaac Wiliszewski, Sound Design: Heather Smith. Woodcut by Matthaeus Greuter (d. 1638).

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