More Wicked Problems
Word Salad Edition
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. Between working on research projects, a dissertation, parenting, designing an online Digital History course, and applying to multiple teaching positions, it’s hard to believe it is mid-July and emails for the beginning of the fall semester are already pouring in. So in this post, before I blow a top, I want to provide a few updates on the work I have done over the past few weeks with the hope that reader(s) of this blog may have some advice/suggestions/comments on a few issues I am navigating. In this post, I discuss the Unknown Ottawa project, Rogue History Notes, and Wicked Byzantine Problems (an article that is part of my dissertation). Let’s begin with the Unknown Ottawa project.
Unknown Ottawa
For my part, the Unknown Ottawa Project is progressing at a slow pace. The issue I keep running into is that I am unable to get Omeka S to connect to the Borealis Dataverse repository utilizing the Data Repository Connector module (plugin). What I think the issue may be, and it appears to be a problem others are coming across, is that the connector does not directly connect to the Dataverse repository. This is because it needs to access the repository through Borealis, a large-scale data repository for universities, libraries, and other institutions. Since access to Borealis is through your institutional login, I believe the numerous security roadblocks are preventing the module from connecting to the repository directly. And yes, I have tried using an API token, but this does not work.
I have investigated multiple solutions, and I am working directly with my institution’s data support specialist. I have tried implementing code workarounds. Fail. API, fail, and various URL options. Nothing appears to work. The next step is to either drop Omeka S from the project and build our own site that can use an API token to access the repository, or, and this may make some of you cringe, try to get Gemini or Claude AI to access the repository. That is, use the AI to help generate code and possible solutions that can circumvent this pesky problem. I have not used Claude, but I have been told by many that it is the better of the AI tools for coding. We will see. If you have any suggestions that may help me solve this issue, please comment below or drop me a DM.
Rogue History Notes
I continue to work diligently on this project as it is a significant component of my dissertation. The reorganization of notes into a new indexing system is beginning to pay off, and I hope to implement further improvements. Notably, I added two sections to the landing page that display the most recently added and updated notes. I used the DataView plugin, Templater plugin, and some code from TTRPG tutorials and Joschua.io. My sincere thanks to these individuals for making the code and tutorials available, easy to understand, and implement. For a complete description of what I did, how I did it, and hiccups I encountered, click on the link 16.23 Publish Recent Notes to read through the process note I created on this matter. It contains the code I used in my Obsidian vault to enable Dataview to generate a query, convert it to Markdown, and then publish it all with a single, simple hotkey command. The note includes links to the code creator and the tutorial I used to help implement it in my vault.
Byzant…East Roman Studies and Wicked Problems
A couple of weeks ago, I had a fruitful discussion with Dr. Leonora Neville, one of the preeminent scholars in Byzantine Studies, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Neville’s work has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on the direction of my research. Specifically, in recent years, her work on the ‘B’ word — Byzantine/Byzantium — and the issues our field faces concerning the terminology we use to identify the Romans during the so-called Medieval period. Her recent book, Sailing Away From Byzantium Toward East Roman History, complements Anthony Kaldellis’ 2024 book, The Case For East Roman Studies, and a call for those of us who practice Byzantine Studies, to reassess our field and the terminology we use to identify the Romans of the Eastern Roman Empire after the Western Empire came to its somewhat abrupt end. I refuse to say fall because it did not fall. Rather, it was a myriad of complex, interrelated problems that the empire faced in its western and eastern regions that led to the empire losing its political hold over western territories. The Romans just did not disappear. Ugh, I digress. Anyway, I highly recommend both books.
What struck me about Dr. Neville’s book was her closing remarks on ‘integrity’ and our actions as Romanists, and the repercussions they have when we do not respect the identities of the dead. Simply, when we refer to the Romans as Byzantines, we are being disrespectful to their memory, their history, and to the public(s) to whom our research will eventually be consumed. Here is a snippet from her book.
“Integrity is achieved by having an alignment between one’s actions, thoughts, words, and values. Integrity feels good because it is a consequence of freedom and empowerment within a society that allows people to be who they are, think what they think, and do what they do without contradiction. Integrity is rare in our world where multiple diverse pressures push us to give lip service to ideas and actions we find silly, useless, or harmful. Integrity is also a habit. Therefore, it is worth trying to speak and act with integrity in all those realms that are within our control” (Neville 2025: 54).
What intrigued me the most from the above quote is the notion of “lip service to ideas…we find silly, useless, or harmful,” and my undergraduate studies (I have a post about my thoughts as an undergrad, but I can’t find it. Maybe you can?). This resonated with me because I had always found it silly that we use the label ‘Byzantine’ to describe the Romans after 330 CE or 476 CE, or 498 CE, depending on your preference. Yet, as a student, you are compelled to use this label because the discipline is a well-established international academic field that has been around for approximately 150 years. It's scary as a new student in an established field to say to your professors, “This is incorrect, and why do we use this label?” Thus, the problem is perpetuated through the next generation of scholars, but this is changing.
Furthermore, the lip service that Neville speaks to is not only harmful to the memory of the deceased Romans but also to the integrity of the discipline itself, especially within the sphere of public perception and reception. What I mean is, our research trickles or bleeds into public discourse and can be, and is, weaponized for malicious political, racial, and religious ideologies (see Adam J. Goldwyn and Roland Betancourt’s works). Not to mention, those public(s) unfamiliar with this period of history, from 330 to 1453 CE, may blindly trust us experts and think of this period as the Byzantine period. Those who resided in Byzantium understood themselves as Byzantines and referred to their region as Such. Calling Romans, Byzantines, is incredibly problematic, lacks integrity, and contributes to deep-rooted problems the discipline faces. As Neville notes, “The discourse of ‘Byzantium’ persists, not just out of habit, but because insisting on an alternative is extremely disruptive of so many of our basic historical paradigms” (55-56). It is this idea of integrity and disruption that has prompted me to think more about the so-called Wicked Byzantine Problems (WBP) I am addressing in my PhD dissertation, and how integrity plays a role in addressing WBP, and the potential solutions, along with their associated problems, that the discipline needs to contend with. More on that in a future post, but for now, click on the "Wicked Byzantine Problems" link; it will take you to my RH Notes page, where a very rough draft of this concept is in its infantile stages. Also of note, the article is not even close to being completed as a first draft, so reader BEWARE. And I think I will conclude this post by leaving you with two persuasive thoughts from Dr. Neville’s book.
“The novel category of “Byzantine” helped to safely erase the reality of the polity’s continuity across the notional divides that defined the West. This complex use of “Byzantium” as an aid in constructing valorized narratives of the West contributes to a worldview of Western superiority. It does not call directly for the conquest and colonization of the East – this construction of “Byzantine” history is not a cause of colonialism – but it helps create a way of seeing the world in which European domination of the globe seems natural” (Neville 2025: 15)
“While the dead are no longer around to feel insulted, treating their memory with a lack of respect leaves one practicing being disrespectful. As with integrity, respect is a habit that grows as you practice it. Respect for the dead pushes me to call them Romans, when that is what they called themselves. Respect for my contemporaries means I will appreciate and value your scholarly contributions regardless of whether I have managed to persuade you” (Neville 2025: 55).
Neville, Leonora. 2025. Sailing Away From Byzantium Toward East Roman History. New York: Cambridge University Press.
