Top 10 Most Wanted | Other Project Ideas
ECE's Top Ten Most Wanted ListHere are some great ideas for research topics that haven't been attempted yet and that are crying out for web projects on ECE:
- Jokes and humor - What did people laugh at in the eighteenth century and why? What can we learn about a culture from its sense of humor?
- Book illustrations - What kinds of illustrations accompanied the original and subsequent editions of the books we're reading in class? What can be learned from comparing the illustrations provided for a given book across 200-300 years?
- Transportation - Roads, carriages, public transportation, the hazards and pleasures of domestic travel. What was it like getting around before the age of airports, motorways, or even railroads? What were the implications for commerce, lifestyle, communication, etc.?
- Digital editions - Annotated hypertext editions of class texts, with background, commentary, interpretation, etc. See the examples provided for more ideas on how this might be done. This would be an excellent option for someone who wanted to develop and showcase their skills in literary interpretation.
- Ballads and popular music - What were the most widely known songs of the period and where were they heard?
- Publication and reception history - What can we learn about a literary text by tracing the history of its publication and reception? How do the appearance, marketing, and appeal of particular books change over time?
- Popular print culture - What kinds of publications did ordinary working people read and enjoy in this period? What was the source of their appeal?
- Architecture - Principal figures andmovements, distinctive trends and influences of the period. What connections can be traced between the architectural styles of the eighteenth century and other developments in literature and culture?
- Puritanism - What was the original impetus for the most powerful religious movement in the early modern period? How did the Puritan movement take shape, how did it affect people's basic world views, and what effects did it have on eighteenth-century literature and culture?
- Luxury debates - Why was there such an obsession
with the new culture of consumption in the eighteenth century? What
were the sources of widespread fear and anxiety about the moral and
economic effects of a thriving overseas trade?
Here are some additional project ideas arranged by ECE subject categories. Use this list as a springboard to generate additional ideas of your own. The topics listed here are intended only as starting points and could each be divided into numerous potentially viable sub-topics.
As you begin thinking about topics for your project, be sure to review the existing ECE projects in related subject categories. You should not choose a topic that has already been covered at length in more than one project site. Check with the instructor if you are unsure.
Arts & Letters
Anglo-American Cultural Exchange | Arabian Nights and the Oriental Tale | Architecture | Art of Conversation | Chinoiserie | Classicism | Dance | Debates on Taste | Education | Grub Street | Journalism | Landscape Gardening | Literary Critics and Criticism | Music | Italian Opera | Periodical Literature | Satire | The Sublime & the Picturesque | Working Class Literature
Commerce & Trade
Banking & Investment | Bullionist Controversy | Charity | Class Structure | Conquest & Empire | Credit and Banking | East India Company | Economic Status of Women | Economic Theory | Economics and the Arts | Economics of Empire | Fashion | Foreign Trade |London Shops | Luxury | Poverty & the Poor | Rise of Empire | Rural Economics | Shopping & Consumerism |Slavery | Travel & the Grand Tour | Workhouses
Gender & Sexuality
Child-Rearing Practices | Conduct Manuals | Courtship | Economic Status of Women | Family Life |Homosexuality | Manhood and Masculinity | Marriage |Medical Treatises |Misogynist Satire | Motherhood | Prostitution | Working Women
Material Culture
Children's Toys | Chinoiserie | Curiosity Cabinet | Exotica | Folk Arts | Food and Drink | Furniture and Furnishings | Housing | Interior Design | Tools and Implements
Philosophy & Religion
Aesthetics | Atheism | Berkeley | Catholicism | Church of England | Deism | Empiricism | Hume | Locke | Methodism | Puritanism | Quakerism | Religious Dissent | Scottish Enlightenment | Sentiment | Sympathy
Politics & Government
The British in India | Conquest & Empire | Criminal Justice | Foreign Trade | The Glorious Revolution | The Jacobite Threat | Political Life | Political Uprisings | Relations Between France and England | Responses to French Revolution | Riots and Revolts
Recreation & Leisure
Art of Conversation | Bath | Coffeehouse Culture | Collecting | Domestic Tourism | Fairs and Popular Entertainments | Food and Drink | Gambling | Games | Italian Opera | Landscape Gardening | Letter Writing | Masquerade | Pleasure Gardens | Politeness and Manners | Sport | Theater
Science & Technology
Anatomy | Automata | Cartography | Clocks and Timekeeping | Developments in Navigation | Health & Sickness | Museums | Newton and his Influence | Race and Ethnicity | The Royal Society | Voyages of Exploration
Travel & Exploration
Britain and her Colonies | Cartography | Developments in Navigation | East India Trade | Grand Tour | Imaginary Voyages | Longitude | Naval Science | Voyages of Exploration
These sample projects illustrate a variety of approaches to creating an interpretive digital edition of a literary text or portion thereof. While they are not meant to be complete projects, they are good models of the kinds of readng experience and interpretive approach that hypertext projects on ECE might aim for.
- Tonya Howe, "An Author's Farce," digital edition using frames
- Tonya Howe, "Edward Phillips' The Stage Mutineers," digital edition using JavaScript
- James Mitchell, "Edgar Allan Poe's 'Lines on Ale,'" under construction
