Women of Assur and Kanesh

This visualization prototype was created for a class at Parsons in partnership with The New Historia.

This network visualization connects the women of Assur and Kanesh featured in Women of Assur and Kanesh: Texts from the Archives of Assyrian Merchants by Cécile Michel.

Data Visualization allows us to see the connections between women that aren’t otherwise noticed.  This data visualization in particular allow us to see how these women of Assur and Kanesh, who may not have ever met in person, are the same and how they are different. It allows us to connect them in exciting and powerful ways. 

This visualization looks at more than family connections, it looks at connections related to the woman’s personal lives. For example, instead of relating the women based on years and physical connections to each other (have they met, are they family, etc), this visualization looks at what brings them together without them all actually meeting each other.

Tools: Gephi to build the network, Adobe Xd to create the prototype