MIT history professor John Dower and program director Scott Shunk will discuss lessons learned from five years of developing an innovative educational platform. Visualizing Cultures is a gateway to seeing history through images that once had wide circulation among peoples of different times and places. Making representations of Japan available for image-driven scholarship and pedagogy, the Visualizing Cultures Project allows scholars, teachers, and students to analyze and compare hitherto inaccessible materials from the mid-19th century forward. The project also offers guides including databases, bibliographies, and lengthy lesson plans for the careful analysis and use of images.

Visualizing Cultures is currently being redesigned to provide sophisticated accessibility, and the new format will be previewed at this event. The presenters will also address how to anticipate—and respond to—negative reactions to controversial images.