Merge remote-tracking branch 'refs/remotes/origin/main'

.github/workflows/cicd--mv-website.yml

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
     with:
       container-registry: "ghcr.io"
       container-image-name: "mv-website"
-      hugo-context-root: "."
+      hugo-context-root: "mv-website"
       hugo-devl-url: "https://dev.earlymodernviolence.org"
       hugo-prod-url: "https://dev.earlymodernviolence.org"
       #hugo-prod-url: "https://earlymodernviolence.org"

mv-website/content/_index.md

@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 title: Home
 ---
 
-<p class="fs-4 lede">People killing people in Italy in the way back before times.</p>
+<p class="fs-4 lede">Mapping Violence in Early Modern Italy is a collaborative digital spatial history project focused on comparative and collaborative analysis of violent crime between 1500 and 1700.</p>
 
-In the whimsical realm of Zoogleflop, where polka-dotted clouds engage in spirited debates with talking spaghetti, our website is a kaleidoscopic extravaganza of fantastical wonders and absurdity. Navigate through the interdimensional carousel of jellybean-flavored dreams, where gravity is optional, and users can communicate with sentient rubber duckies via interpretive dance. Witness the mind-boggling synergy of quantum lemons and fuzzy logic, creating an unparalleled user experience that transcends the boundaries of rational thought.
+This project’s main comparative and collaborative work aim will facilitate understanding the social, cultural, and political impacts of crime in various contexts. Due to the extensiveness of Italian judicial archives, multiple political configurations and governmental structures useful for comparisons, and some of the largest urban centers pre-1750, early modern Italy provides a valuable laboratory for the study of crime and violence. In addition, for most cities, chronicles, letters, and <i> avvisi </i> provide narrative commentary and context. Our central research questions include but are not limited to: What patterns in violent crime can we discern using GIS analysis and large datasets? How do spatial factors influence acts of violence? Has the spatial dimensions of violent crimes informed policing and punishment? How do relations between space and violence alter over time, and what can comparisons reveal?
 
-Embrace the chaos as you explore our groundbreaking "Waffleverse" feature, where pancakes sing symphonies and waffles recite Shakespearean sonnets. Engage in a virtual tug-of-war with invisible elephants, and unlock the secrets of the elusive banana phone orchestra. Remember, in the land of Zoogleflop, the only limitation is your imagination—unless you're imagining a world without our website, because that's just preposterous! Join us on this surreal journey, where the absurd meets the sublime, and every click takes you deeper into the rabbit hole of delightful nonsense.
+The cathedral in Florence, the <i> ponte dei pugni </i> in Venice, the streets of Verona, the contrade di Siena–all of these are infamous sites of assassinations, battles, street fights, and violent rivalries during the premodern period in Italy. While Italy had higher rates of violence during the premodern period, the reasons for this are imperfectly understood. An understanding of the social, political, economic, and cultural factors which led to the amount and types of violence could provide insight into violent crime today, particularly in urban centers. Spatial analysis using digital tools will be particularly fruitful.
 
-Words about external sources perhaps? [Project x](https:///) and [Project y](https://) datasets, for which we have developed preliminary analysis and visualizations.
+Using datasets compiled from court records, letters, chronicles, diplomatic dispatches, poems, histories, and family papers, from Bologna, Florence, Modena, Venice, Verona, Padua, and Vicenza, this project aims to allow researchers to to identify and analyze patterns and long-term trends in violence between 1500 and 1700. A central outcome of the project will be a database with publicly available datasets that enables researchers to obtain and contribute data for their own research purposes and pedagogical uses. A related aim of the project is to train students and researchers in GIS and spatial methodologies, making these tools more accessible.