AI Disclosure Statement

Statement of Intent

This educational mini-site was conceived, structurally architected, and coded independently by the student author. In alignment with modern digital production workflows, an advanced artificial intelligence system (Large Language Model) was utilized as a collaborative technical assistant, researcher, and editing tool to streamline content creation and technical asset management.

Scope of AI Assistance

• Historical Content Synthesis & Fact-Checking: Used to cross-reference historical timelines, aggregate data regarding regional Tarocchi deck variations, map comparative literary archetypes (e.g., matching Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales pilgrims to specific Major Arcana cards), and verify academic accuracies.
• Structural Content Reformatting: Utilized to clean raw data, standardize headings, remove extraneous web artifacts, and format source code drafts into a clean, uniform 4-space code indentation grid across all templates.
• Historical & Analytical Vetting: Assisted in identifying missing gaps in the historical lineage (such as the inclusion of Court de Gébelin, Etteilla, and Éliphas Lévi) and debunking common historical myths (such as the misconception surrounding official medieval papal bans on Tarot).
• Code Refactoring & Styling Debugging: Served as a strict layout debugger to correct multi-level nested list items, repair premature structural wrapper tags, and implement a hardware-accelerated CSS pseudo-element background canvas layer.

Human Authorship & Academic Integrity

While AI was used to compile data, check factual integrity, and iterate on writing styles, all final editorial control, structural narrative design, and contextual application remain the exclusive work of the student author. The information provided by the AI was independently verified against established playing-card histories, and all technical layouts, site navigation hierarchies, and prospective code architectures were uniquely executed to fulfill the technical standards of GIT 414.

Project Overview & Methodology

Project Rebranding & Content Realignment

Realigned the visual branding and identity system across all 12 core static templates to transition the project from the working title "Arcana Antiqua" to the finalized name "Tarocchi to Tarot". This update replaces legacy strings within all <title> configurations, primary layout header elements (site-logo), and footer copyright blocks. This changes the project's positioning to more clearly signal the structural evolution of card archetypes from Renaissance parlor mechanics to modern machine learning datasets.

Information Architecture Restructuring & Content Deduplication

Once the textual history for the project was finalized, a comprehensive review of the site's information architecture revealed a need for strategic reorganization. Several historical concepts and technical definitions were duplicated across separate pages, creating unnecessary noise and disrupting the reading flow.To resolve this, a complete content consolidation was performed. Redundant explanations were eliminated, and scattered historical data points were grouped together into intuitive, unified sections where they contextualize one another. This structural alignment ensures that information makes immediate sense upon reading, establishing a clean, linear progression from ancient leaf games and Italian parlor mechanics straight into generative computational datasets.

Large Language Model Utilization & Consultation

• Gemini. (2026, August 29). Collaborative content development and historical synthesis for the GIT 414 Capstone Project: "Arcana Antiqua: Mapping the Evolution of Tarot" [Personal communication]. Google AI.

  Application: Utilized for structural formatting, textual layout optimization, cross-referencing timeline chronologies, styling overhaul, and administrative documentation refinement.