Our next meeting with be a book discussion of Digital_Humanities THIS Wednesday, Oct 16 at 12:30pm in Dealy 115.
Join us (even if you haven’t read the whole book)!
Get a free download of the book from MIT Press here:http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digitalhumanities-0
This is a short book that covers the basics of digital humanities and a toolkit for undertaking projects. Digital_Humanities is by By Peter Lunenfeld, Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Todd Presner and Jeffrey Schnapp.
The NYCDH Inaugural Gathering on September 25 was a great event, for DH in NYC and for Fordham DH specifically. I’d like to add another set of impressions about the event to supplement Alisa’s post.
(The working notes from the day are a more comprehensive resource on the projects presented throughout the day, so check them out.)
The day’s events began with talks by Ray and Lynne Siemens. I appreciated the traditional nature of this presentation format because it allowed the participants to begin conversation throughout the day with some shared knowledge. I was particularly struck by Lynne Siemens’ talk about management challenges in getting DH centers/institutes/projects off the ground. This topic prove to be fertile ground for discussions throughout the day. I hadn’t previously thought about the fact that DH’s focus on collaboration sometimes runs up against the research practices that many humanists have become accustomed to, namely working alone. Even for those who want to take on collaborative projects, doing so may pose unexpected challenges on a social/communication level. While this is an experience that I have not (yet) encountered myself, I continue to think of the human, social level of how DH scholars interact and produce great work.
I also enjoyed the short session that followed about what we (the group as a whole) wanted NYCDH to be. This involved an unstructured time for people to stand up, introduce themselves, and express their hopes for the group. It was exciting to see and hear where people were coming from and to have their different ideas incorporated into the group’s vision for itself. I even stood up and shared my goals for improving graduate student communication across institutions! It was exciting to take a vocal role in an organization that includes everyone from students to distinguished scholars on an equal plane.
The afternoon was comprised of unconference sessions. These are free-flowing discussions centered around a topic that the group votes upon. They are led by one or two people, but all are free to participate. First, I was with a group of people discussing how to structure the Wiki section of the NYCDH website (www.nycdh.org/wiki). We discussed ontologies and how information could best fit into the Wiki as opposed to the Groups (for example). I enjoyed working with fellow NYC DH-ers to improve the scaffolding for online community. Considering the debates within and about Digital Humanities between “hacking and yacking’, it was appropriate to spend some time building in addition to discussing.
The second session I attended was about building DH program and institutional support as well as how to integrate DH into the curriculum of graduate programs. This group was large and ambitious in the scope of its topic. The most supported idea (it seemed) for adding DH into the curriculum included having “lab-style” sessions throughout a “normal” course for an additional credit, integrating DH skills. Further discussion can be found in the notes, but the part of this session that I found most compelling was a discussion of ways to align DH (or whatever your project is) with the strategic mission of your institution in order to justify and receive support (financial/staffing/space).
Overall, I found the meeting exciting, both for the contacts that I made in the NYC DH community and for the projects and events that I see coming out in the future. In that vein, I’d like to highlight an event that I’ve been excited to help organize. On Oct. 18, 2013 from 6-9pm, the Student Group of NYCDH will hold a social! The event will take place at Swift Hibernian Lounge (34 E. 4th St.). We will get to meet students from across the NYC area. The goal is to follow up this social with coffee hours specifically discussing projects and tools with one another. Join us on Oct 18!
See you there!
-Kristen Mapes
The NYCDH Inaugural Event took place last Saturday at the Humanities Initiative at New York University. Many attendees faithfully live-tweeted it at #nycdh, including a significant Fordham contingent: @kmapesy, @ecornell1, @mickimcgee, @diyclassics and @FordhamGSDH!
The two morning sessions on Building NYCDH were led by Lynne and Ray Siemens, two visiting professors from the University of Victoria, currently at NYU. They discussed the process of building and running a digital humanities center, and the importance of dialogue, discussion and re-discussion, and interdisciplinary and inter-departmental (or inter-institutional!) work for the success of any DH project. I can’t summarize their talks better than the working notes, so let me just say my biggest takeaway was that we may fail to conclusively define the digital humanities — and that’s okay, as long as we keep talking about it and trying to re-define it.
A summary of lightning talks on a variety of topics can alo be found in the working notes: the range of projects was fascinating, and a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to be in a city like New York.
After the morning’s traditional conference presentations the afternoon was an unconference. It was the first time I’d been to an unconference — I’ve heard a lot about them, but hadn’t ever attended one. As it turns out, my unfamiliarity with the format ended up giving me a bit of a surprise!
During lunch, we wrote topics of interest on a whiteboard, and after lunch, we voted on which topics the group wanted most to discuss. I was excited that other people wanted to talk about “metadata and DH project sustainability,” and it got through to be one of the final four sessions. Then I found out I’d be leading it! Fortunately, it was during the second time slot, so I had a little bit of time to prepare. I have to admit, though, the first unconference session on pedagogy and DH drew me in pretty fast, and hearing the ways in which different people use DH tools in their classes, or even teach entire classes on the digital humanities, was fascinating, especially since I’m TA’ing this semester, and will be teaching my own classes next year.
The session on metadata was a small one, which isn’t all that surprising: not everyone is excited to talk about cataloging, project hosting and formatting our projects with the future in mind. But we had a good variety of people in the room, library school students and academics, those with years of experience with DH and with technology and programming and those who were just coming to the field.
We ended up talking not only about metadata and its importance (why create something, if no one can find it?) and the persistence of projects, but about the role of digital humanities more broadly in the world of scholarship. Questions of citation and of numbers of authors credited for a project came up, and the observation was made that the sciences seem to handle multiple-authorship more gracefully than the humanities. We also discussed the question of the tension between open access and traditional scholarly publishing, and whether the digital humanities have any obligation to be open access, especially when they draw on open access sources.
The conference’s closing remarks included a list of recommended resources, which are listed in the conference notes (linked above). At 5:30, we retired to the Swift Hybernian Lounge, just around the corner.
I would encourage anyone in the NYC area to join NYCDH.org and be part of the process of creating the NYC DH community! As a newly-formed group, the options for where it might go are still very flexible, and it promises to help draw together expertise and opportunities in really beneficial ways.
–Alisa Beer
Congratulations to Jacquelyne and Christopher – we look forward to working with you and seeing your development in the Digital Humanities this year!
Jacquelyne is currently earning credits at Fordham University, towards a Ph.D. in Modern History. Jacquelyne’s research interests include social and gender aspects of the North American Frontier, specifically pertaining to the Colonial Gulf South. She also works as an instructional technologist in higher education, administrating the development and implementation of online and hybrid courses in a learning management system. She holds a Masters of Arts in History from University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Loyola University New Orleans.
Christopher is a Ph.D. student in the History Department at Fordham University, where he studies the aristocracy of the Latin East in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He is interested in the potential of digital media to foster interdisciplinary scholarship and digital tools to organize historical data in previously unconsidered ways.
The first meeting of the Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group was this past Wednesday, September 25. We were delighted to have a strong turnout, including Alan Cafferkey, the director of faculty tech services and Jane Suda, one of Fordham’s reference librarians, in addition to graduate students of all levels, from first-year M.A. students to post-docs. After introductions in which each individual outlined their DH projects and skills, we had a productive conversation about the transformative nature of digital humanities scholarship and its potential to lead to new and exciting forms of research and new ways for scholars to access both primary and secondary materials.
We were able to set a schedule of events for the fall semester that will spark discussion of the digital humanities at Fordham and also provide graduate students with the opportunity to learn technical skills otherwise unavailable at Fordham.
Our Fall Events:
October 16: Book Discussion: Digital_Humanities. Peter Lunefeld, Anne Burdick, et. al. Open-access edition available here, 12:30-2:00 pm, Dealy 115
October 30: Intro to TEI workshop for Medievalists and others, 2:30-4:00pm, location TBA (sponsored by Fordham Digital Humanities Working Group)
November 12: Joint talk with the English department: Brian Croxall, DH librarian at Emory University, will lead a discussion of pedagogy, 5:30-7:00pm, Dealy 115
November 13: Kimon Keramidas, “Using Prezi for Visual Presentation and Dynamic Electronic Posters,” 2:30-4:30pm, Keating 318
December 4: Kristen Mapes will give a presentation on the Digital Humanities class she is currently taking at Pratt’s library school.
May 2-3, 2014: THATCamp here at Fordham!
Potential Spring Events:
A digital tools workshop on how to use various programs together for increased productivity
A workshop on Search Engine Optimization
A statistics workshop
A discussion of the Programming Historian website
Our next meeting will be at 12:30 on October 16.
We will discuss Digital Humanities, by Peter Lunefeld, Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Todd Presner and Jeffrey Schnapp. The book may be purchased in hard-copy or as an e-book. The e-book is available from the Fordham Library, and NYPL also has an electronic copy and physical copies.
Congratulations to Alisa and Will – we look forward to working with you and seeing your development in the Digital Humanities this year!
The HASTAC program is a program of the Fordham Digital Humanities Working Group. Funding for the 2013-2014 year was provided through the generous support of the Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill. For further information about the HASTAC program, see the HASTAC At Fordham page.
Alisa is a second year Ph.D. student in the History department at Fordham University, where she studies medieval manuscript culture and medieval pilgrimage. She holds an M.L.S. from the School of Library and Information Science of Indiana University Bloomington, and is particularly interested in information visualization, pedagogy, and the use of social media for scholarship. She is also concerned about the long-term survival of DH projects and the condition of their metadata.
Will is a Ph.D. Candidate in English at Fordham University, where he specializes in nineteenth century American literature and the Digital Humanities. In addition to writing and blogging about technology, Will is the recipient of a Fordham Innovative Pedagogy Initiative Grant.
The Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group announces its first meeting, to be held on September 25, 12:30-2:00, Dealy 115. This group is open to all graduate students and any interested faculty or staff. Please join us so you can:
Current plans for Fall 2013:
In addition…
Follow us on Facebook!
Stay updated here with our blog.
We hope to see you on September 25th!
The development and use of digital tools for research, publishing, and pedagogy are increasingly becoming an important part of academic life, not just for digital humanists but for anyone working in the humanities. The Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group was formed in 2012 to discuss and learn about practices and methodologies in the digital humanities, particularly in the contexts of graduate studies and professionalization.
This group is of special interest to students who are preparing for a professional academic career in the humanities, a career that most likely will require digital fluency in regards to their teaching, research, and publishing. The Fordham GSDH Group welcomes students from all disciplines. No experience using digital tools or methods is required. What we do want is your willingness to learn and participate. Share with others what you know and what you want to learn.
During the 2012-13 academic year, the Fordham GSDH Group organized over a dozen events, including several workshops, a reading group, one field trip, and hosted a guest lecturer. These events were open to the entire campus community and offered faculty, staff, and graduate students the opportunity to meet with people outside their disciplines and get better acquainted with members from their own departments. We will continue our activities this year.
What follows is a recap of some of last year’s many highlights. A complete description of all our activities can be read in more detail here, at the Fordham GSDH Group website.
Fall semester began with the training workshop, “Digital Pedagogy: What Is It? How Do You Do It?” Three graduate students each led a brief, hands-on demonstration. Patrick Burns, a PhD candidate in Classics, opened with “Eliminating the Handout: Paperless Teaching and the Less-Paper Reality.” Patrick acknowledged that a paperless class may not be for everyone, but he also pointed out that less paper, not more, is becoming the reality as more students embrace laptops and tablets. He offered suggestions for giving online quizzes and how to encourage students to take good electronic notes.
Elizabeth Cornell, at the time of the workshop a Pre-Doctoral Teaching Fellow in English, followed with “Five Easy Ways to Incorporate Digital Tools into the College Classroom.” She shared her teaching strategies for helping students develop expertise with digital tools, including WordPress, Zotero, Prezi, GoogleDrive. In her classes, she places emphasis on digital media and technology that students will most likely need to know in the real world and that can be useful in other classes, too.
In his talk, “From Public Course Blogs to Grand, Aggregated Experiments,” Will Fenton, PhD Candidate in English, offered an informative overview of the Digital Humanities and Pedagogy course that he took at CUNY’s Grad Center in the fall semester. The course covers many things, from gaining proficiency in USC’s Hypercities mapping program to participating in the ongoing debate about whether humanities people should learn to code. Will’s description of his class left many of us wishing we’d signed up for the course, too.
Many workshop participants were encountering these digital humanities methods and practices for the first time. Their reservations about trying out new things in their classrooms led Patrick to remark that it’s “important for all of us to maintain an open discussion of successes and failures as we adopt the tools and strategies of digital pedagogy.”
Open discussion of success and failure: That’s a leading tenet of the digital humanities and one of the main reasons why our group exists.
And so the Fordham GSDH Group continued its open discussion in November, with “You Online: Developing Your Online Academic Presence.” This workshop was led by Michael Mandiberg, author of The Social Media Reader and a teacher at the College of Staten Island and the CUNY Graduate Center. An audience of over 50 graduate students, faculty, and administrators discovered how important it is for people working in academia to cultivate their online presence. A strong online presence is particularly critical for graduate students and new tenure track teachers who need to make connections with people in their field and promote their work. Mandiberg gave step-by-step instructions for how to effectively use WordPress for professional promotion, or “branding.” Given that the workshop took place only a couple of days after Hurricane Sandy hit, everyone was very pleased with the turnout. Elizabeth Cornell coordinated the event, working closely with Nicol Gotsis, Director of Student Development at the GSAS.
Members of the Fordham GSDH began the spring semester by becoming citizen cartographers, as this report explained back in February 2013:
What do you do with a growing collection of international maps that contains over 433,000 sheet maps and 20,000 book atlases, some of which date back to the 15th century? Twelve graduate students and one post-doc from Fordham University recently learned that you digitize it, of course. At the New York Public Library’s Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, the effort to digitize thousands of maps has begun with some New York City and antiquarian maps. But more than just make high-resolution images of these maps, the library also developed “Map Warper,” a tool which allows anyone with a computer and an internet connection to digitally align (also known as “rectify”) these maps to match today’s precise maps, using online maps such as OpenStreetMap and GoogleEarth. This mapping project joins “What’s On the Menu,” another fabulous digital crowdsourcing project at the library.
On a grey February day, our small group from Fordham assembled at the Research Library on 42nd St. to learn how to use MapWarper and become what the library calls “Citizen Cartographers.” The patient and delightful Mishka Vance, a technical assistant at the library, used a digitized, early twentieth-century Bronx fire map to demonstrate how to digitally trace buildings, add information about them (brick, wood, or stone? residence or business?) to the database, and rectify the old map with a contemporary one.
Participants then proceeded to trace and rectify maps of their own choosing from the library’s digitized collection. Our group rectified several maps that day, including an early postal map from the Midwest, an ancient map of Cyprus, and a 1916 survey of Morningside Heights.
Workshop participants represented several departments, including English, Classics, Theology, and Medieval Studies. They came for reasons that ranged from using Map Warper in their research, to using it in their teaching, to simply adding to their knowledge base of digital tools.
As the trip to the NYPL demonstrates, one of the major aims of the Fordham GSDH Group is to help navigate what seems like a vast and overwhelming digital humanities tent, filled with tools and lots of people with ideas about how to use them. The easier path would be to find some pleasant campfire close by and toast marshmallows. But as 15 Fordham University faculty and graduate students learned during the Omeka workshop on April 3, the barrier to entry into the tent is quite low. Alex Gil, Columbia University’s Digital Scholarship Coordinator, did a terrific job leading the workshop.
Omeka, as Wikipedia defines it, is a free, open source, content management system for online collections. It was developed by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. The Andrew Mellon Foundation gave Omeka’s developers a technology collaboration award. Omeka is used by researchers, archivists, museum curators, students, and teachers to curate digitized content, using images, text, and metadata.
For this workshop, Alex showed us a few notable sites–or exhibits, as they’re called–that use Omeka, including “Lincoln at 200,” a collaborative project involving the Newberry Library, the Chicago History Museum, and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Then he carefully walked us through the procedure for starting an Omeka exhibit. Workshop participants brought a diverse collection of material to work on, including French medieval manuscripts, pre-Columbian art, and a personal photograph album. The group felt so enthusiastic about the session, that we may ask Alex back for a second workshop on building exhibits in Omeka.
We look forward to more great events in the 2013-14 academic year. In fact, we’ve already got a few things planned: Patrick Burns will lead a discussion on Matthew Jockers’ book, Macroanalysis. Elizabeth Cornell will lead a GSAS-sponsored workshop on using Zotero for teaching and research. In the spring, THATCamp Digital Writing will be coming to Fordham. Come to our first meeting in September! Date TBA soon.
The Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group had a great inaugural year, one that ended on a high note with our guest speaker, Matt Gold. To see all the things we did, go to the Past Events page. Read about Mary Anne Myer‘s experiences with this group’s activities and beyond. For 2013-14, we will build on our activities by offering more of the same, including discussions and workshops to help teachers and students use technology in teaching and research, as well as nationally-recognized speakers. We also plan to add a few things, such as supporting those who wish to learn to code and hackathons.
In September, Patrick Burns will lead a discussion of Matthew Jocker’s book, Macroanalysis. This discussion will be accompanied by a month-long tutorial on topic modeling, designed by Patrick. (Read more about topic modeling here.) Check here for more information about that and follow us on Facebook. We constantly add updates about the group as well as other interesting things about the digital humanities in general.
For Fall 2013
>>Informal gathering of people will meet on campus to teach themselves how to code.
>>Zotero workshop
>>WordPress for course management workshop
>>Nominate two new HASTAC Scholars for 2013-14
>>Syllabi Hackathon
>>Wikipedia Hackathon
>>Plan a one-day DH conference for graduate students.
>>Plan a half-day workshop for graduate students on some aspect of digital humanities methods and practices for research, publishing, and pedagogy.
Here is a link to “Twitter Feed for ‘Teaching to the Network: Digital Humanities and Public Pedagogy'” Matt Gold’s May 1 talk at Fordham University.
