Click here for the full session notes/discussion from the Digital History-Tools and Techniques Session.

Most of the resources discussed in this session are available in Byron’s Google Drive folder.  Notes from this session build on and discuss tools from the list he’s created in the GD.

Important Caveats/Advice for Using Digital Tools

• Be sure to reference and try out the tools from the Google Drive.
• Don’t let digital tools overwhelm you. Instead of focusing on a tool’s content, think instead about the context in which you’re using it and why it’s the appropriate approach to take.
• Within the DH, there’s no need for isolation anymore and although we often feel we don’t have time to build different tools on our own, they are out there already and we can gain a lot by working collaboratively with people across disciplines and backgrounds.
• You don’t have to be creator of content, you can be a curator.
• Consider the 3Cs: Content, context, community.

Click here for the full summary/notes from the gaming session (including definitions and examples of games in the classroom; possibilities and types of games; learning outcomes possible with games; and participant thoughts/points made during discussion).

Gaming Pedagogy Scholarship/Resources discussed:

• Ian Bogost: How to Do Things With Video Games
• James Paul Gee: Has a # of articles/books on gaming including What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy; Good Video Games and Good Learning (site and publications: www.jamespaulgee.com/publications)
• Lee Sheldon: The Multiplayer Classroom www.amazon.com/The-Multiplayer-Classroom-Designing-Coursework/dp/1435458443—book has a number of case studies (covers multiple disciplines and examples) www.facebook.com/MultiplayerClassroom (also Facebook group for book)
• William G. Tiereny et. al, Postsecondary Games: The Role of Games and Social Media in Higher Education

Twitter is a digital salon, a global party line, offering a window to real-time information and sentiment on a tremendous scale. There have been many compelling projects to analyze and monitor twitter activity as well as automate communication for entertainment, journalism, and scholarship.

Let’s meet to discuss possibilities for analyzing, reporting, or remixing content from Twitter.

Examples:

@congressedits is a twitter bot that was created to monitor and report changes to Wikipedia entries made from IP addresses assigned to the United States Congress. The script is open source and has been used by others to monitor changes made by other organizations, many civic and government. – inkdroid.org/journal/2014/07/10/why-congressedits/

The New Yorker has an interesting article from 2013 about Twitter bots and their use, from compelling to crude – www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-rise-of-twitter-bots

Good metadata requires standardization and consistency. But historical documents and literature are notoriously messy; how can we create databases, digital editions, and data visualizations that rely on consistent data while maintaining the authenticity and spirit of the original dataset?

These are questions that I’m dealing with working on a database for the Cincinnati House of Refuge Project. I’m standardizing over 6,000 intake records from the 19th century and I’m struggling to make decisions when dealing with data that isn’t consistent.

The vast majority of literature and dialogue around global climate change has originated within science disciplines, but the influence of climate change has had limited impact in other disciplines, particularly within the humanities. As societies and cultures grapple with the process of adaptation to climate change, it is more important than ever for  humanities disciplines, librarians, and archivists to engage with this topic.

I would like to convene a discussion/resource sharing group of scholars, librarians, archivists, and anyone with a passing interest in climate change to talk about how we can contribute to this field. As an archivist deeply concerned with the future of archival holdings in geographically threatened areas (i.e., due to rising sea levels, increased weather patterns, etc), I am considering research in this area to get others thinking about the long-term stewardship and survival of archives.

Some food for thought:

Meet the Humanities (Commentary in Nature Climate Change)

Climate Change in Culture (Upcoming conference in May)

Science Communication Needs the Humanities (How humanities work on rhetoric and communication can improve scientific communication)