[Schedule] [Workshops Descriptions] [Room Locations] [Sponsors]
This schedule is subject to change. Our Keynote Speaker this year is Dan Cohen, Founding Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of America. Click HERE to link to his presentation.
Link to view the schedule as a Google Spreadsheet.
Workshops follow the unconference model in that there are no paper presentations and no spectators. They differ from sessions, however, in that workshops are specifically designed to offer introductory training in digital skills and are led by a volunteer expert in the field.
Friday morning, we will be ready with breakfast to kick off THATCamp and the workshops. Come to the Konover Auditorium, in the Dodd Building, between 9am and 9:15am to register and sign up for workshops you’d like to attend. Remember that workshops might fill up, so don’t be late! At registration, we’ll also be distributing maps to the campus and for the Homer Babbidge Library where many of the sessions and workshops will be held.
Descriptions
Erin Bartram and Lincoln Mullen: How to Use a Database for Historical Research (Intermediate Omeka)
This workshop will investigate the intellectual problem of how to create a database for historical research. By database, we don’t mean a commercial database from which one finds primary sources, but rather a database that is an intellectual model of one’s research. The workshop will have two parts. In the first part, we will discuss the form of the database and the problem of how to model historical research. We will address such questions as, What is a database? What fields should my database have? How do I represent uncertainty in a database? How do I cite my sources? The second part of the workshop will deal with the question of how to make a historical argument from a database. We will address such questions as, How do I get my data out of the database and into a useable form? How do I make maps and charts from my data? How do I deal with the perennial historian’s problem of selection?
For the hands-on part, we will use Omeka and the universe of tools surrounding it.
Workshop requirements: Sign up for an account at Omeka.net and investigate the following online databases created by historians in the course of their research: American Converts Database: americanconverts.org, Papers of the War Department: wardepartmentpapers.org/, Neatline demos: neatline.org/neatline-in-action/. Advanced users who are comfortable with programming languages may wish to download the latest version of the omeka_client Ruby gem:rubygems.org/gems/omeka_client.
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Jack Dougherty: Open Peer Review and Publishing with CommentPress and PressBooks
This fall, over twenty authors publicly shared draft essays for a digital book-in-progress titled, Web Writing: Why and How for Liberal Arts Teaching and Learning, webwriting.trincoll.edu, under contract with Michigan Publishing, www.publishing.umich.edu/. During the “open peer review” phase, four expert reviewers (commissioned by the press) and general readers are posting online commentary to offer developmental feedback for authors, and to assist the editorial team in making selections for the final manuscript. Join this hands-on workshop to explore two open-source tools that make this possible — CommentPress and PressBooks, commentpressbooks.trinfocafe.org,– and how to adapt them for other purposes. Both newcomers and experienced WordPress users are welcome.
Workshop requirements: Sign up in advance docs.google.com/forms/d/18z03PqJzNrpZnGRFD9YU35ORJzw_me-Z0AJtiS3ged0/viewform to receive login credentials for the workshop test site. In advance of workshop, read and post a substantive comment on any portion of Web Writing (webwriting.trincoll.edu).
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Heide Estes: Flipping the Classroom with Hybrid Teaching: A Pedagogical Workshop
This workshop will explore the use of hybrid courses, which meet for one class period a week and replace the other meeting with on-line activities, to “flip” the classroom. On-line reading and discussion activities replace lecture, with students assigned to small groups to collaborate on analysis of reading or discussion of a reading-based prompt, and then report (still on-line) to the students in the other groups. In class, students do exercises individually or in small groups (usually, but not always, different from the on-line groups while the instructor circulates to answer questions and offer individual instruction as needed. Participants are encouraged to bring to this workshop a syllabus for a course already taught at least once.
Workshop requirements: Bring a syllabus for a course, preferably one already taught, that you would like to rethink. You may also want to read “Flipping the Classroom” by Cynthia J. Brame:
cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/teaching-activities/flipping-the-classroom/.
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Perry Harovas and Samantha Olschan: Visualizing the Pas with Tools from the Future
During this session the presenters will explain how the use of software used to create stunning feature length motion picture visual effects is used to reconstruct and visualize alternate versions of real physical locations that either no longer exist, or no longer look the same. Using footage shot with a regular video camera (or even a cellphone), the presenters will break down the steps required to not only create a virtual 3D space, but also how to alter those spaces and create new videos showing how the space would have looked in the past (or in the future).
The presenters will then show how all these elements get combined into one cohesive video asset, and made to look beautiful through the use of well designed and aesthetically pleasing motion graphics.
Workshop requirements: None.
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Lou Herman: Mobile Apps – myUConn – Project Overview from the Ground Up
myUConn is the official University of Connecticut mobile app that focuses on the student body as well as faculty and staff. The main purpose behind myUConn is to provide useful applications at the fingertips of the users. myUConn has several modules including a Bus Tracker, Interactive Dining menus, dynamic Maps, events calendar and other useful applications. We will explore how myUConn was created from the ground up! Take a look at the technologies and software that were used to build myUConn. We will go over the backbone architecture and how we structure the app to handle multiple modules within one app. We will also cover how we communicate to the back end server and provide local storage for specific features.
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Anna Kijas, Karen Bourrier: Introduction to Omeka
Omeka is a free, open-source content management system, which is being used by libraries, archives, museums, and scholars to display content and scholarship in a flexible and interactive setting. This workshop will provide participants with an overview of the platform and teach them how to create and describe items (i.e. photos, text, maps), organize items within collections, and publish content for the public. In addition, metadata standards (i.e. Dublin Core) will be discussed during the workshop as they relate to creating descriptions of items in Omeka. A list of resources and tips will be provided to participants. This workshop will appeal to participants who are interested in digitizing a collection of texts, images or maps, or who are looking for a content management system for classroom use. For more information about Omeka, visit omeka.net or omeka.org.
Workshop requirements: visit omeka.net before the workshop to create an account on the (free) Basic Plan. Bring 3-4 different format files (i.e. text, still image, map) to use during the workshop.
Workshop Handout (PDF): Introduction to Omeka Handout (PDF)
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Tom Scheinfeldt: Digital Humanities Management
This session will consider both the practical, day-to-day work and the intangible aspects of managing digital humanities projects and organizations. Pragmatic lessons will include picking projects, building partnerships and engaging stakeholders, attracting funding, budgeting and staffing, setting milestones and meeting deliverables, managing staff, publicity and marketing, user support, sustainability, and the range of tools available to support this work. The session will also consider several intangible, but no less important, aspects of management, including communication, decision making, and leadership.
Workshop requirements: None
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Vika Zafrin: Finger Painting with Data: Introduction to XML
An introduction to what text encoding is and why digital humanists do it. Dip your toes into XML (it only has six rules!), and begin to apply it to your research materials during the workshop. We’ll talk about how to use code to illustrate ideas, index concepts, and even find out new things. This workshop will not present TEI, but does give you the foundational knowledge for eventually working with TEI if that’s your heart’s calling.
Workshop requirements: you will need to have a syntax-aware text editor available for your work, set it to color-code for XML, and be comfortable using it. Free options exist for the Mac (TextWrangler) and PC (Notepad++).
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Mark Zurolo and Laurie Sloan: Printmaking Workshop, Begins just after the 15 min. tour of DMD Labs around 1:45pm
This workshop will use digital technology to generate a printed accordion book and accompanying digital artifacts. The workshop will explore printing via letterpress and silkscreening methods to generate a book that incorporates the shared contribution and sequence of each participant. Concepts of chance, sequence and serendipity in both digital and printing processes are essential ways in which content can be rearranged, reimagined and reprinted. The book’s construction (folded concertina) creates its own embedded “loop”, a printed ouroboros, which will be re-translated into an animation both analog and digital.
Workshop requirements: Gather 10-12 images that articulate your work, ideas or interests. Bring these images to the workshop either in printed form or on a drive or computer so they are accessible for viewing and use. Printmaking Workshop Description
Room Locations:
- Konover Auditorium is located in the Thomas J. Dodd Building, which is next to Homer Babbidge Library and is one to our Archives and Special Collections among other Institutes.
- The Electronic Classroom, Class of 1947, Electronic Classroom 2, Lecture Center, and Scholar’s Collaborative are all located in Homer Babbidge Library.
- The Digital Media and Design Lab is located in the Bishop Center.
Click Here For Location URLs and QR Codes
Thank You Sponsors!
