2018 Digital Humanities Summer Workshop
Northwestern University
This interdisciplinary workshop brings together faculty, librarians, and technologists for a two-week intensive, critical, and collaborative experience in developing digital humanities pedagogy and research projects with meaningful roles for students. Hosted by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities and co-organized by Northwestern University Libraries and The Weinberg College Media and Design Studio, the Digital Humanities Summer Workshop provides Northwestern humanities faculty with the opportunity to learn and grow technology skills; think critically about digital information, tools and culture; conceptualize and collaborate on research and pedagogy projects; and participate in interdisciplinary seminars and discussions.
WEEK 1 August 27-31
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |Friday
WEEK 2 September 4-7
Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday
Website
MONDAY August 27
09:00 AM Workshop, Personal & Project Introductions
An introduction to and outline of the workshop and introductions to workshop participants and staff. Please come ready to discuss your professional and scholarly background, current research and teaching interests, goals and hopes for the workshop, your proposed digital humanities project, and 2-3 digital projects you find interesting and/or inspirational.
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Seminar: Readings in Digital Humanities Readings
In this session, the workshop facilitators will lead a discussion of several readings and resources as an introduction to digital humanities theory, practice and critique, and that will help inform future workshop sessions.
Readings | “A Short Guide to the Digital_Humanities” - Burdick et al (2013); “The Emergence of the Digital Humanities (as the Network is Everting)” - Jones (2016); “Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation” - McPherson (2012)
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Seminar: Introduction to HTML, Markup, and CMS
Some of the most ubiquitous forms of electronic media exist as the content found on the web and in electronic document systems. In this seminar we will take a closer look at HTML, its evolution as a document format, and its relationship to formats such as XML/TEI, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and PDF. While web authoring today may not require passing the technical hurdles of years’ past, we will see how the semantics of markup languages are embedded in modern-day content management systems.
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
At the end of each day we will come together as a group to report and reflect on what we worked on and learned throughout the day. The final minutes will be dedicated to an overview of the next day of the workshop, introducing any homework, placing our activities in context, and setting goals.
TUESDAY August 28
09:00 AM Morning Report
Each morning we will come together to briefly outline our goals for the day.
09:15 AM Workshop: Introduction to Data, Metadata and Modeling
This session introduces basic data modeling and organization concepts. Building on three accessible metaphors—a curated collection of photographs, a personal library of books, and movies together with primary actors—we can begin to understand systems of consistently structuring data, motivations and methods for controlling the vocabulary used to describe persons and objects, and leading systems of defining relationships between objects. We will conclude by turning our data into a relational database that will power a website.
Readings | “Humanities Data: A Necessary Contradiction” - Posner (2015); “Databases” - Ramsay (2004); “A Brief History of Databases” - Fortune (2014)
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Workshop: Databases and Omeka
This workshop will combine major ideas presented in the previous two workshops on structured data in order to introduce and better understand Omeka, one of the most popular platforms for creating web-accessible digital archives. Employing the principles of an environmental scan, we will begin by comparing and analyzing showcase installations of Omeka to guide us in designing and building a small sample archive and exhibit. We will also briefly explore some of the most common companion tools and extensions used with the Omeka platform.
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Coffee & Collaborate
These sessions are dedicated for time working on your project. Activities could include working on your course syllabus, learning a new platform or tool, prototyping narratives and designs, identifying resources, meeting with project team members, etc.
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
WEDNESDAY August 29
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Coffee & Collaborate
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Workshop: Maps & Mapping
Spatial analysis can be a powerful tool for understanding a range of human phenomenon both contemporarily and historically. In this session, we will begin by exploring the various mapping tools, resources, and support available to researchers at Northwestern. Kelsey Rydland, GIS Analyst at Northwestern University Libraries, will discuss best practices for getting your data organized and ready to map. Following a short presentation and discussion, participants will delve into hands-on exercises, working collaboratively to track and compile tabular data, creating a dynamic web map or exhibit using ArcGIS Online.
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Workshop: Mapping & Storytelling
In this “artist talks,” incoming Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow Andrew Britt will discuss his research into and experimental mapping of the making of space and race/ethnicity in three prominent neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo, Brazil’s multicultural megalopolis. This workshop will also cover additional custom tools and the broader implications of map-based argumentation, narrative, storytelling, research, and pedagogy.
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
THURSDAY August 30
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Seminar: Sonic and Visual Treatments for Scholarly Work, Pt 1
In this session, John Bresland—Lecturer in English and Director of the Weinberg College Media and Design Studio—will lead an exploration of the video essay as narrative and reflective form, along with its pedagogical applications.
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Seminar: Sonic and Visual Treatments for Scholarly Work, Pt 2
We continue the conversation with John Bresland considering how sonic and visual treatments can enhance and support the research and pedagogical initiatives we envision.
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Coffee & Collaborate
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
FRIDAY August 31
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Alumni Presentation: Francesca Tataranni, Ancient Rome in Chicago
Digital Humanities Summer Workshop alumna and Professor of Classics Francesca Tataranni will share experiences developing and refining a groundbreaking course that brings architecture, receptions of classical antiquity, and digital storytelling together through interactive maps and videos. We will distill numerous lessons learned and explore manifold pedagogical considerations, including suggested training and requisite scaffolding for students.
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Seminar: Digital Pedagogy and the Undergraduate Classroom
As humanities disciplines continue to embrace newer technologies for creative and scholarly forms, research and production engages with a growing number of media. At the same time, a generational shift has promised the notion of a digital native, while studies show that such “natives” can actually be, in fact, “naïves.” Thus, a recurring question centers around what types of literacies should be assumed, which should be taught, by whom, and when. In essence, what are the competencies students must possess to criticize and evaluate modern media? Do all students need to learn programming? Faculty teaching courses that include a digital component face many of these questions, particularly when considering a balance between time scheduled to cover subject matter versus digital tools and techniques.
Readings | “The Myths of the Digital Native and the Multitasker” - Kirschner, et al (2017); “Multiliteracies in the Undergraduate Digital Humanities Curriculum” - Clement (2012) (pp. 365-388); “A Student Collaborator Bill of Rights” - Di Pressi, et al. (2015)
TUESDAY September 4
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Coffee & Collaborate
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Seminar: Access & Ethics in the Digital Humanities
In this critical and interactive session, Digital Humanities Librarian Josh Honn will lead an exploration (through readings, works of art, digital projects, pedagogical examples, and more) of a wide range of issues related to digital technology and its application in the humanities and cultural heritage materials. More specifically, this session will cover practices and issues in digitization, copyright and fair use, open access publishing, native and indigenous cultural protocols, web accessibility, digital privacy and labor, and classroom and community practices.
Readings | “Does Information Really Want to be Free? Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Question of Openness” - Christen (2012); “Born Archival: The Ebb and Flow of Digital Documents from the Field” - Turin (2011); “The Digital Afterlife of Lost Family Photos” - Cole (2016)
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Coffee & Collaborate
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
WEDNESDAY September 5
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Coffee & Collaborate
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Coffee & Collaborate
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Coffee & Collaborate
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
THURSDAY September 6
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Coffee & Collaborate
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Guest Speakers: Kyle Roberts & Elizabeth Hopwood, Loyola University
In 2009, faculty from Loyola University launched the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities (CTSDH) to operate as a multidisciplinary research center to support the nascent model of “digital humanities.” Here, the current leadership of the CTSDH joins us to share more about their personal experiences in the field, active and past projects and initiatives, and the role of the CSTDH and other DH centers in aspects of development, peer review and platform hosting.
12:30 PM Lunch
01:30 PM Seminar: Evaluating Digital Scholarship
As we develop new digital research and pedagogy projects, we need also to consider their evaluation, both the critique of web-based digital humanities projects and rubrics and metrics for evaluating student work in the digital humanities classroom. In this session, we will discuss readings (below) on evaluation digital scholarship, critique and evaluate existing digital humanities projects, and share our experiences evaluating print- and digital-based student assignments.
Readings | “Evaluating Multimodal Scholarship, Revisited” - Mattern (2012);
“Best Practice Guidelines for the Development and Evaluation of Digital Humanities Projects” - RedHD (2014); “Review Guidelines” - DHCommons (2016) (alternate link)
03:30 PM Break
03:45 PM Regroup, Report, Reflect
FRIDAY September 7
09:00 AM Morning Report
09:15 AM Coffee & Collaborate
10:30 AM Break
11:00 AM Event: Final Presentations
In this final session of the workshop, faculty participants will present an overview of their digital humanities projects to an audience of invited guests from across the Northwestern University campus. Following the presentations, we will open the floor to discussion, over lunch, on the faculty projects and the current state and future of digital humanities at Northwestern.
12:30 PM Lunch / Closing Reception