So I’ve been thinking …
In the past few weeks I’ve found myself thinking about how I identify with the Digital Humanities and as a Digital Humanist. It’s possible that I’m hyperaware of issues relating to DH right now as I apply for jobs that are specifically or tangentially associated with Digital Studies, but I’ve been a Digital Humanist since long before I ever heard the term. Somewhere on Dropbox is my 2003 application to the UToronto MA program in which I waxed poetic about a digital scriptorium. In the years since I’ve got used to explaining and defending methodologies and perspectives, but recently I’ve been surprised by how many people still find us alien and a little bit threatening. In fact, it really hadn’t occurred to me that there is an “us.”
Latest
SCSC Mapping Presentation
On 27 October I gave a paper at the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference in Cincinnati. The transcript of the paper, entitled “Tracing the Steps of Touring Actors: Using REED Records and GIS to Illuminate 16th Century Performance Practices”, can be read at the Tarlton Project website.
Toward a better research project
This week my ENGL 1102 students will begin presenting their short research projects. I’ve used this assignment twice before, but this time there are a few new twists. The project still involves the development of a class-wide knowledge base designed to help students better grasp the context of medieval and early modern culture and society, and is designed to reinforce best credible research practices. But whereas the past two iterations involved a complex of technological platforms and communication modes (oral presentation w/ PowerPoint or Prezi-based visual aids, complementary wiki entries, visceral Twitter feedback) this time I’m trying to streamline the process and experience. Students choose from this list of topics that relate to either Elizabethan or medieval England (as identified in the second tetralogy.)
Respite from the Grading Trenches
I took time off this morning to consider why the heck I’m teaching this stuff: “Once More Unto the Breach, Or, Why Teach Shakespeare to Georgia Tech Undergraduates.”
And now back to the trenches.
Romans / Britons Collaborative Narrative Project
Concept: A group of historians, archeologists, and associated researches collaborate to produce a evolving multimodal research-based historical biography.
Narrative: use the characters Suetonius Paulinus, Boudica, and several others to develop the complex interlocking narratives of the clash between the invading Romans and the defending Celts in England and Wales during the first century BCE.
Medium: online integrated multimodal space (some form of CMS that can incorporate text, maps, images, timelines, video, etc.)
Value:
- Experiment with online research collaboratory methods
- Explore a complex subject that is defined by its divisive structure (battling ethnic forces, aspects of the expanding Roman Empire, questions about Celtic culture)