Seeking Digital Humanities Caucus Sessions
The Digital Humanities Caucus of The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies seeks session topics and organizers for next year’s ASECS conference, to be held March 22-25, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. Session proposals are due to ASECS by MAY 1; forms are at the ASECS site.
The caucus has no officers or official meetings. It is an ad hoc group run by those who attend, in person or virtually, and who care to contribute. A description of its goals and aims is here.
This year’s 2011 ASECS conference hosted two caucus panels, among many other digital humanities events (listed here; 2010 DH panels listed here). It would be nice to put on two next year as well.
Please use the comments to contribute ideas for session topics, volunteer your services as chair/organizer, and to generate ideas on how we might organize ourselves as a caucus in the future.
I have chaired sessions two years in a row so am definitely ready to pass the torch. However, I can offer a couple ideas for others to follow up on based on conversations I had with some of you at ASECS11:
- Best Projects: Digital Humanities Showcase (perhaps in conjunction with 18thConnect, which peer reviews such projects…)
- Best Practices in Digital Pedagogy (or something teaching & learning related)
- Digital Humanities How-To Workshop
I’m sure YOU have better ideas, so please step up!
–Lisa Maruca
Wayne State University
lisa.maruca@wayne.edu
April 20th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Thanks Lisa for getting the ball rolling, especially since the May 1 deadline is fast approaching. I think the 3 ideas you suggest are good ones and I would love to attend a session on each at San Antonio. I am willing to propose the second (Best Practicies in Digital Pedagogy) and chair the session if accepted.
Betsy Lewis
University of Mary Washington
elewis@umw.edu
April 23rd, 2011 at 11:30 am
Yes, thanks, Lisa!
I also like the three topics proposed and I would be willing to chair/help organize the showcase of digital projects.
Also, we might think of doing something along the lines of Digital Humanities and the Archices. Work in DH is creating new archives, making us rethink the traditional archives, and more. I will have more time to do something for this on Thursday the 28th.
I know from the SHARP panel if we need an extra day or two past the MAY 1st deadline, that Vickie Cutting will be okay with that; that said, it would be good to submit by May 1st.
Isn’t the Caucus guaranteed two slots? Affiliate socieites do get two slots.
Eleanor Shevlin
April 25th, 2011 at 9:43 am
We do get two slots–at least we did this year–and I think you two would both be great chairs on the topics you suggest. Betsy, feel free to refine the topic to fit your interests.
April 25th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
I really like the idea of a “how to” workshop – it would get us away from the traditional panel format. Could we do something like “learn about a new tool in 5 minutes” and have everyone who attends the session showcase tools they like? Like lightning talks? Or perhaps we could we have computers set up and people walk around the room trying out the tools? (I’m defending my dissertation on the 29th, but I could write up a proposal after that.)
April 25th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Adrianne, I like this idea, but be warned that it would take a lot of organizing. For one, we might want to seek permission to do this in a longer workshop format, maybe on the first day of the conference, which requires buy-in from the local ASECS organizers. Many caucuses sponsor luncheons or other meetings; maybe the DH Caucus’ unique contribution is something like this. Of course, the session organizer then needs to locate people who could be the tool/technology presenters/instructors.
So…we have three ideas on the table so far. Are there others, or comments on which ones the caucus should support? We could suggest all three (two sessions + a workshop), or the pedagogy session could be rolled into the workshop format, and Betsy and Adrianne could work together.
April 25th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Adrianne’s suggestion sounds as if it could be a innovative version of DH projects–.
We have hosted a session somewhat like this one at previous SHARP conferences, and this year we will have another along these lines. Presenters bring their laptops and attendees walk around the room, see demos, learn about the tools, and so forth. (like the lighteneing version of this idea, too, but it could be complicated to organize–and should have about 10 participants?
I’ll can write up the DH and Archives one–I am also willing to take a back seat if Betsy and Adrianne want theirs to be the two that the DH Caucus submits–Otherwise I will do this on Thursday, so just let me know everyone’s thoughts before then.
All best,
Eleanor
April 26th, 2011 at 6:45 am
A stand-alone pedagogy session might attract from a wide-range of participants, whereas a how-to session would be more targeted at a specific audience, and a workshop format might work for that. I like Adrienne’s idea to set up a room where there are multiple demonstrations at a time. Since the deadline is this Sunday, and since she is little busy this week, I don’t mind proposing the two sessions–one a more traditional one on best practices in pedagogy with me as chair, and the other the “How-to” workshop to learn new tools with Adrienne as chair. Now the question would be which 2 of the 3 be the “official” DH sessions? I sort of think the Showcase and the How-To, and then the session on pedagogy could be the 3rd, but not “official”. I can work on the two and put drafts up here before I submit if you like.
April 27th, 2011 at 4:53 am
I will only add to the mix that in the past the Caucus has thought that it should support one more theoretical session and one more practical/pedagogical. I really like the “how-to” idea because it is novel, at least to ASCES, as far as I know.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Here is what I’ve come up with. Comments welcome, and sought!
Best Practices in Digital Pedagogy
Presenters in this session will share their experiments, challenges, and successes in using digital applications to teach eighteenth-century studies at the undergraduate or graduate level. Some questions that presenters might address are: 1) How has the use of digital media promoted student learning inside and outside the classroom? 2) What challenges does the use of digital media pose? 3) How do “best practices” in digital pedagogy differ from more traditional forms of teaching? 4) What does the use of digital media add to the study of the eighteenth-century?
New Tools for Eighteenth-Century Studies: A “How-to” Workshop
In this session presenters will have the chance to share innovative digital tools and applications for eighteenth-century studies. Similar in format to a more traditional poster session, presenters in this session will simultaneously demonstrate their tools to participants, who will be able to experience multiple presentations and interact directly with presenters and their tools during this open workshop.
Anticipated Audio Visual Requirements: projector, screen, computer, speakers, internet connection, multiple power outlets and tables to set up laptops and other equipment.
Also, I don’t have to be the one to submit, if Lisa, Adrienne or someone else would like to.
Betsy
April 27th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
I just saw this and thought it might be great to learn more about this project that just got funded. Perhaps we could ask Buell to participate in a panel?
NEH Announces 22 New Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants (April 2011)
University of South Carolina Research Foundation (Columbia, SC 29208)
Duncan A. Buell
History Simulation for Teaching Early Modern British History
https://securegrants.neh.gov/PublicQuery/main.aspx?f=1&gn=HD-51230-11
April 30th, 2011 at 7:34 am
On the best projects side of Lisa’s post I would like to suggest a panel which brings together projects with 18thConnect and Project Bamboo. I am part of Bamboo and we are working with 18thConnect to create an environment where researchers can utilize tools across a number of pre-1800 collections of digital texts. There is some very interesting work being done using text mining and visualization tools to rethink texts. Researchers are using ECCO and TCP-ECCO in some really innovative ways. I’m aware it’s very close to the deadline but if there is an effort to get something together along these lines I would be happy to help.
April 30th, 2011 at 11:12 am
These all sound like great ideas. I think 18thConnect is going to be able to hold a pre-conference workshop as well. It will be three hours long, and in it, you’ll see how to search, take notes, edit, and write publishable articles all within 18thConnect (ideally, some collaboratively published, peer-reviewed articles will come out of the session). Please keep that extra afternoon, the afternoon before the conference starts, on your calendar, and pass the word.
I think Seth and I could put together a panel on the TCP-ECCO texts, even before the deadline–will post on that if it works out.
May 3rd, 2011 at 11:54 am
Thanks, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Laura for sending in proposals. Once they are accepted, feel free to use this forum to promote the sessions, post work, links or other info, add readings, etc.
May 9th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
I’m really looking forward to these timely and innovative sessions–especially intriguing to me are the text mining/data visualization tools for use with early texts touched on by Seth, as well as the best practices proposal from Betsy. I know it’s early days, yet, but I’m eager to hear more about the panels. And, if anyone needs help organizing things, I would love to contribute another pair of hands.
Tonya Howe
Marymount University
June 9th, 2011 at 7:48 am
At THATcamp at the Centre for History and New Media last weekend, there were a number of eighteenth-century scholars and some momentum and enthusiasm developed around digital eighteenth-century studies. One idea that was thrown around was the possibility of holding an unconference at ASECS this year. I have since discussed this idea with Laura Mandell and 18thConnect will be running a launch in the afternoon of the day before the conference itself begins, so we came up with the idea of doing something in the morning of that day. It would give us a whole day of eighteenth-century related digital discussion. First, I’d like to find out if there’s sufficient interest in this idea, and then we’d need to give it some organizational thought.
June 9th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
I went to the Great Lakes THATCamp this year, and it was one of my best conference experiences. This is a great idea, Seth, and I’m definitely in.
June 9th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Seth, I’m in! I think bringing the THATCamp unconference model to ASECS is a great idea, and I can’t wait to get started. I’ll think more about possible topics, but I do love the idea of lightning slides–at the beginning of the conference, it might also be fun to open it up as a format for later presenters in the program to experiment with. Maybe we can win some folks over!
June 28th, 2011 at 9:55 am
Hello, All — we got the go-ahead from Amanda French, ASECS, and the Hotel, so plan to attend a day-long (minus two hours) THATCamp pre-conference before ASECS in beautiful San Antonio. The last two hours of the day will be a workshop about how to use 18thConnect. I hope you can all come to that as well.
I think George and Seth are planning the unconference, with support from my new center at Texas A&M, the IDHMC (Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture). The center will host a cash-bar with finger-food at the end of the day, to celebrate digitality in general (yes, fingers are good), and then we can hit the town for dinner. Please plan on coming, and tell your friends.
June 28th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
This is very exciting, Laura! I’ll plan on being there. George and Seth, let me know if you need help. And thanks in advance to the IDHMC.
July 27th, 2011 at 10:32 am
I have posted an entry here about the plans for THATCamp ASECS, so take a look at the most recent postings and you will see a few more details about what we have in mind. There will be also be a THATCamp ASECS website for registration and session suggestions soon.