Cornell Holds Digital Humanities Camp
Cornell University hosted a collaborative, informal "unconference" on the digital
humanities — the use of technology in humanities teaching and research
— at the university's Olin Library on April 9-10.
The event, called the Central New York THAT (The Humanities and Technology) camp,
invited humanists and technologists of all skill levels to learn and
build together in sessions proposed on the spot, according to
information on the site. Approximately 50 people attended the event,
which included numerous collaborative sessions, as well as short
lunchtime presentations called "Dork Shorts," where participants gave
two or three-minute talks.
The event kicked off with a Graduate Student Symposium,
during which Cornell graduate students gave presentations on their
technology-based teaching or research projects. The remaining day and a
half of the event was open to collaborative sessions on topics related
to the digital humanities. Participants discussed "the use of 3-D
printing in archaeology, the possibilities of text encoding in poetry,
online crowdsourcing and using citation management software to organize
archival research," according to a news story on Cornell's site.
Another session involved a collaborative world-building exercise using
Wikis and digital maps.
"So much of this technology is
cutting-edge. Everybody is learning together, so you're sharing tips
and tools," Susette Newberry, assistant director of research and
learning services for Olin and Uris libraries, told the Cornell
Chronicle. "It's a collaborative learning effort."
Cornell's THAT Camp event was organized by members of the university's Digital Humanities Grad Network.
Information about other THATCamp events can be found on the organization's site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].