History 9808ADigital History

8 September 2014

Today’s Agenda Introductions

Me and the course You Digital History- What is it anyway?

Me Contact information:

Lawson 1208 Office Hours: Mondays 10-12 (before class) 519-824-4120 x 52279 jarring@gmail.com

Postdoctoral fellow in the Historical Data Research Unit

Historian of…

My DH projects1. Census project 1871-1911

“Big Data”

2. Scottish Chapbooks Project Digitization project in collaboration with UG Library

3. Insuring Canadians, 1875-1929 Digitization project in collaboration with Ontario

Genealogical Society

My questions are about: Digital methods and tools – how can they help me

achieve research goals Audience – how can digital communication and

products help reach new audiences?

Course Description I This course is designed to introduce students

to new and inter-disciplinary digital history approaches, methodologies, and tools, and to explore applications to text, image, map, and other media sources. There will be flexibility to accommodate the specific disciplines and interests of the students and a special focus will be on the application of digital history to public history practice.

Course Description (continued) The class will be held once a week and will

feature instructor and expert presentations, demonstrations, workshops and discussion. Students will complete weekly readings, contribute to discussions, and complete two projects that apply digital humanities tools. Participation will be evaluated through blog posting, in-class discussion, and peer review.

Learning outcomes At the end of the course, students will: Have increased digital history skills, and be able to

comprehend and use appropriate language of digital history research and practice

Be able to understand and discuss the advantages of different methodologies of digital history inquiry and presentation

Have learned to collect, manage, and manipulate digital data from various sources

Be able to formulate, direct, and complete a digital history project

Have communicated digital history topics in a public forum

Evaluation

Participation and Blogging (50%) In-class participation (20%)

Students will be evaluated on the insights they bring to discussions based on readings

Online (blog) participation (30%) and responses Students will set up and maintain personal blogs that will

serve to communications and project updates. Please note that these will be publically accessible (now and for the foreseeable future) so proper standards of decorum are expected. Blogger and Wordpress are two popular blogging sites. Please make sure to use an app that has a comments feature. (Tumblr does not). Blog addresses must be emailed to the instructor by September

15. Specific students will be assigned to lead the blogging each week. A minimum of six (6) substantial blogs (over 500 words) is

required Students can also set up a Twitter account (optional).

Evaluation (continued) Digital Landscaping Project (25%)

There are two options for this project, for which we will discuss appropriate resources and applications in class.

Option A: Using images, maps, art, and textual descriptions, students will recreate

an interesting or significant historical landscape, historical site, or property. Special attention should be paid to change in the landscape. The project will include a short essay (800-1200 words) on the digital methods and process of producing the project, as well as an explanation of its historical significance. We will discuss appropriate resources and applications in class.

Option B: Using floor plans, blueprints, insurance maps, images, art and textual

descriptions, students will reconstruct a historic building or historically significant site. Special attention should be paid to change in the building’s purpose or form.

Proposals due October 13 Project due November 3.

Evaluations (continued) Historical Website or Visualization Project (25%)

Again, two options… Option A (Historical website)

Students are to construct a website about a historical topic of their choice. You are required to use the knowledge, skills, and research from course workshops and seminars, and encouraged to build on the acquired research from assignment #1. The website will be complimented by a 1200-1500 word essay on the

Option B (Historical visualization) Create a detailed visualizations of a historical topics using at least two of the

following formats: 3D modelling using SketchUp and GoogleEarth 3D Warehouse Before and after presentation A webmap A visualization based on database or textual analysis (e.g. Voyant) Other format that meets with instructor approval.

In-progress projects will be presented in-class (5-10 minutes each) on November 24 for peer and instructor feedback and commentary

Due: December 8

The Keys to Doing Well Focus is on active learning

Discover, discuss, learn, apply Requires:

Engagement Self-directed learning Collaboration Pushing yourself into unfamiliar territory Time commitment

Each class: Prepare, Participate, Process

Don’t let me hold you back…

Course Resources

The course website is at http://jandrewross.ca/history-9808a.php the central repository for readings,

assignments, and blog roll information Your blogs

Soon to be set up… today Send me links to be included on main blog

The WWW… Your main oyster.

Schedule

Sept 8 What is Digital History?

Sept

15

Internet, Media and History

Sept

22

Digitization and the Infinite Archive

Sept

29

Image Manipulation and Intellectual Property

Oct 6 Digital Maps: The Potential of Spatial Humanities

Oct 13 Text Transformation and Mining

Oct 20 Big Data and Programming

Oct 27 3D visualization

Nov 3 Multi-media Exhibition and Web Design

(Assignment #1 due)

Nov

10

Lab Day (no reading)

Nov

17

Gaming the past

Nov

24

Project Presentations (in progress)

Dec 1 3D Printing

(Dec

8)

(no class - Assignment #2 due)

Who are you? Graduates with several years of research and

thinking about history Questions

1. What technology have you most often used to learn, produce, and share knowledge?

Which are “digital”?

2. How did undergraduate (or work) experience prepare you to use digital approaches?

3. Has digital world changed your view of history and the role of the historian?

4. Which digital topics/tools are you interested in exploring?

Interview each other for 10 minutes… and we’ll discuss.

First of all…

A poll How many actively

use: Twitter? Facebook? Tumblr? Reddit? MySpace? The Deep Web?

Experience with: Blogging? Software coding? Image editing? Wiki editing?

So what is DH? DH=Digital History, but more broadly, Digital

Humanities Definitions?

“Digital humanities is a diverse and still-emerging field that encompasses the practice of humanities research in and through information technology, and the exploration of how the humanities may evolve through their engagement with technology, media, and computational methods.” (Digital Humanities Quarterly)

“Diverse and still emerging” “information technology” “evolve through… engagement with technology,

media, and computational methods.”

Purpose of DH Spiro 2011

Provide access to cultural information Enable manipulation of that information

Manage, mashup, mine, map, model Transform scholarly communication Enhance Learning and Teaching Make a public impact

Components of DH Svensson 2009

Tools Databases, data visualization, etc. The Digital as Object of Study Social media, behavioural changes

Collaboration Collective approach to research, and tool creation

A Mode of Production Digital publishing, multimedia

A Ethics of open-ness Data, products

Your (We)blog Your blog will serve as:

A thinking and writing stimulator A participation product showing preparation for class, and

processing of class information Assignment repository Project log Peer review and peer help mechanism

Set up your blog: Any free site is fine: Blogger, or WordPress… (Don’t pay!) Must be class-specific Your real name must appear in an obvious place, and

ideally a picture (not required) Send me the link Add blogs pertaining to your research interests

Blog Evaluation

Blog theme: “What did I learn? What can I teach?” You must have at least one blog post a week

Including reading week, and the week after the last project presentations (c. Apr 9)

Contributions will be evaluated every week on Monday Even if there is no specific blog assignment for the

week, you should blog. Possible topics: Your ideas for your own project, and later, project log updates What other students are doing (blogging or presenting in

class) The guest presentations Online discoveries:

E.g. Experiments with DH tools; ideas about DH theory and applications

Improvements (widgets etc.) made to your blog And…?

Today’s Assignment Set up your blog

Send me the link Then post on the question:

“How do I see digital tools and approaches affecting my current and future practice of (public) history?” (500 words)

AND comment on someone else’s blog Please post by Friday night to give a chance for

response And we need three “blog leaders” for next week…

To post by Sunday night on a topic derived from next week’s readings

And help lead the discussion in class

For next week Blog by Friday (and Sunday if you are a blog

leader for next week) Comment on another blog Build your blogroll Do the readings