In the spirit of the very well received session proposal Tech Learning Modules Travers posted, I would like to propose this as a “session module,” one that might either be discussed on its own or fitted into another session. I want to discuss how best to engage undergraduate students in meaningful work with digital humanists working in libraries, museums, and archives. This might be a good forum through which to address what possibilities digital projects as engaged service learning offer both for undergraduate students and participating institutions. Greg Lambousy (Louisiana State Museum) and I have piloted one such digital partnership in one of my US survey history courses. One of the best examples I know of is László Fülöp’s UNO film students who learn documentary video production at UNO while producing PSAs for community non-profits.

I understand that Tulane, LSU, and USM offer a “best practices” approach for these sorts of partnerships, but I am interested in how these partnerships might work in the real world of public institutions whose interests are never well-served or properly funded. My best partnership experiences are with other public institutions, such as New Orleans Public Library and the LSM. We are the Coalition of the Unwillingly Underfunded.

I would like to host a session on Zotero, an open source reference management application. In the session, I will explain what Zotero is, and provided a brief tutorial on how to setup, create and manage your Zotero account. I would also like to have a discussion on what free tools or resources others are implementing in their courses or on campus.

It’s everywhere. Every library or museum of a certain size seems to have digital collections in it. You can’t escape it. It’s CONTENTdm!

But is that a bad thing?

In this session, I’d like to talk/share/commiserate with other CONTENTdm users on some of the challenges and opportunities offered by the new version, particularly in regards to digital humanities projects and supporting those who are doing them. I’m still a relative newcomer to the software, and I’m excited by some of the things I see other users doing with it, but I’m frustrated, too, by some of my day-to-day problems with it. I imagine others feel the same.

I’m also intrigued by the software’s roots at the University of Washington circa 1999 and how it became the proprietary commercial juggernaut that it is today. I wonder what will become of tools like Omeka, DSpace, Fedora, and others that some of us depend on today in fourteen years’ time.