The central Gulf Coast’s first THATCamp was held on May 17, 2013, in New Orleans. THATCamp NOLA was a successful “unconference” held at the Louisiana Humanities Center Building. Digital Humanities folk in New Orleans based at the University of New Orleans and several from the University of Southern Mississippi collaborated on introducing THATCamp to the area. Volunteers from Loyola and Xavier Universities also contributed to the successful unconference, which featured 63 registrants and drew participants from as far as Kentucky.

Any one interested in helping with planning for the next THATCamp NOLA should contact Michael Mizell-Nelson: mmizelln@uno.edu

If you would like to learn a bit more about who participated and what some of the sessions were like, please visit some of the pages from our 2013 event.

Just a reminder to add a link to your dork shorts sites in the comments to this post (whether you showed us your work in person or if the comments are the first time we see it).

Also, if you took notes in a session that you’d like to share, please post them in the Google drive folder we set up for THATCamp New Orleans. Even though WiFi was spotty, I will type handwritten notes from sessions I attended and post them. Hoping someone (or several someones) who attended the other sessions can do the same.

If you are in town for the evening or weekend and looking for fellow campers to join you in dinner, Boogaloo’ing, or anything not against the law, don’t forget the hashtag #tcno13.

Keep an eye here and on @tcampnola2013 for further news, and stay in touch!

Gena

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.

We will have a 30-minute Dork Shorts session during the last part of our 90-minute lunch break.
12:00-1:30 Lunch and 1:00 -1:30 Dork Shorts

THATCAmp Central states:
“Dork shorts, known in some corners as ‘lightning talks,’ are brief (2-minute) presentations in which attendees discuss current or upcoming projects, demonstrate new tools, or call for collaborators. Like most of THATCamp, Dork Shorts are meant to be as informal as possible. Although the concept might be unfamiliar to new THATCampers, veterans think it’s one of the most fun and useful parts of each meeting: Dork Shorts let you learn a lot in a little bit of time.”

Since not everybody will be able to attend, we want to follow the approach taken by THATCamp New England, whose instructions we borrow.

“Tell us about your project, the great tools or apps that make your life worth living or anything that you think is relevant and worth telling about. You have two minutes, one topic, and you get to use one URL. No PowerPoint, no time to load anything, no USB sticks.”

This comment thread will allow those people having a great lunch break the opportunity to learn a little bit about your project regardless of how late they may be in rejoining THATCamp. If you’d like to present, sign up by adding a comment and URL below. We will have time for about 15 presentations. If there’s space available, one can sign up on Friday. The order we follow in this session will be based upon when you post your comment.

Some Dork Shorts in action:

I think my particular proposal, related to a project I am currently working on, might be a sub-topic for any number of sessions already offered (specifically, Michael’s, Anne’s and/or Doreen’s). I am trying to sort out the best technology/interface to use for a project I’m developing with colleagues that will be submitted to the online journal “Liminalities” once completed. I have a colleague at Xavier willing to help me with some of my technological needs, but I need to figure out for myself and my co-author what those needs might be and how to best fulfill them.  To that end, I’m attaching a proposal I submitted  last academic year to a National Communication Association round table panel, the goals of which were “to identify themes and specific projects for communication scholars in the digital humanities and to help scholars develop projects to submit to digital humanities’ journals and/or ODH start-up grant proposals,” as an introduction to my topic, themes, and potential needs.

Digital_Humanities_Proposal_Flanagan

For THATCamp New Orleans, I propose a problem-solving session on developing technological skills-training modules that could be inserted in a variety of humanities courses. Typical semester-length classes devoted to learning software applications quickly become outdated, and campus tutorials or workshops are taught in isolation from course content, critical thinking, and creative applications.

We could identify and share relatively easy-to-learn, free, open-source software tools such as ArcGIS mapmaking, Sophie multimedia books, or Korsakow nonlinear video editing. Learning modules would be developed that were largely independent of specific course content or technological tool: a creative problem-solving assignment, question, or provocation that could be adapted to a variety of humanities disciplines, subjects, and digital tools. (E.g., “Use this technological tool to express multiple sides of an ethical dilemma in this field.”)

The goal would to be to develop short, one- or two-class digital technology modules that could be inserted into a syllabus, providing students with technological tools training from a distinctively humanities perspective, integrated with course content, and without laborious specialized training for the instructor.

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.

Now it can be told: Registration for THATCamp New Orleans 2013 is open! Space is limited, so register today! Hope to see you in May!

Desire streetcar on Royal Street during its last day of service in 1948. Photograph by the late W. Bernadas.

A THATCamp is being planned for May 17, 2013, in New Orleans. It will take place in the Louisiana Humanities Center Building, 938 Lafayette Street, in downtown New Orleans. Digital Humanities folk in New Orleans hope that participants from throughout the Gulf Coast will help with planning.

THATCamp New Orleans’  Friday, May 17, date coincides with the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo Festival. This is a smaller-scale, free festival held in the center of the city May 17-19 along Bayou St. John; it’s particularly popular among residents and visitors who have been priced out of Jazz Fest.

Come for THATCamp NOLA 2013; stay for the festival.

thebayouboogaloo.com/

Yes, “you are the big factor in providing this service,” so please contact any of the organizers with questions or planning suggestions.

University of New Orleans
*Michael Mizell-Nelson, Associate Professor, History
mmizelln@uno.edu
*Gena Chattin, Digital Initiatives Librarian
gchattin@uno.edu
*Jennifer Jackson, Learning Commons & Instruction Librarian
jmjacks9@uno.edu
*Jeanne Pavy, Scholarly Communications Officer
jpavy@uno.edu
 

University of Southern Mississippi
*Jeanne Gillespie, Senior Associate Dean, College of Arts & Letters
Jeanne.Gillespie@usm.edu
*Diane DeCesare Ross, Assist. to the Dean for External Publications & Digital Humanities
Diane.Ross@usm.edu

Loyola University New Orleans
*Elizabeth Kelly, Digital Initiatives Librarian
ejkelly@loyno.edu

Stephen F. Austin State University
*Linda Levitt, Assistant Professor, Languages, Cultures, and Communication
levitt.linda@gmail.com

Xavier University of Louisiana
*Lisa Flanagan, Assistant Professor, Communication Studies
lflanaga@xula.edu

Please help us to move these plans ahead and chime in on some crucial elements. Meanwhile, read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.