Digital Humanities

Digital humanities may be defined as encompassing research, teaching, and technology to present information related to English, Art, History, Language, Philosophy, Music and more in a digital environment.  Projects related to digital humanities, DH for short, range from digitizing existing collections like the Willa Cather archive at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to using data mining in relation to textual and other types of analysis.

To be fair, the Cather archive is more than simply digitizing a print collection.  The website is linked to a technology knows as TokenX which allows readers to select a Cather text and then run powerful analysis of the word choices made by the author.  A TokenX word cloud for My Antonia (1918) for example, reveals that some of the most 100 frequent words used in the novel were: Ambrosch, Antonia, country, home, old, time, black, hawk, and more.  "One of the" and "out of the"are the two most common sequences of words in the book, comfortably ahead of number three, "there was a."

A new digital site for a historical document I have used "analog" portions of in a number of classes for the last 14 years was recently discussed in the New York Times.  Ernesto Miranda has helped bring to life the Codex Mendoza free on the internet AND as a digital app. The Codex, a 1542 report, explains the nature of the Spanish relationship with Mexicas (Aztecs).  The digital version allows readers to see the 16th century Spanish, modern translations in newer Spanish or English, and maps of the area under discussion.

A key resource I have used to learn more about certain aspects of digital humanities is hosted at George Mason University.  Named for the late historian, Roy Rosenzweig, the Center for History and New Media has celebrated twenty years of utilizing digital media and computer technology to "democratize" the study of history.  The Center has been responsible for the dissemination of useful tools like Omeka (web publishing) and Zotero (research gathering) as well as history specific sites like teaching history.org and archives on the Bracero program, Soviet era gulags, September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina as well as other topics.

For people interested in learning more about how to apply digital humanities in their own work, you might consider attending the "unconferences" called THATCamp (the humanities and technology camp).  Held in conjunction with national and regional conferences in various disciplines, these are sometimes difficult to look up as their organizational website seems defunct, but they do crop up for free and open to the public.  In early January one such camp occured at the American Historical Association annual meeting and an upcoming version will take place on February 9 and 10 at the College Art Association's annual conference (New York City, Hilton New York).  In depth training is available in British Columbia at the Digital Humanities Summer institute hosted by the University of Victoria.

Faculty/staff who have experience with other DH materials are encouraged to to comment and suggest links.

The Holiday Gift Guide

Just in case...here are some tech ideas - some of them actually useful for teaching and learning:

• How about an adapter that connects your Mac to whatever TV, monitor, or projector?
• Or maybe the perfect stylus for your tablet or a good charger for all your mobile devices?
• The Kano Computer Kit is a nicely-packaged Raspberry Pi kit with all the accessories you need to get started.
• Maybe a Photojojo lens to clip on your smart phone?
• The Narrative Clip is a tiny automatic camera that you can clip anywhere.
• A bit larger, the Polaroid Cube is a tiny 1080p HD video camera.
• Even cooler: how about the Panono Panoramic Ball Camera? 
• Or maybe just a Ladybug 2 Quadcopter?

Finally, how about adopting a glacier from the National Snow and Ice Data Center? Qori Kalis Glacier (see below) is available!

Faculty and Librarian Technology Survey (Spring 2014)

The results of the Spring 2014 Faculty and Librarian Technology Survey are available online. You have the choice between:

1. Reading the comprehensive report and analysis in a variety of formats.
2. Exploring and analyzing the data yourself.
3. Browsing the Top-10 results as an interactive Story Journal.

Your Digital Stuff

You create a lot of digital stuff as a teacher: lesson plans, lectures, screencasts, activities, handouts, tutorials, videos, and more. How do you a) store all of this and b) how do you share it (if you want to) with the rest of the world?

Many of us hide our digital stuff on PLATO or myWestfield behind a user name and password. But what happens if you leave or get fired? Or if you apply for another job and want to show-off your work?  Consider your web presence as a tool for academic networking, self-promotion, and a way to remain active in your discipline (cf. Wilson and Starkweather, 2014).

Students are faced with similar issues: their digital work is scattered across USB drives, hidden in dozens of PLATO course shells, and now inside a proprietary e Portfolio assessment system.

Here are some alternatives:

1. Upload everything to www.westfield.ma.edu.
2. Upload everything to free commercial websites (example).
3. Upload everything to an Open Education Resource (OER) (example).
4. Upload everything to your own website (example) using, for example, Reclaim Hosting and then use DWNLD to convert the website into a smartphone app (for $15 per month).

Or, maybe Westfield State can provide a solution?

Consider the A Domain of One's Own project at the University of Mary Washington or Internet2 approach of creating collaborative clouds.

Tech Tools Students Need!

This from Wired Campus: Tech Tools Students Say They Can't Live Without



The obvious caveats apply: these are selected graduate students from an expensive private school and this video is heavily edited. Nevertheless, here are a few things I noticed:

• I heard the words tablet and app a lot.
• MacBooks are clearly the laptop of choice.
• Paper and pen are still widely used 'tech' tools.

That being said - students in a recent study at Ball State University viewed tablets mainly as entertainment devices, i.e. large and expensive smartphones.

At Westfield State, only about 22 percent of respondents to the Fall 2013 Student Technology Survey reported owing a tablet computer. On the other hand, 97 percent (!) reported owing a laptop computer - a percentage that seems unreasonably high and suggests a sampling bias. That being said, the ECAR (2014) nationwide survey found student laptop ownership at 90 percent and tablet ownership at 47 percent.

iPad Teaching (Part 6): More Apps!

But wait...there's more...here's a selection of apps and things suggested in response to my last blog post (aka crowd-sourced):

1. Dartfish Easy Tag (iOS and Android) can be used to define actions or behaviors and then collect data during observations. Ask Heidi Bohler for more information!
2. Outsmart Invasive Species (iOS and Android) is a citizen science / crowd-sourcing app to help with invasive-species monitoring.
3. The Storehouse app (iOS only) looks great for visual storytelling with photos and videos (read a review on Co.DESIGN).
4. TouchCast (iOS or PC) allows you to create interactive videos with embedded web content - here's an example from MIT.

Finally, how about this 3-D laser scanner that mounts to your iPad - very cool!

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2463858,00.asp

iPad Teaching (Part 5): The End!

iPads (...replace iPad with your tablet of choice...) are great for teaching and learning. That being said, articles such as Making the iPad the Center of the Academic Experience or infographics such as iPad as the Teacher's Pet make the seem as though tablets (and their associated apps) are the solution for the ills of education today. Students, on the other hand, seem to view tablets as entertainment devices (according to a recent study at Ball State University). Still, there is good evidence that tablets can improve learning (here and here).

Here are a few cool things to do with a tablet (or smartphone):

1. Use your tablet as a document camera (aka Elmo).
2. Use your tablet/smartphone as a remote control for anything running inside Google Chrome, for example Google Presentations, Prezi, Slideshare, etc.) with de Mobo.
3. Screencasting with an iPad by recording your hand writing on the touchscreen.

Of course there is much for, for example 40 Android Apps for Teaching and Learning, iPad Apps for the Classroom, and Teaching with iPad (by Apple).

Finally: how about storytelling with the Connection Storymaker App (available for iOS and Android)?