We want to exchange ideas about educational technology in language and cultural acquisition. Using our peer language tandem web platform, LinguaeLive.ca as an example, we will share our own experiences with transnational peer learning. We want to encourage discussion and debate about technology as enrichment (rather than replacement) of the classroom, deep internationalization, and teaching and learning across cultural difference.

LinguaeLive is a free web platform founded by Professor Jennifer Ruth Hosek in Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Queen’s University that is being developed by a team including Mayu Takasaki, also of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

LinguaeLive allows teachers to connect their students to practice each other’s languages in peer e-tandems. The site allows any instructor to connect with colleagues teaching complementary language classes across the globe. These instructors can then link their students for peer-to-peer communication. LinguaeLive.ca can help students improve their language and cultural skills and make connections abroad and therefore is an excellent example of the use of technology to enhance transnational teaching and learning.

This session is proposed by Dr. Jennifer Hosek and Dr. Mayu Takasaki of the Languages, Literature, and Cultures Department at Queen’s.

I would like to propose a session to discuss the ways in which different digital tools could be incorporated into both the research and dissemination of a dissertation. I already take advantage of things like online text databases, digitized images, and cloud storage but I’d like to hear what everyone else finds handy in their everyday workflow and if they have any thoughts on what might be useful in the way of technology for the final product. A few of the possibilities I’ve been contemplating are an annotated e-book, an accompanying image database, or the use of 3-d modeling. As an early modern art historian working on text and images, I am interested in finding methods of dissemination that allow for greater reader interaction and which play with the relationship between text and image. I imagine this panel to be a swapping of tips and experiences between scholars of varying DH skill levels and at different points in their academic careers.

We, Clare Barker, Mitchell King and Ian Longo, propose a talk session to discuss the issues of multiple online databases of texts in Digital Humanities.  The field of Classics was an early adopter (in the ’70s and ’80s) of textual databases as a tool for research, and the problem of text being stored in unlinked databases was encountered early on.  Collaboration in several cases (e.g. papyri.info) has significantly improved the utility of the databases and increased the efficiency of textual research.  The collaboration of the Duke Data Bank, Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis Der Griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens (HGV), the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), Bibliographie Papyrologique (BP), and Trismegistos in papyri.info is a very useful and successful model for a database that accrues the majority of the published texts in a specific discipline.  In contrast, the databases for epigraphy are less united and have been more problematic for users, such as The Packard Humanities Institutes Epigraphic databases (still a work in progress).  We hope that this talk session can look at a variety of databases in different disciplines, identify the sorts of projects that have been successful, and propose future directions.

You may or may not be cursed! Allow us, in our play/talk session, to take you beyond what visible light can show you, and experience the secrets that Ultraviolet Reflectography and Infrared Photography can uncover. Let us; Ian E. Longo, Mitchell King and Clare Barker demonstrate the different uses of this technology that we are familiar with such as enhancing the legibility of text on ancient papyri and ostraka, exposing text in historic manuscripts that has been erased from history and revealing underdrawings never meant to be seen in valuable oil paintings.

Most of these techniques, before being adapted to archeology and art history, were used in the fields of dermatology and forensic investigations. In our demonstration we will be able to show you some of these applications as well. We hope that this will inspire you to join us in discussion of future applications of these digital techniques.

I would like to propose a session on some of the open-source, web-based, web-publishing tools available that bridge cultural, scholarly, library and museum worlds, such as the open source platforms, Omeka, and Mukurtu. My own interest in this session is to situate myself as a beginner technology user who would like to play and talk with other people about their interest/experiences with these tools. As a literary researcher and student archivist working with the personal papers of Zimbabwean author Yvonne Vera, I am interested in utilizing these tools to create an online resource for scholars interested where I hope to publish her archival finding aid, publicize an upcoming conference on her works, plan for collaborative digitization projects, and create a digital scholarly edition of her unpublished manuscript. Relevant discussion topics may include collaboration and project management, crowdsourcing, digital communities and cultural heritage, archives and collections, digital scholarly editions and research methods. I am hoping that this session offers a nice compliment to Heather Home and Jeremy Heil’s session on the role of Archives in DH projects.

Clare joins us from Classics at Queen’s!

I would like to learn more about photography and photo manipulation (photoshop). I don’t have that many skills to share because I am just starting out with graduate work, but my project involves infra-red photography of ancient papyrus documents which allows the ink to be seen more clearly on the image than is possible in visible light. I also use online databases in my research. Currently I am considering the best way to catalogue/organize hundreds of images and descriptions of papyri. Becoming more proficient with technology in general would be excellent for me, and I am interested to see what other work people are doing with their research involving technology.

I am a graduate student at Queen’s University in Classics. My research is in papyrology and involves using infra-red photography to read damaged, stained and/or faded ink on papyrus. I have always admired those who have moved forward with projects seemingly ahead of their time: for example, in the Classics, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae founded by Marianne McDonald (working with Theodore Brunner and David Packard) created a searchable database of Ancient Greek texts, begun in 1972!

Marc has already proposed a fantastic session on a “paper Twitter” and we’re delighted that he will be bringing his research and brain to THATCamp QueensU all the way from Littératures francophones et résonances médiatiques at Concordia!

My name is Marc Rowley, and I am a Master’s student at Concordia University in Littératures francophones et résonances médiatiques. My thesis research surrounds the question of Twitter as a medium for social critique, specifically comparing and contrasting this hypertextual form to traditional media such as comedic novels, in order to identify commonalities and divergences in their practices and effects on readers. I hope to attend THATCamp to broaden my network of new media researchers, and to realize an artistic project: the creation of a “paper Twitter”, which will help participants, myself included, more clearly identify which structures on Twitter are universal properties of human communication, and which are inseparable from its hypertextual form….I entered the MA program in Littératures francophones et résonances médiatiques in September 2012, and have decided to focus my research on the social critique capacity of Twitter: specifically, to compare and contrast this type of critique with that found in literary forms throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the comedic novel. Outside of school, my interests include theatre (both creation and consumption), writing (mostly essays, with some creative projects as well), eating locally, and lots (lots) of reading (from Tolkein to Rowling to Houllebecq)

Sarah joins us from English at Queen’s!

I am a third-year undergraduate student at Queen’s University, and especially enjoy studying literature from the Victorian Era. During the summer, I work for an organization that runs programs for children that involve literature and storytelling, and am involved in documenting their experiences online.

Kevin studies Computer Engineering at Queen’s and will join us at THATCamp:

I am a big user/creator and general fan of technology and I want to listen and learn about how people in a very different discipline interact with and use technology.

I am a researcher at Queen’s University in the field of Computer Vision, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. I am an avid technology user and big supporter/believer of Open Source (everything…).

Henry joins us from Mathematics at Queen’s!

I’d like to understand more about the humanities side of “digital humanities”, since I feel that I have more understanding of the digital part than the humanities part.

My background: I’ve done a bunch of work on Free software, mostly for the KDE project. I did a Google summer of code project for the KStars planetarium on rewriting the graphics system. I’m particularly interested in the intersection of free software and free culture, and all these sorts of tangential issues around copyright, access to knowledge, and in particular control/surveillance/censorship of networks.

Ryan is an independent researcher in History and Medieval Studies who will join us for THATCamp!

As a grad student transitioning from a background in Medieval Studies into research that examines how historians can engage the public through digital and web technologies, I believe that attending QueensU THATCamp will expand my knowledge of all things digital and allow me to meet other scholars interested in the digital humanities.

My academic background stems from very traditional Medieval Studies training (i.e., Latin and paleography). Towards the end of my MA I became fascinated by the digital humanities and have embraced this new field whole-heartedly. I now research how technology and the web can be used to engage and empower the public to take an active role in history.

Ian will join THATCamp from Classics at Queen’s:

With an interest in multi-spectrum photograph and reflectography I have been able to apply these techniques to the fields of archeology and art conservation. Coming from the photography side, I am hoping to learn why and how certain wave lengths of light – not in the visible spectrum – react to different pigments, minerals and materials. I would like to show how I can give people the opportunity to see underneath the top layer of paint in a painting but at the same time I am hoping to learn more about the technical side of this process.

I first came into the humanities hoping to find a field of study I can feel passionate about, and I have, studying the history of the classical era. As Žižek would say, to love one thing is to hate everything other than it, so I do not have blinders on when it comes to learning new things. I have committed myself to studying classics but in my free time I enjoy everything from learning about astrophysics, studying the complex and interesting history of the nuclear bomb and reading post-apocalyptic fiction, among other things.

There’s one week left until THATCamp QueensU, and session proposals have been coming in!

Remember that proposals are due on Tuesday, February 5th. The Session Proposals page contains full instructions for how to submit your proposals and all registrants will have received an email prompt for proposals.

May will join us from Cultural Studies at Queen’s!

I’m a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen’s. My dissertation deals with the uses of interactive and immersive technologies in Canadian museums, and more specifically, how cultural citizenship happens through one’s bodily interactions with museum (and national) archives. More generally, my interests include: museums & technologies, affect, phantasmagoria, and Canadian multiculturalism & postcolonialism. This semester, I’m also teaching a fourth year film class on Canadian cinema and multiculturalism.

Laura from History and Classics at Queen’s will be joining the conversation!

I’d love to hear from other disciplines in the humanities about how technology (and its speed of change) is affecting their work or studies. I would love to hear how other students/scholars/teachers working in other areas of the humanities are dealing with the rapid change of our ability to access and communicate information. As a medievalist, this has particular relevance as my discipline has jumped feet first into the world of digital humanities during the past few years, a trend not all scholars think is beneficial. I would like to discuss how technology is changing our ability to access “established” scholarly information (articles, journals, texts). Particularly in medieval studies, the “digitization” of manuscripts has been a much discussed topic in recent years. This may be a boon in terms of widening the availability of fragile and often unavailable texts; however, the downsides of these projects have only started to emerge (damage to the manuscript, cost to the library, etc.) Additionally, many projects in medieval history have attempted to capitalize on the burgeoning field of the digital humanities in an attempt to make medieval history “relevant”. I’d like to weigh the success of these numerous projects and how they have either aided or perhaps even restricted our ability to analyze primary and secondary sources.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s, jointly appointed within the history and classics department. My research looks at the adoption and adaptation of written language from late antiquity to the Carolingian period (5th-9th centuries). In particular, I examine changes to the “technology of the written word” during this period, looking at the advent of the book (“codex”), changes and advances in handwriting, and widening literacy among medieval populations. The technological revolution that characterizes this period in medieval history mirrors our society’s current state of change with regard to the advent of the e-reader or IPad, drastically altering how we exist as a literate society.

Jeremy will be joining us from Queen’s Archives!

I am interested in the relationship between digital humanists and archives, and how archivists can better assist in the preparations and proposals for digital humanities projects.

I have been an archivist at Queen’s for nearly 12 years, with a focus on private manuscripts, electronic records, digitization and all things technical. My main area of research is on the long-term preservation of electronic records (both born-digital and digitized). My spare time is usually spent lately building Lego mashups of Star Wars and Harry Potter.

A very warm welcome to Heather from Queen’s Archives!

I work as an archivist at Queen’s and we are involved in a number of digital initiatives and humanities projects. I am interested in hearing what others have to say on the topic: what they imagine, what’s worked, what hasn’t worked. I anticipate sharing some of our experiences and talking about considerations when undertaking digital humanities projects from an archival perspective.

I am an archivist predominantly working with private/personal records (those of individuals) at Queen’s University. I have a background in cultural studies and English, and enjoy working with students introducing them to the value and potential of the archival record.

Welcome to Mitchell from Classics at Queen’s!

I’m interested in learning about new technologies and how people in others humanities departments are making use of them. I also would like to discuss some of the photographic techniques that have been of use in my research on Egyptian ostraka. I feel that people studying damaged or barely visible texts would find it worthwhile and useful to hear about. Learning about other technologies that would be applicable to my field is also an important reason that I would like to attend.

I’m a graduate student in the Department of Classics at Queen’s University. I’m currently working on the research portion of my degree, which for me involves working with the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection of Egyptian ostraka. Most of these artifacts have text written on them, and in the vast majority of cases, this text has faded considerably over the past two millennia. Using infrared photography it is possible to bring the text back to a much more legible state, thus allowing for further study of pieces once considered illegible. I’m planning to continue my academic career in classical studies after I finish my master’s degree and hope to learn as much as possible about imaging techniques that are applicable to my field.

We’re delighted to welcome Dr. George Bevan from Classics at Queen’s!

For THATCamp I am interested in looking at tools for effective dissemination of Digital Humanities scholarship. How can large datasets, such a 3D volumes or interactive visuals, be effectively brought to the web for consumption by the public and fellow scholars. In addition, I am particularly interested in the debate over open source vs. closed source/commercial scholarship in the Digital Humanities.

I teach Late Antiquity, as well as Greek and Latin language, in the Dept. of Classics. Increasingly, however, I have gone back to my roots in Math and Computer Science to bring new technologies from Science and Engineering to bear on historical problems, both ancient and recent. These technologies include computed tomography, 3D scanning, photogrammetry, RTI, EDXRF/WDXRF and Gigapixel imaging.

Welcome to Tamarra from History at Queen’s:

I would like to attend THATCamp because I am interested in the conservation of the humanities in a technological world. The significance of the humanities relies on its endeavour to remember fixed events in the past while we constantly progress during the elapsing of time. This leads to a slow acceptance of technological advances in academia as there is a conflict between old elements of civilization and new components of society. However, one can observe history in order to view the importance of technological contributions. Whereas the phonograph was once viewed as a technological marvel, we now perceive it as a primitive music player. It is important to maintain the humanities even in a society in which the rate of technological advancement is exponential. As technology eventually becomes history, it is necessary to preserve historical viewpoints in order to comprehend technology more thoroughly.

I am a developing researcher who is fascinated with paradoxes. Last year, I wrote a thirty page paper on Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. In this paper I examined how the protagonist’s downfall results from his inability to reconcile the repressive nature of Victorian society with the hedonistic movement that lurks underneath the world of the gentility. This interest in paradoxes also extends to the domain of religious history, which I hope to eventually research extensively. I am interested in understanding the struggle of intellectuals throughout history who had to reconcile faith and reason. I am also intrigued by how Christianity transformed from a secretive cult to a world power.

Welcome to Trevor from English at Queen’s:

I think that I have tenuous grasp on the capabilities the digital world has on improving research in English Literature. That is to say, I see the intersections but I couldn’t tell you how the traffic lights work. I am hoping THATCamp introduces me to an economy of thought that I know little about. My main area of interest is Indigenous Literature. If we consider the role of the digital humanities in archival work and information management more generally, I think there are valuable insights to be gleaned from a workshop such as THATCamp. I am hoping to apply what I learn in February to mobilizing a digital footprint of my work in Indigenous literature. A necessary first step in the currently on going demonstrations of Idle No More — a movement I feel like the digital medium has propelled into the mainstream with an alarming velocity. I would like to learn how to contribute. THATCamp seems like a logical first step for me.

Esperanza is joining us from Linguistics at Western!

I am interested in Language Acquisition, notably 1) Acquisition of Japanese language case by Anglophones, Hispanophones, Francophones, Germanophones, as well 2) Acquisition of English by Japanese speakers.

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nasser Saleh, Head of the Engineering and Science Library to THATCamp.

I am interested in the social impacts of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) on everyday life. I believe that this event will be a good presentation of the intersection between humanities and technology.

My educational background ranges from a Ph.D in information studies (McGill), M.Sc. in library and information science, M.Sc. in telecommunications and networks Management (Syracuse). My research interests are mainly into educational informatics, information behaviour, and social media.

Meaghan will be joining us from Queen’s Cultural Studies!

I want to come to THATcamp because I have followed THATcamp twitter feeds from all over for a while now and I would love the opportunity to participate in a giant brainstorm session on the connections between the humanities, digital culture and pedagogical practice. As a grad student and TA I use twitter to connect with scholars and students all over the world to gain insight into not only the latest research surrounding my own academic interests but I also find I am able to gain valuable information to bring back to the classroom. It would be great to talk about how to better utilize such social media practices.

I am a PhD student in Cultural Studies at Queen’s where I study cultural production and development in the context of urban west Kingston, Jamaica. My background in humanities and technology began in my undergrad where I studied English and Media, Information and Technoculture. It was there that I learned to create websites, write in HTML, and design digital diasporas. [….]Currently, I am working towards completing my dissertation and also trying (and failing) to master Python. My thoughts on Slavoj Žižek? He needs a good editor and some yoga.

We have a number of new registrants that we’re thrilled to welcome to THATCamp QueensU! Over the next couple days, we will continue publishing everyone’s research interests here on the blog so that you can begin to think about sessions you’d like to propose or attend, connections you’d like to make, or discussions you’d like to have.

In the meantime, please keep an eye out for a few emails from us: a request for proposals, and the details of scheduling and operations for the day of THATCamp. Proposals should be between 100 and 300 words long, and will be due on the 5th of February. Come prepared to vote on which proposals you’d like to attend.

Nicky will be joining us from English at Queen’s!

I am attending THATCamp so I can learn more about DH and its intersections with my own area of research. Currently, I am working on projects that explore the reader’s relationship with comic books and I am fascinated with how digital editions of comics often control the reader’s ability to read comics by forcing panels to be read in a particular order.

I am currently in my first year of my PhD at Queen’s University where my research focuses on narratives dependent on text and image. Lately, I have also entered into a deep love affair with eco-criticism. While I have mastered things like facebook and my email account, my true passion lies in wasting countless hours playing Temple Run on my iPad.

Tara from English at Queen’s will be joining us!

I do a lot of work with text/illustration interaction, and it would be fascinating to learn ways to further my research using digital tools and ways to broaden my research audience.

Katie will be joining us from English at Queen’s!

I am relatively new to the practices of digital humanities, so I am looking forward to learning more about the different past, present and future projects related to the field. I am especially interested in the way text interacts with image, and how that relationship changes in relation to its medium – i.e. material print or digital publication – especially in terms of the reader/viewer experience of the object. On the practical side, I would like to learn more about book digitization, and am interested in the various ways the “experience” of a printed object is translated to the digital form…I am primarily interested in Romantic literature with a focus on late-18th/early-19th century scientific theories of the individual mind (specifically, the mind during sleep). I have always been interested in computer technologies, and I have recently become more intrigued by the impact digital publication has on the study of literature. Most of my free time is spent making my cats listen to me recite the same 80 lines from Paradise Lost.

Sarah from English at Queen’s:

I am currently helping to manage a larger project that surrounds my dissertation on Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera, whose personal papers I archived during my masters degree in the Public Texts program at Trent University. Rooted in theory about personal archives and postmodern African writing, I am interested in developing archival practices that challenge the economy of transactionality that archival practice enshrines, and in the case of Yvonne Vera, in opening up her archives to her complex articulation of documentation, belonging, and possession. I am currently in the process of facilitating the creation of an Yvonne Vera website that will build a foundation upon which various projects may be developed; however, the initial goal of the website is to make the archival material available to scholars. THATCamp offers me an opportunity to gain insight about collaborative project management and strategies for accessing skills and digital tools.

Melissa from Art History at Queen’s:

I’m really interested in incorporating technology into the dissemination of research. In particular I’m interested in tools that will help me create different modes of transmission for my work that include image, text, music, video, etc. In the past I’ve taken part in the Digital Humanities Summer Institute and worked in digital pedagogy, and it continues to be important to my teaching practice…I’m really interested in how we can use digital tools to make rare materials more accessible and how they change our interaction with objects of art.

From Joanne, Gender Studies at Queen’s:

I am nebulously wondering about social media–quite broadly defined– and it’s role in identity and community formation, specifically both its role in various, potentially resistant, alt subcultures, such as the feminist blogosphere, youth youtube communities, fandom /fic, as well as in violent manifestations of cybermobbing and troll culture. I really want to hear whatever anyone has to say about any of it and bounce around ideas with others.

Announcing a new THATCamp! More news coming soon. Read more about other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.