Schedule
Thursday, October 19
3:30 - 5:00pm
Challenges and Opportunities of Geohumanities: Telling stories through digital maps and humanities data
Watson 455
Sylvia Fernández, Assistant Professor in Public-Digital Humanities, University of Texas-San Antonio
The creation of digital maps with datasets of humanities sources such as letters, literary texts, newspapers, oral histories, murals and other representations of humanity foster the possibility of creating new, alternative or counter ways to publicly and digitally narrate multimodal interactive stories. This workshop will go over some digital mapping tools, methods and project examples allowing participants to find best ways to intersect geography and spatial perspectives with human experiences utilizing visual, audio, and/or written material. Participants will engage in a three-part workshop: first a discussion-based activity to explore and find the appropriate data, method and tool that best fit the intended story/es to tell through the digital map that will be created; secondly a hands-on activity to integrate a small dataset into the chosen mapping tool and come up with a few prototypes, and; thirdly narrative the digital story through an interactive presentation using the final digital map prototype, and develop a guideline of how to use the map to engage with the story presented. This workshop will provide the participants with ideas and skills to incorporate Geohumanities in their teaching and/or research as small-scale classroom activities or as a project base assignment.
Critical AI Literacy in the Classroom
Watson 503
Kathryn Conrad, Professor of English, University of Kansas
This session begins with an intro to some of the ethical issues around generative AI as well as its capabilities and limitations. Are AI tools appropriate in a humanities course? If so, how and why might one use them? We will then move to discussion about how to have field-specific critical AI discussions in the classroom so that our students are prepared to think about these tools and, where necessary, use them more effectively. The session will include demos of some tools and discussion of pedagogical challenges and strategies.
Friday, October 20
12:15 - 1:45
An Introduction to Using Voyant in the Classroom
Watson 455
Randa El Khatib, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto
This hands-on workshop explores Voyant, a powerful and intuitive text analysis and visualization tool. Used to analyze single texts as well as larger corpora, Voyant offers a suite of text analysis tools that range from word clouds and keywords in context to more complex approaches such as topic modelling. In addition to exploring Voyant for research purposes, the workshop also addresses how to implement Voyant in the classroom by working through select tools and offering sample exercises and pedagogical resources.
Perusall Possibilities: Open Social Annotation
Watson Computer Lab (3rd Floor)
Elizabeth MacGonagle, Professor of History, University of Kansas
Perusall helps students to connect and interact in an asynchronous format by highlighting text, asking questions, and posting comments. Users provide their own original annotations and engage with the annotations of others through questions, comments, mentions, and upvoting. Perusall has also been shown to foster more equitable interactions by providing prominence to a range of voices and enhanced opportunities to learn from the perspectives of others. This session will draw on examples from an ethics course in history to explore how it is possible to get more out of course material by using Perusall in an asynchronous environment.
2:00 - 3:30
Using Omeka for Participatory Archiving with Students
Watson 503
Brian Rosenblum & Erin Wolfe, KU Libraries, University of Kansas
Omeka is a free web-based publishing platform for creating digital archives and exhibits. An accessible interface for creators and users has made Omeka popular with libraries, archives, historical societies, and individuals interested in presenting digital collections. Omeka is a powerful tool for educators to invite students to think critically about the archive as they take an active role in its production. This workshop will consider approaches to using Omeka in the classroom and will provide a hands-on introduction to the tool in a collaborative environment where participants work together to build an archival collection.
Composing Multimodal Essays in the Classroom
Watson 455
Kaylen Dwyer, Digital Scholarship Librarian, Tufts University
How can students work with existing or new digital resources to create their own presentations and narratives? Scalar is a free, open-source platform that supports digital storytelling with rich annotation, multimedia, built-in mapping and visualizations, and non-linear narratives. It can be used to produce many different kinds of scholarship with rich media and digital storytelling. This session will introduce the basics of Scalar and examples of its use in the classroom. Participants will create a Scalar book, explore core features, and discuss its role in project-based learning.
Teaching Digital Humanities as Core to Expanding Indigenous Archives & Tribal Historic Preservation
Watson Computer Lab (3rd Floor)
Kent Blansett, Langston Hughes Associate Professor of History and Indigenous Studies
This session will explore the pitfalls and wins in creating a digital community archive as a core component of historical preservation. Participants will come away with a clear vision for how to start their own community archive and the benefits of bringing community together through digital engagement as well as the power of storytelling.
3:30 - 4:00
Reception
Watson 3 West
4:00 - 5:00
Keynote Address
Difficult Histories in a Digital Format: The Challenges and Opportunities of Digital First Curriculum-Writing at Facing History and Ourselves
Watson 3 West
Dr. Tanya Huelett, Senior Director of Educator Content Development at Facing History and Ourselves