BootCamp Schedule and Descriptions

We’ve invited five great digital humanists to teach the BootCamp sessions at THATCamp New England. The BootCamp sessions will be introductions to various digital humanities tools and concepts, intended for beginners. Any conference attendee is welcome to attend the BootCamp sessions, which will run concurrently with the regular sessions. Each session will be 75 minutes long.

These are the sessions that will be offered. Please see the schedule for times and room locations.

BootCamp I: Anthologize

Description: Anthologize is a WordPress plugin that allow individuals to curate blog content and turn it into an ebook. In this session, attendees will learn how to get up and running with a WordPress installation, how to install WordPress plugins like Anthologize, and how to get started using Anthologize to arrange and export content. We’ll contextualize the technical discussion by discussing how tools like Anthologize (and WordPress itself) have the potential to disrupt traditional academic and educational paradigms by putting personal publishing tools in the hands of individuals.

Instructor: Boone Gorges is a PhD student in the Philosophy program at the CUNY Graduate Center, and is on the core development teams for the WordPress plugins Anthologize and BuddyPress.

BootCamp II: Introduction to Programming

Description: To participate in this session, no previous programming experience is required — and in fact none is assumed. Additionally, you won’t “learn to program” in any particular language.  Instead, you’ll learn several of the foundational elements of programming, see examples of these elements in a few languages, take a look at various types of digital humanities projects, discuss how programmatic elements work within those structures, and (finally) we’ll think about how to put these pieces of knowledge together to design an application of your own.  There might be some programming-on-sticky-notes involved.

Instructor: Julie Meloni is the INKE postdoctoral fellow in Digital Humanities and Information Management at the University of Victoria, and has written numerous books on web application development (see thickbook.com).

BootCamp III: Text Encoding

Description: We’ll talk about what text encoding is, what tools are available for encoding texts, and how to get started actually doing it.  Then we’ll do some encoding, and talk further about how to use the code to illustrate ideas, index concepts, and even find out new things.

Instructor: Vika Zafrin got a DIY PhD in humanities computing a few years ago, and is
now doing digital library stuff at Boston University.

BootCamp IV: Digital Humanities Project Management

Description: This session will consider both the practical, day-to-day work and intangible aspects of managing digital projects in the humanities. Pragmatic lessons will include picking a project, building partnerships and engaging stakeholders, attracting funding, budgeting and staffing, setting milestones and meeting deliverables, managing staff, publicity and marketing, user support, sustainability, and the range of tools available to support this work. The session will also consider several intangible, but no less important, aspects of project management, including communication, decision making, and leadership.

Instructor: Tom Scheinfeldt is the managing director of CHNM and a THATCamp veteran. He blogs at Found History.

BootCamp V: Transcribing and Describing Primary Sources

Description: This session will look at the different factors that must be considered when planning a transcription project. How a transcription is completed directly impacts how it can and will be used. The second part will be dedicated to using Dublin Core metadata schema to describe a transcribed work that can then be ingested into content management systems such as Omeka. Hands on activities will include some transcription and metadata creation for the object we transcribe. This session will look at the different factors that must be considered when planning atranscription project. How a transcription is completed directly impacts how it can and will be used. The second part will be dedicated to using Dublin Core metadata schema todescribe a transcribed work that can then be ingested into content management systems such as Omeka. Hands on activities will include some transcription and metadata creation for the object we transcribe.

Instructor: Christine Pittsley is the Digital Collections Technician at the Connecticut State Library where she is responsible for capture, metadata creation and upload of our digital objects. She has worked with a variety of 17th century manuscript document in the course of her work at the CSL, as a historical archaeologist, and as a genealogist.