Project Charter
Post your project charter to the DSSF18 website by 9am, Friday, June 15. Use the Project Charter category.
Reflective Essay #2
Post by 9am, Monday, June 18
It is important to think critically about the digital tools that we use and not simply take them at their face value. We have to engage with them at a deeper level, discover inherent biases and limitations, address them, and ultimately work with them. Critically evaluate a digital tool, either one that we look at during the bootcamp, or another one you have found that you may want to use in your project. You can use the Criteria for Digital Tool Evaluation specifications to guide your evaluation.
Monday, June 11
9:00am-9:30am: Sharing and Planning Session (Library 014)
Like the Friday sessions, we will spend some time at the beginning of each week as a community of practice to talk about our plans for the week. What do you hope to accomplish? What support do you need to make that happen? This will help all of us understand where you’re at, and where you’re going!
9:30am-Noon: Inside the Black Box: Using HTML & CSS, GitHub, and WordPress to Create Websites (Library 014, Public Session)
Welcome to the digital tools bootcamp! This week we will be an intensive look at several different digital tools. Today, we will take a look at the basic building blocks of any website: HTML and CSS. We will pull apart a few websites to see what makes them tick, create a basic website using HTML and CSS, and explore the concept of versioning using GitHub. We will culminate by taking a closer look at WordPress, a content management system that powers over 1/3 of the world’s websites.
Before the Workshop
- Look through the Carolina Digital Humanities Initiative’s tools page. Compare to the DIRT Directory. Bring one or two tools you could see yourself using in your project.
- Sign up for a free GitHub account
- Watch: Posner, Miriam. “How Did They Make That?”
- Watch: “What is GitHub?”
- Read: Posner, Mirian. “HTML & CSS“.
To Learn More
- Ford, Paul. “What is Code?”
- Glass, Grant. “The Black Box.”
- Marino, Mark. “Why We Must Read the Code.”
- Van Strien, Daniel. “An Introduction to Version Control Using Github Desktop.“
- There are many free online HTML and CSS courses, try the Kahn Academy course to start
Tuesday, June 12
9am-Noon: Mapping with ArcGIS (Library 014, Public Session)
Digital maps allow us to visualize data spatially, in modern, historical, and even fantastical constructs. Generally, digital mapping can be divided between narrative maps, that is, maps that follow a path and tell a story, and data-driven maps, or maps that are focused on visualizing various large sets of data (such as GIS). Today we will focus on using the Esri ArcGIS tool to add some data points to a map, and the Esri Story Map tool to build a narrative map. We will also use Google Earth to overlay a historical map on top of a modern one.
Before the Workshop
- DSSFs will receive an ArcGIS login prior to the session if they do not already have one. All other attendees should email rmiessle@gettysburg.edu prior to the session if an ArcGIS login is needed.
- Scroll through: Maps that Changed History
- Read: Fenton, William. “Humanizing Maps: An Interview with Johanna Drucker.”
- Review: The annotated trench map and the German Spring Offensive map on the First World War Letters of H.J.C. Peirs: A Digital History
To Learn More
- Wiseman, Andrew. “When Maps Lie.”
- “Twelve Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Story Maps.“
Wednesday, June 13
9am-Noon: Annotation with StoryMapJS, Genius, and SoundCite
Annotation [an-uh–tey-shuh n] noun
1. a critical or explanatory note or body of notes added to a text [or image]
2. the act of annotating.
Before the Workshop
- Make sure you have a Google account, login, & password
- Read HASTAC Scholars Program, “Amplified Marginalia”: Social Reading, Listening, and Writing
- Take some time to explore genius.com – search for your favorite song/artist – and read “Learn How Genius Works”
- Read about the Web Annotator tool
To Learn More
Noon-1pm: DSSF Reading Discussion and Lunch (Library 018)
Lunch will be provided for the DSSFs.
Read
Thursday, June 14
9:00am-Noon: Timelines with TimelineJS (Library 014, Public Session)
Just as maps allow us to visualize data spatially, timelines are a way to visualize chronological events that occur in a linear fashion, but perhaps more importantly, show us how to conceptualize a linear progression of time as points of data. We will be looking at one tool specifically, TimelineJS, but others will be briefly introduced. Note: for this session, you will need to have a Google account (you do not need a Gmail address).
Readings and Assignments
- Look at the timelines presented at “Cartographies of Time.“
- Look over the TimelineJS site and browse the projects.
- Create a Google account (if you don’t have one already)
- The group’s list of Best Practices for Creating Timelines
To Learn More
- Schöch, Christoph. “Big? Smart? Clean? Messy? Data in the Humanities.”
- Listen to “Roger Ekrich on Segmented Sleep.“
Friday, June 15
9am-10am: Bootcamp Wrapup + Sharing and Planning
Today we will wrap up the bootcamp, share our thoughts for the week, and plan for the next!
