Welcome to THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) Milwaukee 2014, an (un)conference organized by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library’s Digital Humanities Lab and the UWM History Department. In this collegial setting, we invite you to have a little fun talking about new media and its wider application in the humanities, other scholarly disciplines, and the world beyond. Regardless of technical expertise or skill level, THATCamp Milwaukee provides an open and accessible space to “get your feet wet,” so to speak, in the digital humanities. Above all, it is a place to learn, experiment, and create.
For instance, you may have a project you are working on or about to start and want to brainstorm new ideas. Or perhaps you’re looking to add some digital elements to an existing project. Maybe you’re thinking about making a personal website and need to discuss what this might look like, or which platform to choose when establishing your online presence. Others may wish to lead more advanced discussions about digital pedagogy, 3D printing, topic modeling, or best practices in web design and development. No matter the subject, THATCamp’s informal, democratic session structure allows for spontaneity and collaboration. By working together, we all gain a better understanding of the digital humanities and its many possibilities in universities, libraries, museums, and other venues.
Still, for THATCamp to succeed, we need our “campers” to propose engaging and interesting sessions. Once you have registered for the unconference, take some time to craft a session proposal on our THATCamp blog. There is no required length to each post and your ideas need not be fully formed. We just want to have a good sense of what you’d like to talk about and the discussion should take off from there.
This particular THATCamp is loosely based around the theme of building community through the digital humanities. Many of the DH Lab’s initial projects focus on public-facing and community-oriented projects that document, visualize, and contextualize the city and state where we’re headquartered – Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Other UWM projects – proposed or underway – look outward to other virtually imagined communities around the nation and the world. The DH Lab is an experimental and growing community itself, grounded in the same improvisational spirit that animates THATCamp’s organizers.
