Why should digital humanists attend #GovHack?

GovHack is a 48 hour national hackathon where teams compete to create mashups, visualisations and apps using government data.

It was a fantastic event and an amazing opportunity to put digital humanities into practice. I am very keen to register some UWA teams in 2014!

Our team created Pixtory - an iPhone app that allows users to uncover the hidden history around them. Pixtory collects and exposes geo-tagged historic photos from the State Library of WA's photographic archive. The result is an immersive experience that facilitates meaningful encounters with Perth's history and heritage.

We were incredibly proud to win the 'Spirit of GovHack' Award for the Perth event - a prize awarded to the team that demonstrated what GovHack is all about.

Vote for Pixtory in the GovHack People's Choice Awards!
You can vote up until Wednesday night (5th June 2013). All you need to do is register on the site, then log on, visit our team page and vote using the flames.
 

 Cross post from my blog (www.historypunk.com).

How is technology changing the way we tell stories? Next meeting: Friday 7 June, 2-3pm.

Frank Rose, The Art of Immersion

"Not long ago we were spectators, passive consumers of mass media. Now, on YouTube and blogs and Facebook and Twitter, we are media. What we're witnessing is the emergence of a new form of narrative that’s native to the Internet. Told through many media at once in a nonlinear fashion, these new narratives en­courage us not merely to watch but to participate, often engaging us in the same way that games do."  - Frank Rose, The Art of Immersion (2011)

How can researchers harness digital storytelling platforms to engage audiences, communicate new knowledge and promote social change? Can opportunities for co-creation empower communities to tell their own stories?

At our next meeting, Paul Houghton, Digital Strategist at Emergent Form, will lead a discussion on digital storytelling and provide an overview of several projects he has been working on with his team.

The session will run between 2-3pm in Arts 1.33 on Friday 7 June.

In preparation for the session, please take some time to explore the websites below:

• Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• The Centre for Digital Storytelling
• Digital Storytelling @ Queensland University: Creative Industries Faculty

You might also like to read:
Frank Rose, The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation is remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue and the Way We tell Stories, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2011.

What is linked open data and what does it do?

"It's a powerful tool for connecting previously unconnected resources and stories”
Out of the Trenches : A Linked Open Data Project

"We are familiar with traditional narratives. The web – especially the semantic web – offers something else. It is a work in progress, not fully formed, but that only makes it more exciting to explore."
Mosman Library (NSW): Doing our Bit 1914-1918, Local History Project




I've been trawling through historical datasets today in preparation for GovHack next weekend and my mind is reeling with possibilities. Or perhaps it is just reeling! Thinking about history through data is a new experience for me. It's a brand new way to engage with historical sources and I'm excited.

I'm a GovHack newbie so I've been spending my Sunday doing a bit of research to get a better idea of what is possible and came across a marvelous case study of linked/open data (above). It's a huge project of course - far outside the remit of a 48-hour hackathon - but it really highlights the power and potential of data to reveal new insights about the past. If you're interested in the idea of a semantic web, you can check out a summary of a session on linked data and meta-data that Digital Antipodes ran last year, hosted by UWA's own Toby Burrows.

The Out of the Trenches project aims to optimise WW1 digital historic records by allowing computers to understand complex relationships between data.

Join a conversation about Technology, Neoliberalism and Higher Education next Fri 17 May

Our next meeting is on Friday 17 May between 2-3pm (Arts1.33).

Join us for a discussion on digital humanities in the context of academic neoliberalisation.

To what extent does DH pose an oppositional force to neoliberalism and the corporatisation of the academy? To what extent is it complicit?  How might different DH projects differently operate in these political contexts, and with what implications? Are these even the right questions to ask?

Huge thanks to UWA historian, Ethan Blue, who suggested readings and provocations for discussion.

Readings for next week:

• Christopher Newfield, The Unmaking of the Public University, Harvard University Press, 2008. (Introduction, Chapter 8: Facing the Knowledge Managers & Conclusion). Please email johawkins@gmail.com for a PDF document.
• Tarak Barkawi, The Neoliberal Assault on Academia, Aljazeera, 25 Apr 2013.
• 'An Open Letter to Professor Michael Sandel From the Philosophy Department at San Jose State U', The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 May 2013.

UWA Humanities/Computer Science "Meet and Greet" - 11am, Friday 17 May.

When: Friday 17th May 2013, 11:00am – 12:00pm
Where: Computer Science & Software Engineering, Seminar Room 1.24
Light lunch provided. RSVP essential.

UWA historian Ethan Blue and CSSE researchers Rachel Cordell-Oliver and Yvette Harrap are leading an initiative to bring together academics from humanities/computer science to discuss possible collaborations...

"Like a handful of people in the Arts Faculty, I have been looking into the possibilities of work in the digital humanities. Yet because I lack the required computer science and programming skills, I contacted some of the good folks across campus in Computer Science and Software Engineering to gauge their interest in potential collaboration.  As it turns out, a number of the folks over there are interested in joining forces, too.

With that in mind, and with CSSE's Professor Rachel Cordell-Oliver and Yvette Harrap, we’ve arranged an informal “meet and greet” for people from Arts and from Computer Science at 11:00 AM, 17 May, in Computer Science and Software Engineering Seminar Room 1.24.

If you are interested in digital humanities and have a project in mind, please come along.  We’ll go around the table to introduce ourselves and briefly explain our projects, in hopes of finding others with related interests and complementary skills.  We will have lunch afterwards to continue the conversation, courtesy of our colleagues in computer science."

Researchers are invited to give a short (5 minute) overview of their research interests related to digital humanities. 

RSVP to Yvette Harrap at yvette.harrap@uwa.edu.au by Tuesday May 14th.

How is technology changing the way humans think?

Our next meeting will be held on Friday 3 May from 2-3pm (Arts 1.33) and we'll be discussing how technology is changing the way humans think.

We'll be exploring a chapter from an extraordinary text, Lewis Mumford's Technics and Civilization (1934), which examines the history of 'machines' and their impact on society. The session will be hosted by UWA researcher David Savat (Communication Studies). David has a background in political theory and is interested in the political, economic, and social effects of technology.

Please RSVP for the session to johawkins@gmail.com.
We can then email you PDF copies of the readings below.

Essential reading:
Lewis Mumford, 'Chapter 1: Machines, Utilities and "The Machine"', in Technics and Civilisation, New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934, p.3-23.

Supplementary reading:
N. Katherine Hayles, 'Introduction', in How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2012, p.1-18

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Exciting news! GovHack is coming to Perth for the first time in 2013

What is GovHack?

"Governments collect and publish enormous amounts of data, but have limited resources to get it into the hands of their citizens in engaging ways. GovHack is an event to draw together people from government, industry, academia and of course, the general public to mashup, reuse, and remix government data."
(Source: GovHack website)

Data sets from 2012 included the National Archives, Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia. You can find out more about GovHack Perth here or register your interest.

What is the schedule of events?

• Friday May 31 - 6pm Kick-off party, Data release
• Saturday 1 June - Day of Hacking
• Sunday 2 June - Day of Hacking, Finish with Awards

Want to know what people can build in a weekend? Take a look at the 2012 winners.