Workshops

[Schedule] [Descriptions] [Location Information]

Workshops follow the unconference model in that there are no paper presentations and no spectators. They differ from sessions, however, in that workshops are specifically designed to offer introductory training in digital skills and are led by a volunteer expert in the field.

Friday morning, we will be ready with coffee and coffee cake to kick off THATCamp and the workshops. Come to the CIT building, Room 201 between 9 and 9:30, to register, and to sign up for the workshops you’d like to attend. Remember, they might fill up, so don’t be late!  It’s important to get your conference name badge, as you’ll need it to enter the Rockefeller Library if you are attending a workshop there and to visit the DSL. You can arrive as early as 8:30, the coffee will be there!

Lunch is on your own.

We’ll all gather back at CIT 201 at 3:30, the workshop leaders will be there, and you’ll have the chance to continue workshop discussions, and engage in hands-on work with their help. There will be coffee and cookies/pretzels to refresh your energies.

At 5, we will repair to the Graduate Center Bar where the beer is various and inexpensive.

The workshop leaders have asked that you look over the information in their workshop description which describes what you might want to download in order to participate in the workshops. You should try to bring a laptop, it will come in handy during the workshops and the sessions.

Schedule

Time	Workshop	Location
Friday
9:00	All gather for coffee and Workshop Kick-off (breakfast available from 8:30)	CIT 201
10-12	TEI Encoding from the Ground Up Julia Flanders and Syd Bauman (Brown University) [More]	CIT 201
10-12	Regular Expressions, Text Processing, and Web Scraping Jadrian Miles (Brown University) [More]	Hecker, Rockefeller Library
10-12	Building an academic and professional persona online Steven Lubar and Ian Russell (Brown University) [More]	JNBC
12:00-1:30	Lunch on your own
12:00-1:30	Tour the Digital Scholarship Lab hosted by Patrick Rashleigh (Brown University). [More]	DSL, Rockefeller Library
1:30-3:30	An introduction to Database Design Jean Bauer (Brown University). [More]	DSL, Rockefeller Library
1:30-3:30	Mapping for everyone Bruce Boucek (Brown University) [More]	Hecker, Rockefeller Library
1:30-3:30	Integrating Digital Humanities into the Undergraduate Curriculum Kathryn Tomasek (Wheaton College) [More]	CIT 201
1:30-3:30	A demo and introduction to NVivo Cynthia Jacobs, QSR. [More]	Conference Room, Rockefeller Library
3:30PM	All gather together for the Workshop Hackathon and Debriefing (and cookies!)
Saturday
10:30	Collaborative Teaching & Publishing with WordPress/CommentPress Jack Dougherty and Fionnuala Darby-Hudgens (Trinity College). For more information, see the entry on Jack’s blog.	Smith-Buonnano 106
10:30	Plain Text Workshop taught by Lincoln Mullen (Brandeis University) Unix tools for plain text scholarship. For more information see Lincoln’s blog	Smith-Buonnano 101

Workshop Descriptions

Text Encoding from the Ground Up, Julia Flanders and Syd Bauman, Brown University Women Writers Project
Join us for a quick exploration of text encoding and the TEI Guidelines: everything you’ve always wondered about the TEI but were afraid to ask. What is text encoding good for? Is it worth the trouble? When is a database a better choice? Why not just use HTML? This workshop will offer a brief, introductory exploration of text encoding and the TEI Guidelines in a fun, informal atmosphere. A very quick overview of a very large and deep subject–come find out if the TEI might be useful to you. See what you need for the workshop.

Building an academic and professional persona online Steven Lubar and Ian Russell, Brown University
It’s important for new and emerging professionals to create and manage their web personas, their personal brands. It’s a way to meet people and keep up with ongoing discussions in your field. It’s also essential in finding job opportunities and getting hired. This workshop will introduce the professional use of twitter, blogs, networking tools like LinkedIn and Academia.edu, online portfolio tools like wix.com, and sharing sites like scribd.com and slideshare.net. Aimed at academic and public humanists. For more information, see our blog post. See also: Storify-ed version of presentation

An Introduction to Database Design, Jean Bauer, Brown University Library
Ever wondered how to build a library catalog or why the census questionnaire looks the way it does?  Do you have a lot sources that aren’t really prose, but have tantalizing connections to each other?  Then come to this brief overview of relational databases, a robust data structure that allows you to model and analyze your sources in new and exciting ways.  The workshop will give a brief overview of relational databases and discuss what types of humanities sources and questions are best answered with this data model. Workshop participants will then take a current (or prospective) research topic and brainstorm a basic database schema that could represent their source base and theoretical approach.

Mapping for everyone, Bruce Boucek, Brown University Library
The ubiquitous availability of web-based tools for gathering, exploring, manipulating, and visualizing spatial data has dramatically altered the landscape of necessary expertise with geographic information systems (GIS) and digital cartographic tools.
For many types of spatial analysis and complex cartographic projects experts are still necessary but with the tools now available specialized hardware and expensive software licenses are no longer a barrier to those who wish to take “the spatial turn.”
In this workshop we’ll explore many of the tools that are available, the types of projects that are possible, and engage in the firsthand creation of spatial data and visualization products (maps and other graphics). Time permitting we may also develop the framework for a larger group project.

Integrating Digital Humanities into the Undergraduate Curriculum Kathryn Tomasek, Wheaton College
An overview of the work students have been doing over the past several years at Wheaton on transcribing and marking up financial records followed by a discussion of the  process of planning a scaffolded DH assignment for a course. If you intend to take this workshop, you should get follow this link and then request access to the wiki. For more information and to prepare for this seminar see Kathryn’s post.  See also Notes from Presentation.

Regular Expressions, Text Processing, and Web Scraping, Jadrian Miles, Brown University Computer Science
In this workshop we will use Python and some basic Unix command-line tools (also available on Macs) to scrape pages from the web, clean them up, and parse out meaningful information from them.  Data sources are as diverse as Project Gutenberg, online archives, and census data. Anything you can point a browser at, you can automatically pick apart with software tools. Prepare for the workshop. See also, Updated Notes Page.

A demo and introduction to NVivo, Cynthia Jacobs, QSR
Cynthia Jacobs will present NVivo, a powerful qualitative analysis package. This two-hour session will be an interactive discussion and demonstration. We’ll look at NVivo as a relational database designed to tag data (text, audio, images, social media) for organization and analysis. Through our discussion, working with sample data and participant ideas and projects, we will explore possibilities for NVivo in a range of disciplines.  This workshop is cohosted by THATCamp and Brown University.

A tour of the Digital Scholarship Lab, Patrick Rashleigh, Brown University Library
The Brown Library’s new Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab,  will open just in time for THATCamp. Come and play with the video wall consisting of 12 large monitors in a 3×4 configuration, that can work either as one huge screen or as various configurations of separate displays. The Lab is designed to promote collaborative work and as well as the display space for data visualization.

Workshop Locations

Workshops are being held in three locations. See all THATCamp locations on a Google map. This should allow you to navigate using a GPS enabled mobile device.

• CIT 201 (ETC Teaching Lab), located in the Center for Information Technology at the corner of Waterman and Brook Streets. The entrance is on the side of the building that is not facing the street.
• The John Nicholas Brown Center Seminar Room. The JNBC is a historic house that houses the Public Humanities program at Brown. Walk down Williams St, and enter from the driveway. The entrance is at the side of the building, off the parking area. The seminar room is on the 2nd floor. Look for signs.
• Hecker in the Rockefeller Library. The Rock is on Prospect Street, between George and College Streets. Walk straight on in, pass the circulation desk, and turn right at  the reference desk, walk past the glass cases. There will be signs.
• The Digital Scholarship Lab is also in the Rockefeller Library. Follow the directions to Hecker. Look for signs.
• The Conference Room in the Rockefeller Library is on the left, as you enter the library. Do not go through the turnstile. Walk through the glass door, past the receptionist and straight on into the conference room. There will be signs.

You will need your THATCamp name badge to enter the Rockefeller Library. If you don’t have it, you will have to sign in, which is more time consuming.