all, i won’t be able to join you until friday after lunch, so i’ll miss the initial planning session (i may be able to check in on twitter for parts of the morning). i also don’t have a fully-fleshed-out proposal to offer. that’s partly ’cause i’m not quite sure how this thatcamp will go. we seem to have a smallish group and we also have a stated mission of thinking about or providing some of what those beyond the beginner level might need in a thatcamp, but here are some topic ideas.

on the theme:

• are we experiencing thatcamp fatigue? how to keep thatcamp interesting over the years?
• how about twitter fatigue as well? where do we turn now? if we build it, will they come?

related, i worry that the feeling of a hopeful and energizing convergence that i and some others experienced a number of years ago, through thatcamp, the dh twitter community, etc., is dissipating. maybe it’s inevitable, but what comes next?

• digital humanities is expanding, contracting, fragmenting, fracturing, sometimes infighting, and still learning its way. i’d love to have a chance to just talk about this, think about it out loud, brainstorm about what to do and where to look next. how long will digital humanities remain a viable category?
• i was hoping we could talk about the disciplines, inter/trans/post-disciplinary, and how digital humanities practice is emerging differently within them. how do we address the disciplines without getting stuck within them? (my own approach to life, the universe and everything is pretty interdisciplinary, and i’ve definitely experienced the digital humanities as a site of inter- and cross-disciplinary insight that i’d hate to lose.)
• speaking of disciplines: it looks like we have a lot of historians signed up. let’s talk about digital history, or do some digital history. on twitter, peter jones suggested making a twitter bot. i’ve read up on this a little but haven’t done it, and would be glad to collaborate on a history-related twitter bot.

other topics:

• if @edsu is willing i’d love to learn about his ferguson twitter archive and the workshops that he and others held at mith, as an engaged examples of public humanities and public history in the making.
• i’d also love to talk about critical making if anyone else is interested (i’ve signed up to write an article by the end of the summer) but i mean this in the broadest possible way: hacker labs, 3d printing, soft circuits, educational games, etc. not sure how the socks i’m knitting are “critical” making but i’ll have them with me so maybe that will fit in also.

(also, can i suggest a slight re-group and planning during the saturday morning caffeine session?)

looking forward to input from others here and on twitter, and seeing you guys tomorrow afternoon.

susan
@footnotesrising on twitter