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Inspiration from Open Space Conferences

Information here!

There are five principles that describe what happen in OPEN SPACE:

Whoever comes are the right people.


Wherever it happens is the right place.


Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. 


Whenever it starts is the right time.


When it is over, it is over.

THE ONE LAW of OPEN SPACE is THE LAW OF TWO FEET or THE LAW OF MOBILITY: If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing use your two feet to take yourself where your time will be better spent – only you know where this is.

– See more at: www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/about/#sthash.hpepG2F6.dpuf

What are you able to teach others at THATCamp #transformDH?

  • Importance of diversity in graduate school
  • I figured out how the UMD vinyl-cutter works and administered a digital photo archive on WordPress this summer.
  • I have learned NodeXl to create data viz.
  • I have worked on minor projects with MITH and am working to increase my knowledge of DH and public history through my graduate MA/MLS work here at UMD. As a southern historian, and southerner myself I am particularly interested in learning more about collective and contested memory. I’m hoping to learn most from others.
  • Nothing, just want to support this awesome community.
  • I’m not sure what I can teach others yet. This will be my first THAT Camp
  • Tech-wise: Omeka, linked open data, general coding.
  • I’ve been to 20+ THATCamps (and am on the THATCamp Council), so a meta-convo about THATCamp, DH, and Transformativity might also be interesting.
  • I can talk about Omeka, Linked Data, coding stuff in general, DH topics and projects here and there.
  • As a psychology major, I think I can offer a unique perspective among my peers who have chosen STEM field majors.
  • Digital Pedagogy in the classroom.
  • How to think about digital teaching..
  • Intro to coding and issues with it, Omeka, RDFI can talk about the FemDH institute at DHSIViewShare
  • I ran a history- and justice-themed Twitter feed, @afamhistfail, for about a year, in which I tweeted about problematic interactions I had with visitors while interpreting slavery at a historic site. The feed was moderately popular by DH standards (18.5 k followers at the moment) and managed to draw in an audience of history professionals and interested citizens alike; it was also noticed by popular blog The Toast as well as the news site Vox.com. I am happy to talk with other attendees about how to create compelling, meaningful online content that engages a non-academic audience, fosters socially-relevant dialogue, and speaks to current national conversations.
  • Website development, blogging, social media
  • Queer DH, digital cultures, video game studies. Intersections of literature, technology, and popular culture. Teaching with technology.
  • I have a wide range of experiences. I obtained an MFA from Duke’s experimental/documentary program. My focus was fine art photography and experimental filmmaking. My most recent projects include a Google Street view photo project along the ‘1949 Armistice Agreement Line’ (bit.ly/1iSPj00) and a poetic film (bit.ly/1iAi9lS) using open source surveillance camera and bluestacks software. I also worked for Cathy Davidson as a research assistant and as a TA for her Coursera course on Higher Education. I wrote an article on Autism and Higher Ed for the Chronicle. I am interested in public access and ‘digital humanities as a feminist project’ (to reference Claire Potter) as well as the methods and theories behind digital media arts and social communities.
  • Anything about comics! Also crafting and learning through making things.
  • I know something about Speculative Computing … but just at the theory level. Everything I know about DH is mostly theoretical. Also, I could give an intro to FemTechNet if people are interested and want to get involved.
  • sometimes i remember to listen, better than at other times
  • Honestly, I’m not sure off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s some way in which I can contribute!I’m mostly coming to listen and learn but could talk about alternative uses of TEI and textual markup if there was interest.
  • I have been conducting research on open access data sets relevant to humanities programs in higher education. I’m interested in the kinds of data that are used to assess and track the value of the humanities in higher education, and the implicit values of those data.
  • Unsure
  • Incorporation of religio-spirituality in our approach to intersectionality…
  • I could discuss working with interns on DH projects.
  • International student perspective
  • I am learning about futures studies and the use of scenarios in the non-profit world. I’m happy to share my inchoate knowledge of the field, but am more interested in talking with people who grapple with the application of humanistic modes of inquiry in the corporate sphere.
  • I can talk (a bit) about futures studies and forecasting. I’m only two months into a new position, but I’m happy to share what I know about transitioning between academe and nonprofit work.
  • I am still novice in DH, and am not sure how much I can teach. I am hoping to learn more and add to the conversations where I am able.
  • I can share what our research team for DUST has discovered about creating alternate reality games to promote scientific thinking in teenagers, especially those in demographics underrepresented in STEM disciplines.
  • Nope
  • I use an iPad app called Paper by 53 and would be happy to demonstrate uses for it.
  • Probably not specific skills so much as an individual perspective and historical memory.-issues affecting undocumented people
  • I have a plethora of digital pedagogy tools to share, as well as approaches to integrating technology into the undergraduate classroom. I also can share perspectives on leading a digital humanities initiative at a large university.
  • I am concerned about technology as it impacts our students with disabilities and what is the best way to communicate assignments, etc to a deaf person as well as any other person with a disability
  • I’d love to share resources commonplace at hackathons, and try to de-mystify these tools and show how they can be useful for anybody doing digital work. I know how to use scripting and compiled languages such as Ruby and python, Java, C, etc. I’m heavily invested in LGBT Studies and am willing to discuss at length various social issues involving communities and identities.
  • I can share with others what I have learned recently about identity and metadata.
  • I can also share my knowledge and experience around curating digital projects that explore race.
  • I specialize in Persian and Arabic literature and I can speak to the challenges of doing DH work in peripheral languages in the modern world system.
  • I’ve been playing with Doceri recently and wouldn’t call it something I’m definitely prepared to pass on but could be part of a work group if there were others who wanted to experiment/learn more.
  • I can share my my enthusiasm for TAGS Explorer!
  • Qualitative social science, critical theory.
  • I have used a blend of ethnography, digital storytelling, and critical thinking/analysis in undergraduate humanities/social science courses for years.
  • Its too early for me to teach others. Please give me a couple of years, maybe a bit more, and I will be more than happy to do it.
  • Wechat, an instant message/tweet/blog/videochatting software that has been adopted by most Chinese speaking population around the world!
  • Introductions to FemTechNet
  • I would love to share the work of our DH group at NVCC’s Annandale campus on DH in community colleges as well as the wider network of DH at the CC based on the recent NEH institute. I can also share real instructional examples of implementing DH in CC settings.
  • no
  • I’m a Graduate Assistant in Digital Art History in the Michelle Smith Collaboratory for Visual Culture at the University of Maryland, where I have worked with web publishing, 3D modeling, data, and digital exhibitions.
  • Would love to talk more in general about the labor that goes into DH projects/process.
  • eating disorder justice, intersections within mental health and eating disorders specifically
  • As archives become increasingly digitized, I’ve noticed a democratization of biographies; rather than waiting for an “expert” to bring together disparate resources about a person’s life, ordinary individuals have increased access to historical materials and are able to share them with one another, in effect creating a crowdsourced biography.
  • There is nothing I feel proud enough about to pass on. But, I did just start using the word processing program Scrivener and I am totally in love with it. I also dig that writers made the program for writers– I think it’s a great example of how anyone can become a “tech person”.
  • I don’t know. For a lot of these issues, I think I serve better as a listener than teacher.
  • Website creation, online web presence, documentary film, social mediaI am not sure about this question.
  • Recently I have been thinking about Eli Clare’s ideas from “Exile and Pride” especially what it means to be a rural queer/queer person from a rural area, what home and exile feel like, what it is like to cross boundaries, and to belong, and yet not belong to particular communities and identities.
  • I have also been thinking about disciplinary boundaries, women’s studies, queer studies, scholarship/activism, advocacy, and different institutional work. What does it mean to be a part of an academic institution? What boundaries do we cross and what community spaces do we belong to and not belong to as we move through the world, as we write/research/create.
  • I teach inclusive pedagogy based on the Intergroup Dialogue model. I wonder what these concepts might mean for structuring digital interactions.
  • Don’t know till I get there
  • As a first-year PhD student and someone who has been out of school for a few years, I’m afraid I may not be able to offer much for now. I do have a great interest in bringing games into the discussion, demonstrating how they can be a tool for talking about issues of social justice. I think the mechanics of video games can offer new ways of thinking about identity politics and identity-based social movements.
  • I learned about the ABC of UX (User Experience) design and IA (Information Architecture), and how they are much discussed in Silicon Valley but not so much in the realm of DH. I can talk about how the look and arrangement of things determine accessibility, and how this ought be a part of considerations for any academic productions.  na
  • I am by no means a proper techie, but if blogging about queer misogyny and ‘trolling’ the “no fats, no fems” profiles on OkCupid, Grindr, etc. count for a skill…
  • Much of my blog is centered around reports of misogynistic practices online, especially in dating sites/apps that dichotomize queerness into masc/fem in a way that typically devalues the feminine to be at best frivolous and consumable, at worst grotesque and damaging (the idea that fem/camp gayness is ‘ruining it for the rest of us’). My favorite blogs are where I actually manage to engage (troll the the tits off) users who are very vocal about their preference for “fit” “masc” “discreet” virgin Abecrombe and Fitcth models with medical degrees.
  • Still a novice… cannot offer to teach, yet.

What are people hoping to learn at THATCamp #transformDH?

  • I’d like to observe and learn from the format
  • How to run an unconference in an academic setting
  • I want to learn more about the digital humanities in practice and make professional connections in a field I want to work in.
  • I would like to learn to glean data from social networks on feminist activism conversations, specifically on rape and sexual assault.
  • I would like to learn more about DH in general, and increase my technical understandings and skills regarding how information and history can be visualized and told in new and different ways using digital tools (particularly mapping and interactive databases). More particularly, as a history/MLS graduate student specializing in southern history, I want to gain new/better understandings of how DH can provide platforms upon which “difficult” history can be told. How can we as information professionals, historians, etc. use digital tools to not only teach ourselves more about the histories of marginalized groups and reclaim forgotten or distorted narratives, but also engage others (especially those reluctant to listen)?
  • Just want to hang out with people I love.
  • I would like to learn how libraries can support students with digital humanities projects.
  • I’m always happy to see how people are use new and old technologies, especially to see how they are being used in transformative ways. I definitely want to learn how THATCamp is being used transformatively.”
  • Learn about transform(ative) DH ideas and directions.
  • I am interested in meeting new people from different backgrounds and learning more about the intersection between digital technologies and the humanities. Specifically, I am a Psychology major, so I am especially interested in how technology is impacting our culture. I also have an interest in art and would love to learn more about digital mediums as artistic outlets.
  • Yes, I would like to create a digital exhibition with my students.
  • Yes, I’d like to make connections to people who are experts in this field or have already created such an art piece.
    That will develop during the conference. “
  • Just plan to absorb the atmosphere.
  • Theories and approaches about DH, coding interests, uses and tranformative uses of Omeka.
  • Networking and new ways to impact the international DH community with more collectivity and more regional/local initiatives beyond R1
  • My interest in DH is more related to content creation than tool-building, so I’d like to hear from others about what they’ve found helpful in that area for connecting with audiences. I’m interested in talking with others who are interested in
  • “Discussion: the ethics of social media (e.g. twitter, blogs, Facebook).
  • Skills: advanced website design
  • I am interested in the #transformDH hashtag/movement/lines of inquiry/collaborations/communities. I think DH is undergoing a much needed self-reflection and reconfiguration to think more about and to integrate more intersectionality, participants of color, queerness, and so forth. How do we do this? What coalitions can be created? What voices are gained (or lost)?
  • Connections and conversation on Feminism and DH. And always happy to learn new things and hear new perspectives!
  • Talk about making academic work more accessible through different formats.
  • Coding, programming, making connections with folks beyond university cultures.
    connections to other social justice dh
  • I’ve never been to a THATCamp before, but this one in particular interests me because it’s focused in feminist/women’s studies. I’m interested to see what it’s like.
  • I’ve been to quite a few ThatCamps by now. What I’d especially like to see addressed is not just more conversation about why we need to #transformDH (I agree!) but tangible thoughts, advice, plans, and tools that would allow us to do so. What questions could we be asking of the DH canon of tools and data that already exists, and what could we be doing to create a new DH canon, new tools, new data at the same level of computational rigor that our less “transformative” DH colleagues are doing.
  • I’m especially interested in connecting with data scientists and/or people with backgrounds in open access data.
  • Not sure
  • Find new sources for my Women, Art and Culture students.
  • I don’t know. As vague as that sounds, I find that what I intend to learn and what I actually learn are often divergent. That said, I have been working on a digital project involving curating my grandmother’s letters and journals online. My grandmother was one of the first women in the navy during World War I, and lived in Washington D.C. during the war. So, anything I can learn around digital curation and/or women’s history will be great, as well as items of a pedagogical nature.
  • Meeting people with similar interest
  • I’d like to know more humanities scholars who are interested in coding, strategic planning, and how historical thinkers might engage open data and help in imagining new futures.
  • I’m hoping to learn some practical strategies for applying open data to historical research and to learn more about using digital mapping for public history and curation.
  • I am always surprised by what I take away from THATCamp and that is what I am most excited about. I never know if I am going to take away new tools and technologies or if I will leave filled with new questions about the challenges of DH. So, I just go with an open mind, hoping to learn and not have any expectations or limitations on what my learning will look like.
  • How can my research team make the computational thinking alternate reality game for adolescents we’re developing more diverse?
  • Nope
  • I would like to learn how to create animated gifs from my digital drawings. But I am also excited to meet people.
  • Looking forward to connecting with a diverse array of colleagues, both on campus and beyond.
    -learn more about issues affecting the trans community as well as transphobia and transmisogyny
  • I am interested in tools to use in the classroom that make technology more accessible, and to discuss diversifying DH.
  • How digital technology impacts our disabilities as well as ethnic groups
  • I’m interested in learning more about the state of Digital Humanities, in particular I am interested in scholarship pertaining to video gaming and social media.
  • I’d like to have conversations about different platforms for creating transmedia projects.
  • “1) I am working on designing a course called “”Introduction to Global Digital Humanities”” and I would love workshop this with a group at #transformDH.
  • 2) Alternatively, I would also like to discuss or be involved with groups that are discussing coding for humanists and/or critical approaches to coding/study of coding.”
  • I’m using Omeka in my class for the first time this semester and would love more information or a workshop on that.
  • This topic is very new to me, so I’m just interested in getting a general understanding of what kind of work is being done in this area.
  • I’m interested in critical DH methods. What tools can I use to collect and analyze digital data through a feminist, anti-racist, queer, and crip lens?
  • I’d like to hear about DH and non-Roman languages if anyone has any experience with text analysis.
  • I am interested in making connections with other academics that use digital video formats for social change.
  • I am hoping to have a unique experience were I could meet other PhD students like myself as well as faculty that does cutting-edge research on the field
    analysis methods
  • Hoping to learn more about THATCamp & connections bw recent work in critical race gender sexuality studies and DH
  • I want to learn more about how to address the gender and race inequalities in tech and DH, but also issues relating to implementing DH in non-traditional education venues like community colleges. I hope to connect with other area faculty and staff who share a similar passion for broadening the reach of DH to underserved populations.
  • I find that the panels that most interest me vary from camp to camp, so just look forward to seeing what comes up.
  • I am open to all topics and connecting with all people.
  • Hoping to hear more about other graduate students’ experiences of DH, especially from interdisciplinary practitioners/artists.
  • Connections mostly, but also how to be a better online advocate as well as to better understand callout culture and my role in it
  • I’m very new to the field of Digital Humanities, so I’m just excited to hear what others have to say about it.
  • I new to the Digital Humanities, so I will just be in sponge mode, learning and drinking in everything! I am particularly interested in a session on Digital Humanities and Feminist Pedagogies, although I would not be able to lead such a session.
  • Meeting like-minded people, mainly. Not going specifically to learn anything in particular. Almost more interested in the stuff I’ll likely hear in talks that I wouldn’t have thought to learn about in the first place 🙂
  • Conversing with folks about their visions for the DH and how interdisciplines are working to make those visions happen.
  • Going for networking opportunities and to learn more about feminist digital humanities as a practice and pedagogy.
  • Would like to learn more about what it is like to go to an unconference. I have heard many good things about THATcamp, and want to connect with others who are in the Digital Humanities.
  • I’m relatively new to DH in practice, although have been engaging with theory for awhile. I’m interested in any and all technical things as I’ve started a research project on the epistemology of digital tools. I’m also interested in connecting with people who center social engagement in their DH scholarship.
  • I’m just open I don’t know.
  • As a relative newcomer to DH, I’m looking to learn about all aspects of this wide field. I have started efforts to learn to code in Python, so I’d love to see how people are using coding in their own work. As someone looking to bring together my interest in postcolonial studies and critical race with DH, I’m hoping to engage with scholars who have done this kind of work.
  • I would like to have a conversation on what it means to work in and to speak about the digital environments, where there is no conventional linear training method for one to become an expert in. Are there any concerns or advice on the use of language when talking about the technical? I always aim for the inclusiveness, but at the same time, I don’t want to offend people in the room by describing the basics in details. (But then again, how can I assume the basics?) Also, have you had any experiences of learning new technological skills off-putting? What were the obstacles?
  • Make connections with others in the field.
  • I am almost entirely devoid of ‘technical’ skills. I am hoping not so much to develop new skills as I am to learn which skills I should be developing, which skills are best suited to re-theorizing gesture in an increasingly cybernetic age.
  • “I’m interested in seeing how a THATCamp is run, and how I might bring such an event to Montgomery College.
  • For my own interests, I will be excited to learn about technologies that I can apply in my class. How to use Twitter, for example.”

Digital Research Ethics

ThatCamp activity on Designing Digital Ethics

– who is doing this work? (make a list) AltMedia, CSOV, FemTechNet, FemBot & …?

– collaborating across organizations?

– digital research ethics sheet for syllabi / training sessions for faculty, journalists, etc.

(i have to leave just before noon to catch a bus in DC, but i would love to talk about this in the morning, but if we don’t choose to, I would love to connect with other folks interested – T.L. )

Teach/Talk session: “Can you show me how to ____?”

This will be a session for exchanging everyday technical questions and knowledge. Is there something you’ve been trying to figure out how to do – something you don’t think is big enough to propose a whole session about? Take advantage of the gathered knowledge at THATCamp and see if someone can help you.

Use the comments on this post to start asking questions. We can also post notes of questions, and volunteer to answer them, during THATCamp itself if this session takes place in the last slot on the schedule.

THATCamp TransformDH

On October 2 and 3, 2015, the University of Maryland Women’s Studies Department will host a Transformative Digital Humanities Conference and THATCamp.  The event is the second year of UMD’s Women’s Studies Technology Institute and co-sponsored by the Design | Cultures & Creativity Honors Program. A day of scheduled presentations and workshops, culminating with a keynote speech from Lisa Nakamura, will be followed by THATCamp TransformDH: a collaborative, impromptu unconference in which participants from all backgrounds and skill levels learn, create, and play around together in sessions proposed on the spot. For more information about the whole event, see transformdh.org/2015-conference-thatcamp/

This website is for THATCamp #transformDH, which will take place on October 3 2015. Registration is now open.

At the moment, everything on this site is general THATCamp information. As October 3 draws closer, we will be adding more information that’s specific to our event, so keep checking back. If you have questions, you can email .

Read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.