The code monkey

So what else did i do today besides sitting and contemplating over Digital Humanities for the course I am doing next week?

I did some admin for the same course.

And then I did some programming. My task at the moment is to transform manuscripts from a relational db structure into TEI XML and find a new way / develop new tools to edit and publish these manuscripts for the Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhara project.

With my test sample (the bibliography) I hav enow transformed it into TEI XML and currently working on a plugin in WordPress to present it. Next comes editing it. It’s an exciting journey and I am learning new things every day.

 

Request for literature on approach to IT tools, then and now

So today I have spent a lot of time thinking about teaching and Digital Humanities.

For this there is a point I would like to make about Digital Humanities and developing digital tools (not just in the Humanities).

So I will appeal to the wider Digital Humanities community for suggestions on anything written on the subject of:

The change (if any) in how IT tools are developed/implemented in daily tasks among mainly office based employees (but could also be in the field) from when computing became mainstream till now.

My assumption is that we used to be so wowed by the mere fact that IT tools were available that it used to be commonplace to expect employees to change the way they worked (re-school) so as to use this new tool. Now, there is more awareness on the user and how they best work before developing tools to aid them.

I would like to find some references that support/reject this assumption in literature also outside my field as it is a very general assumption and not one limited to DH.

Any suggestions?

Preparing to teach

The summer semester is about to begin here at LMU Munich and I am preparing for my first ever course. The title is “Introduction to XML, and editing ancient manuscripts” and is aimed at students and staff who are interested in this topic. My first class is next Tuesday and the topic is “What is Digital Humanities”? (how very appropriate to talk about this today of all days). So I went off to my favorite coffee shop this morning to sit and in a very non-digital way get something down on paper about this. This means that all morning I have been reflecting on the question: “What is Digital Humanities to me?”

I know there are a lot of attempts to define DH (the Day of DH blog being one of them) and I am going to give those who turn up to the class an introduction to all of these other views. But for me it boils down to a particular point.

As a Digital Humanist, I negotiate/translate between scholars/data in the field of Humanities and programmers/digital tools. I can do this because I, 1) have a background in Humanities and an understanding of the main issues of this field and 2) have the technical knowledge to understand how best to accomodate these issues digitally.

 

 

Hello world!

Usually, I would begin a new blog by deleting this standard post. But the title struck a cord with me to day in light of my recent presentation names “Can we share?” at CAA UK 2013 in London. The presentation had a dialog that began “Hello World” and was a great opportunity to try out the presentation tool prezi.com with my husbands illustrations. If you are curious have a look over here on my blog!

Earth by John Roued-Cunliffe, used with permission by himself.

Earth by John Roued-Cunliffe, used with permission by himself.