This came in from Matt Kochis as a comment on another post.  Thought I should post it here as a potential session proposal, though I take it Matt is looking for whether someone else could lead such a session.

“Hey all. Can we have a session on how to evaluate digital humanities projects? Particularly, I’m interested not only on critiquing faculty projects but, more important, how to criticize and grade student projects. At a recent conference I attended this summer, I sat in on a round table discussion on Digital Humanities and Pedagogy. At the end of the session, I asked the panel participants what the range of grades were on their students’ work. None of them gave less than an A. This seems very problematic. I was hoping that we can discuss best practices and rubrics.

All, we’re looking for some more session proposals.  We easily have enough workshops for a robust calendar on Friday, but we haven’t gotten that many session proposals for participants to consider and vote on for the Saturday unconference.  Submit something today (or tomorrow, or the next!!!)

I’d like to propose a Talk session titled “Envisioning a Digital Harrisburg.”  I’ve been deeply impressed with projects such as Digital Durham,  Digital Harlem, and other digital humanities projects focused on the history, culture, and forms of social life of various cities.  The City of Harrisburg and the surrounding Central Pennsylvania region has a rich history and cultural life.  Moreover, in many respects, though we don’t think of it as such, Harrisburg is a “global” city, experiencing its own cultural and political changes over time through patterns of immigration, economic displacement, and the simple fact of its being enmeshed like everywhere else in large scale movements of capital and commerce.  What would it look like to give Harrisburg and its surrounding regions that kind of close critical attention that humanists always give, and to disseminate the knowledge that we produce through the various digital tools available to us?  Such a project could have the potential for bringing together a number of educational and civic organizations in the area, combining scare resources to achieve larger contributions to the cultural and civic life of the area than we could accomplish separately.

Some Questions to be discussed in this session:

1. What are the projects that individuals or institutions already have underway that touch on Harrisburg and the Central Pennsylvania region?

2. Where do those projects overlap or where could they complement and reinforce each other?

3.  What are some areas of history and culture in the region that might be especially interesting to examine?  Oral histories of immigration?  Connections between local and national politics?  Harrisburg as a center for jazz and other forms of musical development?

4. Would it be worthwhile to imagine incorporating some of these projects in to a larger scale project on the order of a Digital Durham or Digital Harlem?  What kinds of collaborative models might work and what kinds of resources might be necessary? What benefits might accrue to different institutions and their constituencies?

We’ve got a great line-up of things developing, but we still need session proposals, workshops and dork shorts.  Check out some of the samples below, or those on the Propose tab, then give us your own ideas for some sessions that will create good conversation or develop new skills.

We’ve posted a Google doc CFP if you need some copy to send to friends.  Get the word out!  We’re working on some good workshops that will be posted soon.  We need some good session proposals and dorkshort suggestions.

So very excited that William Pannapacker of Hope College will join us at THATCamp Harrisburg on Friday, October 25th.  Bill is well known for his regular blogs and column in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and for his advocacy for the Digital Humanities at small colleges.  Details are still being worked out but Bill will likely have a featured session on Friday morning focusing on the present and future of the Digital Humanities.

There’s a new THATCamp being planned! The details will be published here when known. Meanwhile, read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.