Collaboration – THATCamp Harrisburg 2013

Dork Short: Cinemablography

Colleen E Dente — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 04:38:44 +0000

Would love to present Cinemablography as a 2- to 3-minute Dork Short.

From an ordinary stack of ungraded film analysis papers was born an idea: what if, instead of just writing about film production theory, students could collaborate to demonstrate what they had learned by turning papers into films? Cinemablography is the Messiah College Communication Department’s experimental answer to this question.

Initially comprised of student-produced and directed interviews, retrospectives, travelogues and examinations, Cinemablography has developed into a semesterly showcase of student work from various disciplines in the Communication Department. It serves as a digital archive of film exploration through collaborative student efforts under the direction of Fabrizio Cilento, beginning with “Mapping the 2000’s.” This issue of the site represents the effort to document and critique cinematic tendencies of the millennium thus far – a potentially infinite project, and an important starting point for greater conversation. Projects focused on dissecting the history of the 2000s while highlighting the major innovations of the biographical, aesthetic, technological, and economic aspects of the industry. Examples include Kathryn Bigelow’s iconic filmmaking style and subsequent Academy Award; Banksy’s rogue cultural commentary in Exit Through the Gift Shop; Christopher Nolan’s cinematic reimagining of Batman’s dark themes; Pixar’s complete overhaul of computer animated storytelling; and Martin Scorsese’s tribute to George Méliès: the film Hugo, which masterfully blended old and new.

Due to the labor-intensive nature of this work students must sacrifice quantity for quality, limiting major site updates to about once per semester. Because film culture changes so rapidly, however, it became apparent that an ongoing, short-term social media and blog component would enhance the overall goals of Cinemablography. Updated weekly by student writers, the blog exists to foster discussion of current films and topics relevant to film and digital media. It reviews trailers and film scores for their effectiveness and merit; highlights the work of particular directors with in- depth examinations of their careers; and selects films made prior to the year 2000 to review for their importance and relevance to the modern film landscape. It also discusses short films, behind the scenes footage, and industry news through a developing presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. We are looking for collaborators to grow the site (specifically in conjunction with other colleges), whether as writers, web designers, filmmakers, or social media managers.

Cinemablography is poised to bridge a gap between popular culture and academia, and the students who feed its ever-expanding catalogue hope that their work contributes to a larger conversation.

Session Proposal: Envisioning a Digital Harrisburg

ppowers — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 13:59:35 +0000

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?

Workshop – Digital Storytelling in the Humanities

Andy Petroski — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:08:21 +0000

Stories were once the primary medium for sharing knowledge and culture. Stories captivate our senses and excite our imagination. Today’s digital technologies allow us to bring the medium back into prominence by allowing media convergence, social interaction and audience (learner) involvement in the story.

Join this session to explore technologies, strategies and resources for story creation, student interaction and games in education.

Facilitators: Charles Palmer and Andy Petroski

Workshop Proposal: Creating a Comprehensive Public Research Library in Zotero

Beth Transue — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 01:26:06 +0000

In fall 2012, I created a massive digital library of 8,000 records related to ancient and modern discussions of the city and region of Corinth, Greece. In part a collection of references, in part a collection of texts, the Corinthian Studies library forms a comprehensive body of texts related to a popular subject of ancient history, classical archaeology, and New Testament scholarship. I began making sections of the library available online last year and will continue this fall to release parts of the collection through the Zotero Groups feature. The goal of the library is to serve scholars, teachers, and the interested public by creating a starting point for texts and research.

In this session, I team up with librarian Beth Transue to discuss the use and application of Zotero for individual and collaborative research, and public ends. We propose a hands-on workshop focusing on the mechanics of using Zotero, and its potential for collaborative research, teaching, and public scholarship. David will discuss the Corinthian Studies library as an example of Zotero’s utility, and Beth will cover the basics in using Zotero, such as creating a Zotero account, collecting resources, online vs. stand-alone libraries, and using the Zotpad app to connect with Zotero on a mobile device.

David Pettegrew is Associate Professor of History at Messiah College. Beth Transue is Associate Librarian/Collection Development Coordinator at Messiah College.