In the 2015 installment of the Digital Campus Year in Review podcast, regulars Dan Cohen, Amanda French, Tom Scheinfeldt, and Stephen Robertson look back at 2015 and predict the big news of 2016. Cheers went out to the NEH/Mellon Humanities Open Book Program, Congress (c.1965), the retirement of James Billington as Librarian of Congress, and the US Court of Appeals decision in favor of Google Books. Eliciting jeers were the Ad-blocker controversy, the behavior of Proquest (with Amanda dissenting), and the news that Jennifer Howard has left the higher education beat.

Much of what the group predicted for 2015 came to pass, to some extent: universities were hacked; SHARE developed; the push to learn to code continued; and Proquest and Gale moved to provide data mining access to their collections (at considerable additional cost to libraries). And, with the FAA moving to require that drones be registered, Mills’s prediction from 2013 that an Amazon drone will be shot down over Texas looks ever more likely. If you are impressed by those predictions, then in 2016 you should expect the Wu Tang Clan album to leak, Virtual Reality MOOCs to be launched, a digital humanist to win a Macarthur Fellowship, hypothes.is not to take off (or to enjoy the same success as DPLA), and emojis to replace text as our primary form of communication.

Related Links:

• NEH/Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program Grants: http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2015-12-17
• The work of the 1965 Congress:
  • The National Historic Preservation Act: http://preservation50.org/about/nhpa-history/
  • The National Endowment for the Arts: https://www.arts.gov/50th
  • The National Endowment for the Humanities: http://50.neh.gov
• The ad blocking controversy explained: http://www.vox.com/2015/9/18/9351759/ad-blocking-controversy
• In defense of Proquest: http://src-online.ca/index.php/src/article/view/226/448
• Why Are Universities Hacked? https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-are-universities-hacked
• SHARE: http://www.share-research.org
• Register Your Drone: https://www.faa.gov/uas/registration/
• Annotating All Knowledge [hypothes.is]: https://hypothes.is/annotating-all-knowledge/

Running time: 59:23

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Dan’s visit to the Apple Store prompts a discussion of the new iPad Pro, and just what you can and can’t do on Apple’s tablet. Are we all just too old to give up our laptops for tablets? The New York Times and Google recently teamed up to deliver another way to use your smartphone – for virtual reality, via Google Cardboard. Is this the beginning of an expansion of VR? Or is it just the View-Master of Mills’ and Stephen’s youth reborn? Finally, we discussed the recent study of media use by tweens and teens by Common Sense Media that highlighted the digital disparities facing low-income teens. In particular, although most have smartphones, they lack access to laptops or desktops on which to do the increasing amount of online homework teachers are assigning. Stephen and Dan talked about the key role of public libraries in giving teenagers access to computers and wireless Internet.

Related Links

• Apple iPad Pro, http://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/
• Google Cardboard, https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/
• “The Times Partners With Google on Virtual Reality Project,” NYT, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/business/media/the-times-partners-with-google-on-virtual-reality-project.html
• “The Digital Disparities Facing Lower-Income Teenagers,” NYT, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/the-digital-disparities-facing-lower-income-teens/
• The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/census_executivesummary.pdf

Running time: 47:50

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Great timing for us, as we record the podcast on the very day the US Appeals Court rules that yes, scanning in-copyright books for the purpose of creating an online index of them is indeed a transformative and therefore fair use. Huzzah! The way is clear for all kinds of things now. We also talk about a new digital humanities / libraries tool called BigDIVA that launched today, discussing mainly its plan to become a subscription-based paid service. That leads into a brief digression on the recent patent win by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation against Apple, which could potentially raise almost half a billion dollars for the University of Wisconsin system (just enough to make up for proposed budget cuts). We refrain from comment. Finally, Stephen Robertson reports on RRCHNM’s plan to build a new tool called Tropy, which would help researchers organize the pictures they take in archives.

Related Links

• “Google Books Scanning Legal,” Infodocket, http://www.infodocket.com/2015/10/16/ruling-just-in-google-book-scanning-project-legal-says-u-s-appeals-court/
• “Google Books Litigation Family Tree,” Library Copyright Alliance, http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/storage/documents/google-books-litigation-tree-16oct2015.pdf
• “Online Tool [BigDIVA] Aims to Help Researchers Sift Through 15 Centuries of Data,” NCSU press release, https://news.ncsu.edu/2015/10/big-diva-2015/
• “Apple’s Newest Courtroom Foe is a Patent-Savvy University,” Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/16/us-apple-patent-wisconsin-idUSKCN0SA09G20151016
• “RRCHNM to Build Software [Tropy] to Help Researchers Organize Digital Photographs,” RRCHNM blog, http://chnm.gmu.edu/news/rrchnm-to-build-software-to-help-researchers-organize-digital-photographs/
• Stephen Robertson on Tropy, http://drstephenrobertson.com/news/tropy-a-tool-to-organize-describe-share-digital-images-taken-in-research/
• Sean Takats on Tropy, http://quintessenceofham.org/2015/10/02/hello-tropy-soon/

Running time: 44:54

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The regulars (Stephen, Tom, Amanda, and Dan) are back for a new semester and a new season of Digital Campus in which we wave to Mills as he jaunts about Europe. We also talk about some of the summer and early autumn’s big news, including the NEH ODH’s project directors meeting, the 50th anniversary of the NEH, Librarian of Congress James Billington’s retirement, and the George Mason University History Department’s new digital dissertation guidelines. Other mentions include:

– UConn historical musical instruments project
– John Donne’s 1622 sermon for Gunpowder Day: Virtual Paul’s Cross Project
– NEH Anniversary Message from President Obama
– NEH Funding Levels, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Check back in two weeks for more from the world of digital humanities, libraries, and museums and to see where Mills lands on another episode of Digital Campus.

Running time: 47:32

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On this episode — #114, not #115 as Stephen mistakenly claims in the introduction — the full crew of regulars, Dan Cohen, Amanda French, Stephen Robertson and Tom Scheinfeldt discuss the MLA’s new repository, the AHA’s draft guidelines for assessing digital scholarship, and the tenth anniversary of YouTube. But first Dan talked about his visit to the White House, and Amanda described her new job as Director of Research and Informatics for the Virginia Tech Libraries. And Mills needed to know, did Dan wear an Apple watch to meet the President?

Related Links:

Open e-books initiative (or Dan goes to the White House) 

White House Fact Sheet

DPLA Blog Post

MLA CORE

MLA Commons Open Repository Exchange

Humanities CORE NEH-ODH Start-up Grant

AHA Guides on Assessing Digital Scholarship

AHA Blog Post

Guidelines for the Professional Evaluation of Digital Scholarship in History (PDF)

YouTube’s Tenth Anniversary

The very first YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw

Matt Schiavenza, “How YouTube Changed Journalism,” The Atlantic (February 14, 2015)

Running time: 52:24

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On this episode of Digital Campus, host Mills Kelly, along with Dan Cohen, Amanda French, and Stephen Robertson discuss the role of technology in the classroom and some of history’s most teachable moments courtesy of the US Postal Service.

To begin, everyone weighs in on the Maya Angelou stamp controversy and whether or not quotation inaccuracies are getting worse because of the internet.  Then the crew discusses a recent survey by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which found that only 20% of college and university professors have used “high-tech teaching methods.”  Dan argues that the majority of professors default to textbook teaching just to get the job done. While professors lack digital diversity, the group then shifts to discussing whether the Apple watch could cause problems in the classroom. Could widespread adoption of wearable technology lead to easier cheating? The podcast wrapped up by congratulating Amanda on being elected to the THAT Camp counsel for another year and the announcement that THAT Camp has switched to Reclaim Hosting.

Related Links:

• Book author Joan Walsh Anglund Says of Angelou stamp: ‘That’s my quote’ — the Washington Post
• Professors Know About High-Tech Teaching Methods, but Few Use Them— Chronicle of Higher Education
• U.S. Postsecondary Faculty in 2015: Diversity in People, Goals And Methods, But Focused on Students — Survey by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Apple unveils Apple Watch and new MacBook — the Guardian
• THATCamp Council Elections
• Reclaim Hosting

Running time: 41:28

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Along with Dan Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt, Mills Kelly hosted this classic episode of Digital Campus devoted entirely to technology. Mills, Dan, and Tom discussed the demise of Internet Explorer and IE’s replacement, Spartan, which is meant to complement and facilitate Microsoft’s new operating system. Then the discussion moved to the Apple watch and how such a technology might be adapted for higher education. In continuing with the Apple theme, Mills, Dan, and Tom then talked about the new MacBook that is going to have only one port. Mills reminded the listeners that Steve Jobs is in fact dead, and that creating a laptop with USB drives is an acceptable enterprise. The podcast wrapped up after Mills brought up the Maker Movements. Digital History Fellows Anne Ladyem McDivitt and Alyssa Toby Fahringer produced this podcast.

Links:

Internet Explorer

Tom Warren, “Microsoft is Killing Off the Internet Explorer Brand,” The Verge, March 17, 2015. 

Apple

Casey Fabris, “What Might an Apple Watch for Higher Education Look Like?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 10, 2015. 

Tim Moynihan, “Life with the MacBook’s Single Port Won’t Be Easy – Yet,” Wired, March 16, 2015.

Apple ResearchKit

Chris Mills, “Will.I.Am Finally Found a Customer for his Smartwatch: Gucci,” Gizmodo, March 19, 2015. 

“Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard,” The Onion.

Maker Faires

NoVa Mini Maker Faire

Maker Faires Around the World

Running time: 39:42

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After a long break, our podcast regulars, Stephen Robertson and Mills Kelly, were led by Amanda French in our first 2015 podcast. After a quick check-in on their current projects, the group kicked it off with a review of the winter academic conferences. Next, they discussed the announcement that Stanford University Press was awarded funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the publishing of interactive scholarly works. On the subject of digital scholarship, Amanda mentioned the Humanities Open Book project which was recently funded by both the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Mellon Foundation. Shifting the discussion to pedagogy, Mills addressed the way in which students may engage with the humanities differently through wearable computing. This podcast was produced by Digital History Fellows Jordan Bratt and Jannelle Legg.

Links:

Stanford University Press

Humanities Open Book

Gluejar

Wearable Computing

Internet of Things

Running time: 45:27

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‘Twas the last podcast of 2014 and on this episode of Digital Campus, Amanda, Tom, Dan, and Stephen discussed their “Cheers and Jeers” for the year (with RRCHNM Digital History Fellow Amanda Regan filling in for Mills).  MLA, IMLS, FCC, and the lack of a government shutdown won the praise of the group, but Twitter could not stand up to the pressures of 2014.

After describing the good and the bad of the year, the group discussed their predictions from 2013.  While Mills’s prediction that an Amazon drone would be shot out of the sky in Texas did not come true, it appears that many of the predictions made by the group last year were pretty close–even though Dan gave himself a solid “B”.  With 2015 quickly approaching, everyone discussed their latest predictions for the new year and where the digital humanities are headed in the next 365 days.

Running time: 48:22

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This Digital Campus episode was recorded live by Chris Preperato during Friday’s second afternoon session of the RRCHNM’s 20th Anniversary Conference and was produced by Anne Ladyem McDivitt and Alyssa Toby Fahringer. Mills Kelly, Stephen Robertson, and Tom Scheinfeldt joined host Dan Cohen to recap the earlier sessions of the day, including discussions on failure, ECHO, History Makers, pedagogy, and digital humanities centers’ websites. The floor was opened for a question and answer session, and audience participants and those on Twitter asked about Tom’s laptop’s dearth of stickers, how to convey scholarship to a broad audience, and gender and digital history centers.

Links:
Gender and Digital History Centers Google Doc

RRCHNM20 Friday schedule

#RRCHNM20 Twitter stream

RRCHNM20 site

RRCHNM20 Omeka

Running time: 48:10

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