Spring 2017 Events
Workshop
January 9
12:00–1:30 AM
Do you have a research idea or a collection of sources that would make a great digital humanities project? Do you want to build a digital tool that will foster humanistic inquiry? This workshop will cover the basics of what it takes to design and implement a DH project, and how to successfully pitch your project idea for a CDH grant.
Reading Group
February 8
12:00–1:20 PM
During the academic year, the CDH’s Reading & Discussion group meets for lunch on select Wednesdays to discuss and debate issues in the rapidly changing field of digital humanities. All are invited to attend this interdisciplinary gathering of Princeton faculty, students, librarians, curators and technologists, who range from DH experts to newcomers to the field. In semesters past, our readings and discussions were clustered thematically around issues such as: archive, access, interface, and database.This year, the Reading Group is reconvening in Spring 2017 with a new set of articles and topics to discuss, which will be posted here as well as under the Community section of our site.
Guest Lecture
Slavic DH: Samizdat and Alternative History
February 13
4:30–6:00 PM
Alan Liu has written about the changing task for humanists: “Where once the job of literature and the arts was creativity, now, in an age of total innovation, I think it must be history.” Slavic scholars who treat the Soviet period may have a special perspective on history, its distortion and its recovery. Ann Komaromi will talk about how uncensored publication in “samizdat” facilitated the recovery of history in the Soviet Union. How might that work be related to our own mission as digital humanists? What might we recover of lost or marginalized history, and how could DH projects help bridge the divide between institutionalized history and grass-roots or citizen-led efforts?
Workshop
February 22
4:30–6:00 PM
We are surrounded by data visualizations. The graphic display of information can be incredibly powerful. Last semester the CDH showed you how to start making your own data visualizations; join Jean Bauer and Claude Willan for this follow-up workshop and learn how to read data visualizations with a critical eye. Jean and Claude will present pro- and con- cases for a wide selection of examples and help you see how to unpick the strengths, weaknesses, and hidden arguments in visualizations of the kind we rely on every day.
Workshop
March 1
4:30–6:00 PM
Need to do some statistical analysis? R is one of the standard tools in the library of data analytics. It is also an accessible language for non-programmers, with many built-in tools and packages for a wide variety of analyses.
Workshop
March 13
3:30–5:00 PM
Come learn about topic modeling: what it is, how to do it, and how to interpret the results. We'll use R Studio to see some sample scripts, run them on a sample corpus, and analyze the outputs together. CDH postdoc Claude Wilan will lead a gentle introduction.
Workshop
March 15
3:30–5:00 PM
Do you have messy data? Is the mess getting in the way of your analysis? Does Excel crash whenever you open *that* file? Don’t despair! Help is on the way. The Center for Digital Humanities graduate fellow Phil Gleissner is hosting a one-hour workshop to help you get past the mess in your data set and on to the analysis and visualizations you actually want to be doing. We will be using the open source data cleaning power tool, OpenRefine. This is a hands on workshop, so please bring your own laptop with OpenRefine pre-installed, if possible. (There are also excellent video tutorials available. If you have difficulty installing OpenRefine come 30mins early and CDH staff will help you get up and running.) A sample (messy) data set will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own datasets for consultation.
Workshop
March 29
3:30–5:00 PM
This workshop will explore the meaning of interactivity and interface, and concentrate on learning principles and tools of designing an interactive project. After learning basic concepts, we’ll work together on a project in Design Sprint style, simulating the design process that translates an idea into prototypes and insights. You’ll have hands-on experience with interactive design methods and tools, from sketching flows and wireframes, to developing paper prototypes and testing.
Workshop
Designing a Conference Poster
April 17
3:30–5:00 PM
Have you ever had to design a poster for a conference and didn't know where to begin? New to using a poster as a format for presenting your research? Join the CDH's in-house designer Xinyi Li for a workshop to get you started with successful principles, practices, tools, tips and tricks.