March 28, 2012 in Email, Home, Night, Programming, Reading
The rest of my evening will include some light emailing about today’s events/decisions in preparation for more meetings tomorrow. I also hope to crank out a couple CodeAcademy lessons and a chapter or two of How to Do Things with Video Games.Then, sleep.
This will be my final day of DH post. I’m hoping that sharing the non-DH activities that can follow from being DH scholar sheds some light on the diversity of our practice.
March 28, 2012 in Evening, Home, Teaching, Uncategorized
After traveling home, walking the dog, and making dinner, my day of DH continues as I advise one of my cyberculture studies students on his independent study into film theory. Backing up, a student I had in a class on Cyberspace and Everyday Life, asked if I would mentor him as he attempts to put together a writing sample for graduate applications in film studies. Because this major track is only a year old, no course on film theory had been offered during this tenure. So, because I have a critical theory background and study media (in general) I offered him an independent study so he could supplement his film study.
I realize that an independent study in film theory wouldn’t qualify as DH under any definition I read. I bring it up to highlight the slippery slope that lies before those of us who study digital media, particularly in a small, liberal arts context. No matter how we “define DH“, it is always exceeded by the breadth of how we are perceived by our departments, how we are approached by our students, or how we define ourselves through practice.
March 27, 2012 in Admin Service, Afternoon, Office
The next big task for today is evaluating applications for a visiting assistant professor position. We hope to hire someone in either Romanticism or Film or Both. I have been pushing for my department to seriously consider selecting a Romanticist who works in digital humanities. My position is that the hire would basically work like a two-fer, where we could get someone who can teach Romantic literature, but could also teach DH-centric courses that are outside my specialty. As we surely see today, DH is quite a diverse field and I would love to have another scholar in our department thinking about digital media and methods as, for example, archival or analytical tools.
March 27, 2012 in Afternoon, Meeting, Office
As I mentioned, I was hired as the digital part of a film and digital media concentration. What I didn’t mention was that the film part is by far the more popular. Thus, even though I never studied film, because I was hired into this concentration, I often become the person to ask about film stuff also. For example, this fall I am teaching two sections of Introduction to Film + Digital Media which I have described to my students as trying to teach intro to chemistry and biology in the same course.
So, my other major meeting today was with the dean to discuss the future of our long-running film institute. For twenty-plus years, this institute has screened movies in conjunction with film classes on campus. When the directorship came open, I thought I might be able to take over the program — and its resources — an expand it to have a broader film AND digital media mission. It seems though that my plans are a little beyond what is possible right now, however. So, I’ll put those plans on the backburner for now.
March 27, 2012 in Admin Service, Afternoon, Lab
My major tasks today reflect the diversity of digital humanities in practice. For example, I attended a job talk by an kinetic artist.
Our art department is opening a new major track in interactive design and so are looking to hire someone who makes interactive art. I was invited as a digital media specialist to give notes on their candidates. Unfortunatly, this was the first time I got to meet members of the art department. Though I haven’t kept up with it since turning to focus on my dissertation, job search, move, and new job, I used to follow new media art. So I was very excited that the art faculty mentioned to me before the talk that they would like to set up some collaboration and cross-listing.
The talk went fairly well, I thought. The projects presented were compelling, though I found myself thinking a lot about the differences in presentation conventions. This talk seemed much less theoretical, less grounded detailed analysis as it was much more focused on showcasing the work, letting it speak for itself. I’m looking forward to see the other candidates over the next month.
March 27, 2012 in Biography
Hello, Day of DH2012!
This is my second year as a participant. Last year, I was on the tail end of my final year of graduate school at the University of Washington. Much of my day was spent working on the Critical Gaming Project website and completing some work on my dissertation.
This year I am a first year assistant professor of English at Loyola University New Orleans. I was hired as the digital half of a new major concentration in Film and Digital Media. It has been really exciting to shape a new curriculum and introduce Loyola students to digital media studies. There is a great deal of work ahead, however. And so as I expect much of what I post today will have to do with how a new program in digital studies gets going.
I have two main appointments today and then some housekeeping. First, the art department is hiring someone in interactive design and they have invited me to the presentations. The first candidate is here to day and I am going to see him speak at 12:45. Then, at 1:30, I have a meeting with my dean concerning the future of a film screening program.
More soon.
March 19, 2012 in Uncategorized
Welcome to Day of DH 2012 Sites. We recommend that you test out the software with an About Me post, either by editing this post or deleting it and writing a new one. Enjoy your Day of DH!
Timothy J. Welsh
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