Hello, fellow HASTAC grad students!

I’m writing, per Michael’s suggestion, to start a conversation about where we’d like to take the HASTAC program next quarter (Spring 2013). As we all know, this has been a busy two quarters for all of us, and I know some of us have scheduling conflicts with this quarter’s meetings. So in the spirit of making the most of our last quarter as HASTAC Scholars, let’s start thinking about what we’d like to accomplish this spring!

At the end of our last NUDHL meeting, we kicked around the idea of setting up a structured series of events and meetings for the HASTAC grad students. I suggested that we might take turns signing up for biweekly, informal presentations. I use the word “presentation” loosely here, because I was thinking we could take turns sharing our research with one another in a low-pressure atmosphere, as-is, wherever we happen to be in the research process. For example, as a first-year student, I’m still in the beginning stages of my research. So if I were scheduled to share with the group, I could bring in my evidence in its messy form (some blurry photographs of my archival documents, some more organized transcriptions that have been tagged and catalogued in Zotero, etc.). Then, I could explain to the group what I’m trying to do with my project, and open up the floor for suggestions from fellow grad students. This could be something as basic as how to organize my evidence more efficiently, or more complex like how to use a new piece of digital text analysis software, or more theoretically grounded like how to ask different questions of my source material. The point is that it would be relaxed and constructive for each of us — not merely another task, but something that would help us to engage more effectively with the digital in our own research. And we would do this in a grad-friendly atmosphere, because even while we are lucky to have some very accessible and friendly faculty in our NUDHL meetings, we all know that it can be a bit intimidating to share your work with established faculty when you are just starting out. We could approach this with the understanding that we’re all in different places — in the PhD process, in our encounters with DH, or even just in different disciplines. No pressure, no stress.

Similarly, Lisa mentioned that it might be helpful to also set up some workshops that focus explicitly on learning about new tools and technologies, where we could bring in a guest speaker and acquire some practical skills.

So, what do you think? Do me a favor and share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below. What would be helpful for you, so that we can make the spring quarter a productive and positive experience for everyone?

(Thanks in advance, and looking forward to collaborating with each of you!)

best wishes,

Emily