Digital Sandbox: Playing with Public Humanities

Abstract

We developed and led a daylong workshop on the digital humanities that took place at IUPUI on August 15, 2013. This project grew out of a spring 2013 digital humanities course taught by Dr. Jason Kelly and was designed to start a conversation on campus about digital technology and humanities scholarship. The goal was to offer fellow graduate students in the School of Liberal Arts an opportunity to “get their hands dirty” by applying digital humanities theories and tools to projects. During our digital history class, we realized our peers had an interest in the digital humanities but did not have training in practically applying digital technology to their current and future work. We recognize the use of digital tools can enhance humanities scholars’ work and that limited classroom time prevented our professor from covering both the theory and practical applications of these emerging practices. As a result, we took the initiative to bring digital humanities out of the classroom and into the “sandbox”- a place where we could explore and learn together. We sought a diverse collection of speakers and audience members to share expertise and foster collaboration. We then pushed our participants to ask new questions and to think critically about finding practical applications for digital humanities scholarship in both their academic and professional endeavors. Digital Sandbox was envisioned as an ongoing project. By presenting this poster showcasing our method and outcomes, we hope to continue the conversation about sustaining the role of digital humanities IUPUI.