CandCBlog » Digital Tools

Google Books and the Digital Humanities

Joe Erickson — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:55:42 +0000

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting story running today addressing the ways in which people in the humanities are using the ever-increasing storehouse of digital books provided by Google to conduct research projects that would otherwise be nearly impossible. For example, they mention how one group of folks is write a computer program that will scan through all of the Victorian literature available on Google Books to look for specific types of religious references in order to test the theory that the Victorian Era marked a significant decline in religiosity for England. Google is even funding some of this kind of research as a means of promoting the academic potential of this expanding database of cultural material.

I think this article really gets at how new media are effecting the humanities. It wasn’t too long ago that much of an English professor’s entire career could be spent reading analyzing one author – or even one book – deeply and closely. With the advent of digital resources like Google Books, however, one might be encouraged to look more quantitatively at literature, searching for revealing patterns across large bodies of literature.

Here’s the link to the article for more info:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/14/google

The Computer Connection @ Cs – Do you know about it?

Joe Erickson — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:53:43 +0000

It’s that time of year again when we all start making plans to propose panels and presentation for next year’s 4Cs conference, and, as such, I thought it would be appropriate to remind everyone about a really valuable yet, I think, under-recognized presentation opportunity at the Cs: The Computer Connection. Each year the CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition (7Cs) solicits proposals for presentations on the use of technology in the classroom, scholarship, or just about any other disciplinary pursuit for inclusion in a special cluster of presentations, known as the Computer Connection (CC).

I had the pleasure of presenting in the CC this year in Louisville, and I am happy to say that it was one the best Cs experiences I have had so far. My panel was well attended, and audience members asked lots of questions. The moderator actually had to ask us to end Q and A because we ran out over our allotted time. Here are a few details about how the CC works. There are only two presenters per panel, each person getting 25 minutes to speak, which leaves lots of time for discussion. Also, given the technological topics of these presentations, all presenters have access to computer projector equipment, which is not the case for regular Cs presentations. The CFP deadline is usually well after the official Cs deadline. In fact, the deadline comes after most people hear whether or not their Cs proposal was accepted or not. Additionally, the CC is not part of the 1 presentation/1 speaking role rule at Cs, which means that it can be done in addition to any other speaking role you might have.

For budgetary reasons, this under-recognized component of the Cs is unfortunately not well publicized. You won’t find any mention of it on the Cs website, and it is not mentioned in the conference program, though there usually are paper flyers available at the conference near where the official programs are given out. If you are interested in giving a presentation on any topic related to the intersection of computers and composition/rhetoric, I hope that you’ll consider sending in a proposal for next year’s Computer Connection and that you’ll spread the word to others who might be interested as well. Alternatively, if you don’t end up presenting at CC, look for the CC flyer at the conference when you register so you can come by to watch some of the presentations.

Here is the link to the Computers and Writing Clearinghouse website for more info on what the Computer Connection is all about and how you can submit a proposal.

http://computersandwriting.org/CCcall07

Research/Networking Tool: Mendeley

Joe Erickson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:29:58 +0000

Mendeley is an iTunes-like tool that allows you to organize your research articles and citations much like you would organize your music and videos in iTunes. It also provides automated citation generation, file-sharing, and MS Word and Open Office integration. Best of all, it works in Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. Oh yeah, and it’s free.

https://www.mendeley.com/

Teaching Tool: Wix

Joe Erickson — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:19:35 +0000

Wix is a really cool, free, and easy to use tool for creating Adobe Flash based websites. It’s as easy to use as a Blogger account, and there is no coding of any kind required. For as easy as it is to use, it is a pretty robust tool that could potentially empower and enable novice web designers (students) to create some pretty sophisticated websites. Worth a look for anyone teaching any kind of course with a digital media component:

http://www.wix.com/

JUMP: Publication Venue for Undergraduate Multimedia Writing

Joe Erickson — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:32:53 +0000

The JUMP: The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects is an online journal focused solely on publishing multimedia projects produced by undergraduates. I think this is such a great idea considering ho much work is produced by undergraduates in various writing programs around the country every semester. A journal like this can not only inspire ideas that will help spur creativity among burgeoning undergraduate new media writers, but it also provides a place to share and validate their work. For anyone who teaches new media writing courses to undergraduates, this could be a great resource to introduce to your students. Check it out.

Digital Tool: Sophie

Joe Erickson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:12:01 +0000

Sophie is a digital authoring tool that enables authors to develop large projects for publication in digitally rich, networked environments. It’s already receiving some pretty good reception on the journalism scene, and some academics seem to be warming up to it as well. This isn’t a website authoring tool; it’s more of a digital book authoring tool, but even that designation doesn’t quite do the tool justice. It’s new and interesting, and I think it has the potential to have a pretty significant impact on digital academic publishing, especially for recent ventures like the Computers and Composition Digital Press, which seeks to publish book length projects suitable for digital publication.