Louie Ulman, Director of Digital Media Studies, and Melanie Schlosser (OSU Libraries) have been awarded a $3,000 grant from the OSU Libraries Innovation Fund to host a day-long, OSU-focused "THATCamp* unconference" on Saturday, April 28, 2012, to begin a conversation among faculty, students, library professionals, and IT professionals about digital humanities projects and infrastructure at OSU.

*THATCamp: The Humanities and Technology Camp. See here for the key characteristics of a THATCAmp.

According to Professor Ulman, the THATCamp unconference hasn't adopted any particular definition of digital humanities. Indeed, they hope that during the day and, particularly, during a closing plenary session hosted by Julia Flanders (Brown University Women Writers Project), conference participants will fashion a working definition of digital humanities for our campus that reflects the wide spectrum of work being done here as well as the needs of the OSU community going forward. Registration is free but limited to 60 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.

The official call for registration/participation:

THATCamp OSU will take place Saturday, April 28th, from 8am to 5pm, in William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library. If you are interested in the intersection of technology and the humanities, and enjoy interacting with your colleagues in an informal, unconference setting, please consider joining us for the day. See below or  http://osu2012.thatcamp.org/ to learn more and to register. 

Who should attend?

THATCamp OSU is open to anyone, but will be of most interest to faculty and graduate students in the humanities, IT professionals, librarians and library staff, administrators, and anyone else working with technology to support research and teaching. The event is meant to kick off a campus-wide conversation about digital humanities at OSU, so our goal is a diverse set of participants!

What is an unconference?

An unconference is an informal conference that does not have a pre-determined program. Instead, participants propose and lead sessions and the schedule is determined during the first session of the day. (One exception at THATCamp OSU: A special plenary session led by our guest facilitator, Julia Flanders.) Instead of traditional presentations, sessions are focused on discussion and collaborative work. 

THATCamp is a program of digital humanities-focused unconferences supported by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

About the day and how to register

Thanks to generous support from the University Libraries, there is no registration fee for THATCamp OSU, and refreshments and lunch will be provided. There is no cut-off date for registration, but participation is limited to 60 people, so register early to ensure a spot: http://osu2012.thatcamp.org/register/. 

(See who else has registered athttp://osu2012.thatcamp.org/campers/.)

Once you have registered and been approved, you will be able to comment on posts and propose sessions.  If you have questions, please contact the organizers, Melanie Schlosser (University Libraries,Schlosser.40@osu.edu) and Louie Ulman (Department of English, ulman.1@osu.edu).

Sponsors

THATCamp OSU is sponsored by the Ohio State University Libraries; the College of Arts and Sciences, Division of Arts and Humanities; the Office of the Chief Information Officer; The Goldberg Center; the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing; the OSU Foreign Language Center; the Humanities Institute; the Digital Media Project, and the College of Arts and Sciences Technology Services.