A bunch of people locked in a conference room for a weekend is a poor way to decide who gets funded and who goes away empty handed. There has to be a better way.

I’d like to explore how we might use the rapid, iterative, team-based methodologies of “scrum” to create a fairer, more accurate, and more satisfying way of reviewing grants.

When the grant funding for the THATCamp project runs out at the end of March 2014, my position as THATCamp Coordinator will also end. I personally am not too worried about the future of THATCamp: it’s already sustaining itself very well, and to some extent I think that even if people cease to organize or go to THATCamps, it won’t be a tragedy — the spirit of THATCamp cannot die, and I think THATCamp has already had some highly laudable effects.

So it’s getting near the time when we’ll need to give the THATCamp community an even greater degree of ownership than it has already. I’m proposing a session here to figure out how to set up a THATCamp Coordinating Council to take over the (very few) tasks that I’m currently performing as THATCamp Coordinator. Let me make one thing clear: I don’t want to use this session to actually *appoint* said Council; I want instead to use this session to figure out the best *process* for setting up such a Council. Should I call for volunteers and appoint the people I think would be best, or should we hold some kind of elections? How would we hold such elections? And if that turns out to be an easy decision, then we can also talk about what the demographics and duties of such a Council should be. I want this to be a highly-tweeted session as well, one that involves the virtual #THATCamp community as much as possible.

I did think about pre-scheduling this session at THATCamp Leadership, by the way, but I was actually worried that planning a particular session about the THATCamp Coordinating Council would be, well, un-THATCampy. So if you have ideas about how this should go, please comment here, tweet @thatcamp, and/or (if you’re coming to THATCamp Leadership) speak your mind in person during the initial scheduling session tomorrow.

I’ve got a very very drafty set of thoughts about the demographics, duties, and processes of the THATCamp Coordinating Council, which I will create a Notepad for and attach to this post. Anyone with an account on thatcamp.org (not just this site) can log in to edit that document. To get a THATCamp account, go to thatcamp.org/signup.

There is lots of talk these days about  inclusivity and DH.  Some of this talk extends to disciplinary inclusivity.  In light of my own disciplinary background (“I’m not a humanist, but I hang around in the digital humanities community” blah, blah, blah…most people have heard my schtick) I’m really interested in talking about strategies that DH can use to engage with the the social science community (and the more digitally inclined scholars therein). Are there bridges to be built?  Are the bridges already there (and this discussion is pretty much moot)?  Are there things that each community can teach one another?  Is that link already there? Is this kind of discussion even valuable any more (given the fact that it could easily stray into the endless, pointless, and painful quagmire of “what is DH”). I’ve definitely got thoughts (given that I’m a social scientist who hangs out a lot with DH folks)…

THATCamp has opened up many opportunities for participants to share and develop skills in areas such as text mining, project management, material culture, and digital pedagogy (to mention just a few of the topics I’ve seen in browsing past THATCamps). But I want to take a step back and ask what are the skills important to digital scholarship?  My interest in the topic comes in part from my work with colleagues on a Mellon-sponsored global benchmarking study examining the skills and competencies necessary to support (and practice) digital scholarship.  I think there are some important commonalities between this proposed session and Rebecca Davis’ proposal to explore “Learning Outcomes for a Globally Networked World,” but the focus here would be more on scholars/librarians/technologists/professionals than undergraduates. (It might be interesting to compare lists of skills and competencies important to these different constituencies.)

In addition to understanding what skills and competencies are important to digital scholarship, I’d also like to explore how best to cultivate these skills. How do digital humanities centers and programs help their members to gain the skills and knowledge to do innovative, significant work? I love the spirit of exploration, collaboration and play embodied by THATCamp, but I also see the need to enable digital humanists at various levels of experience to hone their skills over a longer period of time than a day or a day and a half. (Ryan also points to the need to go beyond 101 in some THATCamp sessions.) Could we imagine new variants of the THATCamp model? Are there possibilities for online/ hybrid training, mentoring, local reading groups, partnerships with DH centers, iterative THATCamps, etc?

It seems like I know many early adopters in the digital humanities, especially at small liberal arts colleges.  I’m interested in how we can cross the chasm.  How do we move digital humanities into the mainstream? Having recently started a new position as Director of Instructional and Emerging Technology, I am conscious of the need to encourage innovation but also to move innovations into the mainstream (and figuring out which ones deserve to be moved).  We also have a task force on Academic Innovation and New Educational Approaches working right now.

One article about spreading innovation in science education is: Adrianna Kezar. “The Path to Pedagogical Reform in the Sciences: Engaging Mutual Adaptation and Social Movement Models of Change.” Liberal Education 98, no. 1 (Winter 2012): 40–45. It is available online here: www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-wi12/kezar.cfm

Discussion might center on successful strategies for evaluating innovation and spreading it across campus.

DC is a bit of a shutdown town right now — it’s a little hard to think of anything else. And the shutdown means that THATCamp Leadership next week may well be deprived of the insight and company of some of our friends and colleagues from the NEH, NARA, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian. Nevertheless, because THATCamp Leadership is an unconference whose agenda hasn’t been set yet, at least we now have the option of putting discussions of the shutdown on said agenda if we so choose.

Even if you don’t want to talk about the shutdown, though, you can still say what you would like to talk about — or make, or learn, or teach, or play — and your saying will help determine what we do next Thursday. There are two session proposals already up at the THATCamp Leadership site, one (mine) proposing a discussion of Purdue’s “Signals” software and one from Ryan Cordell on “THATCamp Hierarchy,” and you can read more about proposing sessions on the Propose page at leadership2013.thatcamp.org/propose/.

Remember that to propose a session, you will need to log in to the site at leadership2013.thatcamp.org/wp-login.php (click “Lost your password?” on that page if need be) and go to Posts –> Add New.

 There you will be able to write a brief description of a session you’d like to facilitate. You can also add categories from the right-hand side, including the category “Session Proposals.” If all that sounds like too much, don’t worry: you can always suggest something on Thursday morning.

You can read through (and “favorite”) proposals in the coming days, and we’ll also post them around the Mason Inn on the morning of the unconference. If you’d like to get the proposals by email, go to the “Entries by email” link on the front page at leadership2013.thatcamp.org.

Looking forward to foregathering next week. See you online before then, and see you in person soon.

Hi all — I’m so glad you’ve agreed to come to THATCamp Leadership. For some of you, this will be only one of many THATCamps you’ve attended (or organized): for others of you, it will be the first THATCamp and probably the first unconference you’ve ever attended. I’m writing this in order to give you more information about the purposes and processes of this special event.

First, a bit about purpose. THATCamp Leadership will

• introduce academic leaders such as yourself to THATCamp and to the unconference model;
• carve out some retreat-like time for discussion of and work on issues related to the humanities and technology; and
• begin the process of creating a THATCamp Coordinating Council to administer the THATCamp project.

“That’s all very well,” you may be saying to yourself, “but how on earth does one approach this ‘unconference’ animal? What is expected at THATCamp Leadership, what will happen there, and what am I to do?”

Here, then, is a bit about process. To prepare for THATCamp Leadership, you should

• pack your business casual clothes,
• bring a laptop (or a tablet, though I advise a laptop),
• have an idea for a session (optional, but strongly recommended), and
• show up.

That’s all, really. The essence of an unconference is that it is participant-driven, and therefore those who attend will collaboratively decide what the agenda will be in the first session of the first day. What will happen on Thursday, October 10th, 2013 at THATCamp Leadership is therefore mostly to be determined — by us. Most people propose a session (or several) a week or two before the event begins, but you can also chime in with an idea as we work together to set the schedule at the beginning of the day on 10/10/13.

You can learn more about the principles and processes of THATCamp at THATCamp 101, and you can read further about proposing sessions and see examples of session proposals at leadership2013.thatcamp.org/propose/. I will also email you about October 1st to encourage you to propose something and to explain the process further.

Tomorrow I will add all participants to the THATCamp Leadership site as users; you will receive your username and password (if you don’t already have one) by email. This will allow you to log in to the site at leadership2013.thatcamp.org/wp-login.php and edit your profile (which will be listed on the Participants page) and/or write an early proposal. Don’t hesitate to write me at info@thatcamp.org if you have questions. I’m looking forward to unconferencing with you all.

THATCamp Leadership is an invitation-only unconference for digital humanities scholars, university deans, heads of museums and libraries, and executive directors of scholarly associations and state humanities councils. Its purpose is to introduce leaders in the humanities to the benefits and structure of THATCamp in particular and unconferences generally. It will take place from 8:00am to 3:00pm on Thursday, October 10, 2013 at the Mason Inn Conference Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and will be followed by a meeting of THATCamp Organizers for the purpose of creating a process for electing or appointing a THATCamp Coordinating Council. THATCamp Leadership is funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

THATCamp is The Humanities and Technology Camp. See thatcamp.org for more information.