Events @ the Edge

This workshop will help graduate students in the humanities and interpretive social sciences understand public scholarship.  Students will learn how to recognize scholarly public humanities work, ways to effectively reference public scholarship, and ethical considerations when working with or for the public.  Students will explore public humanities projects through hands-on activities and discuss and reflect on best practices. This workshop will be led by Liz Milewicz, Director of the ScholarWorks Center, and Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head of the Humanities and Social Sciences department at Duke University Libraries.

All are welcome to register; priority seating will be given to graduate students, particularly students in the humanities and social sciences. Please note that, in order to make the most of our time in the workshop, there will be some pre-work required.

[Online] Computational text analysis can be hard. It takes prep work, it requires an understanding of arcane processes and workflows, and it often demands iteration, patience, and technical skill. In other words, it feels a lot like something that might be easier if AI were to lend a hand.

This workshop explores what happens when we invite AI into our text analysis workflows. We'll look specifically at how ChatGPT can assist in various stages of text analysis, including tasks such as summarization, sentiment analysis, and theme extraction. The workshop emphasizes transparency and repeatability, ensuring that participants understand how the model operates, how to interpret its outputs, and how to encourage it to "show its work." Through examples and hands-on exercises, we'll develop a foundational understanding of how to use ChatGPT for text analysis in a way that is ethical, transparent, and broadly useful. No previous experience with text analysis or AI is required, and there is no programming component.

[Online] In this workshop, we'll examine how to build certain values of minimal computing into the practice of creating lightweight, efficient, and sustainable digital publications. Digital "content," including scholarly work, often comes at a high computational and environmental cost. We'll talk about tools and techniques that prioritize minimal resource usage while maintaining functionality and accessibility.

Together, we'll learn how to set up and use static site generators, explore low-compute publication tools, and understand the benefits of minimal computing in various contexts. By the end of the session, participants will have the knowledge and skills to create static websites and publications that align with minimal computing principles.

Note: While there are no prerequisites for the workshop, you may want to enroll in Intro to Minimal Computing (RCR, 19 September 2024) for a broader overview of minimal computing practices and the ethical commitments that animate them.

This session explores how minimal computing can promote ethical, accessible, and equitable scholarship by reducing technological barriers, minimizing environmental impact, and improving the resilience of digital humanities projects. We'll discuss a range of practices that align with these principles and will explore tools that embody or facilitate minimal approaches, with a focus on how those approaches can be used in DH research, publication, and pedagogy. The workshop will balance practical concerns with critical discussions about the implications of adopting minimal computing, thereby helping participants to choose tools and design projects that align with their values.

Note: While there are no prerequisites for the workshop, you may want to enroll in Intro to Minimal Computing (RCR, 19 September 2024) for a broader overview of minimal computing practices and the ethical commitments that animate them.