I propose a conversation about incorporating multimedia assignments into humanities courses. As director of the University of Alabama Libraries’ Sanford Media Center, I’ve helped design and support a number of assignments in areas such as English, art, dance, and multiple modern languages classes. Although these assignments are across many divisions, the assignments have a common thread no matter the type of class or technological tool used; they are either asking students to make an argument (defining argument as a composition intended to convince or persuade) or demonstrate a skill outside the classroom.

Some examples of successful integration of multimedia assignments in humanities classes include an instructor in the art department who has dropped paper summaries of projects in favor of digital slideshows that exhibit the creation process, including planning, construction, and completion of a sculptural object, accompanied by comprehensive evaluation of the project. Instructors in English have students making websites to distribute their research and writing instead of traditional papers and instructors in modern languages have students filming themselves speaking in the assigned language for self-evaluation and instructor feedback.

In addition to using multimedia as a way to delivery the primary learning objective, students are also learning a valuable communication skill that is becoming more necessary as they enter the professional world–the ability to communicate beyond writing. As technology progresses and affects the workplace, the ability to successfully engage in multi-model communication will continue to increase inn value. These multimedia and communication skills are most clearly evident in the assignments that require students to present an argument of some type.

Possible suggested discussion topics include why even bother with media assignments, different types of assignments (e.g. video, audio, web, etc.), creating achievable assignments by determining useful expectations, rubric elements for assignment evaluation, and discussing some of the many tools that can be used for multimedia projects.

Finding the professional or academic conversations can be hard enough, but once you are keyed in, how do keep track of them and stay engaged?  On Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, lots of people are talking, but how to do you listen?  I can show you what’s worked for me, but I would also like to know what works for you. Come ready to play around and share.

Prerequisites:  Helpful to have some accounts already set up on some of the following – Facebook and/or Twitter, Hootesuite or Tweetdeck or Bufferapp.com.  If you played with IFTTT.com then bring that account information with you too!

Difficulty level of session:  Introductory, but also dependent on the experience of folks who come to play.

As an archivist, I post content to my website but have fallen behind a bit in knowing the tools my users use and how to prepare my materials for them. As a teacher, F2F and online, I want to know how to integrate digital tools into my coursework and which tools I should teach to my students. As a community historian, I hope to provide info to a rising generation of avocational historians and need to know how they access that info. I need to listen more than talk, and though other sessions cover at least some of my personal concerns, I’d love the opportunity to hear about more tools and strategies from the makers and users assembled here.

Databases are my friends. Every application that I use and care about has a database built into it somewhere: digital audio workstation, video editor, address book, calendar, to-do list (don’t forget online shopping…). Important research is predicated on the analysis of databases. Increasingly, many of my favorite works of art are driven by databases. I’m inspired by civic hacking projects made possible by the open data movement.

So why is it such a pain to create and work with databases? How come we still reach for a spreadsheet when we know darn well a database would be better? Would the world be a better place if everyone databased? Has the NSA made database a dirty word? What tools do we need to make databasing more like sledding?

Come share your love/hate experiences with databases. Teach us about your favorite tools for making life with databases more fulfilling. Let’s imagine together what will replace databases as we know them.

When people talk about digital storytelling, they usually mean the use of some form of media production to share a story. I want to propose a session in which we explore possibilities for designing assignments that ask students to present information with digital tools and share their artifacts publicly. Thus, we will think about the process of digital story telling broadly, as a synthesis between research (or information gathering) and narrative (or argument).

For example, I’ve been working with a history professor at my school to develop an assignment where students practice historical reflection with data sites like Google’s Ngram Viewer, Baby Name Wizard, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Students can create narratives that show changes in time, and with tools like Timeline JS, they can create a product that looks good and can be shared almost anywhere online. My example looks at the language we use to describe people who serve us on airplanes.

In this workshop, we can talk about digital tools that invite students to locate information, ideas, and data and construct narratives that can be presented to others on websites. We can also look at other tools like Storify, History Pin, Sliderocket, and others, and we’ll actually try to build some content (so you may want to bring a laptop or tablet).

Has anyone else used web tools to have students generate digital stories? What are some of the challenges involved in facilitating digital storytelling projects?

I’d like to have a brainstorming session about how to build a network of collaborators for digital work on a particular campus or in a particular area. What kinds of skills and interests might you seek out and where within various institutions might you find these skills? What are some of the most useful ways to maintain relationships with these folks during and after the life of a project? How can you go about getting institutional support for these projects? I’ve had some experience building community around digital humanities this year but I’d love to think about how different models could work at different types of institutions too.