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The progression of the semester has largely contributed to the shape my final project is beginning to take in not only the scholarship studied, but also the discussions we've cultivated within the classroom as well the pedagogical presentations we've done in front of each other. In understanding the main focus of DH as keeping the human central in our inquiry, I've found that returning to this concept has helped to orient me in ways that allow me to stay focused on my goals the I've proposed in my research design model as well as my conceptual framework.
To begin, even the focus of my question has shifted from looking at the technology of SMS spaces and Emoji's to focusing on how such technologies can help our CLASP students. Through this course I have learned that a common misconception of DH is the view that technology must be the central focus. We've learned about this through our readings within the Debates in the Digital Humanities anthology with Steven Ramsay's argument that Digital Humanists must "do" or "create". However, as Tom Scheinfeldt and others have mentioned, we don't necessarily have to "do" to be digital humanist. What's important is that we are critical in our use of technology, consistently critiquing and examining the effect it has on us as humans. In extending these notions further in the construction of our DH 101 syllabi, I continued to cultivate this pedagogy that the technology is second to the critical thinking and engagement students must participate in as users of technology.
In focusing on the first year writing class, I've found Olin Bjork's article "Digital Humanities and the First Year Writing Course" to be exceptionally helpful as I begin to consider what it means to be literate in the 21st century, and how technology and its use plays a critical role in shaping our understanding of literacy. I found a plethora of materials in the Digital Humanities Pedagogy collection to be valuable as I consider the pedagogical applications of using Emoji's in the composition classroom. Kuhn and Callahan's Undergraduate Digital Literacy article in Hacking the Academy has also helped to shape my perception of the ethical obligations we have towards infusing technology and the critique of such technology in ways that allow students to make meanings.
As I move towards the methodology of my final project, I have found the an introduction to digital tools through the DiRt Bamboo archive has really helped shape my perception of my project from the "big picture" perspective. Using tools like Project "R" to showcase visual representations of the qualitative survey data mirrors the implications of visual communicative practice in SMS spaces, which to me really brings my project full circle. The conversations this semester in class have also asked me to really consider end users and access as it pertains to not only my students, but also my colleagues and how I showcase myself as a digital humanist within the English Department. Unless I'm housed in DTC, my colleagues won't be following me as I begin to talk about hardware, and coding, and other technical technology terminology. Therefore, using tools that make the data accessible is especially important to me, and I don't think I would have had access to these free resources for my project without this DH course. DH has also allowed me to view my final project as a hybrid discourse that infuses both the visual with the written. In looking at the implications of Emoji's in composition and rhetoric, and more specifically the first year writing course, I'm thinking critically about multimodality, and how a hybrid composition can help to be more inclusive of different cultural populations of students. Without the literature, projects, and prompts this semester getting us to understand the tangible currency DH has as a interdisciplinary field, I believe that I would really view my project in a way that made a case for technology under a framework of literacy, where I think the "why" does in is that I am keeping my students central in this project, and I am looking at technology in such a way that I hope it helps them become better compositionists. I don't think I would have came to that central goal without the scholarship and practice, and tools that DH has introduced me to.
Lucy,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I really like your shift of moving from the general conversations of visual rhetorics on online spaces to how specific digital tools will better the experience of CLASP students. To me, that proves this projects relevance and timeliness, especially on the WSU campus. One area that I would consider expanding on is your notion of DH not just being about using digital tools, but being about making, creating, and doing. Even from the scholarship we've read thus far, that idea seems to be given little attention, and I think assigning that idea a bit more emphasis would help solidify this research's contribution to the conversation. Excellent post!
--Lacy
Lucy,
ReplyDeleteOverall, I felt that your post was very well organized and thorough. You had some really great gestures to how, specifically, your DH project is informed by the readings we've engaged with during class this semester have informed your project. You have also done rather well in giving your audience a sense of the platforms you might use to organize and deliver your content, and how those platforms cater to and satisfy the larger themes present in DH theories, scholarship, and pedagogy. In terms of what I might recommend for the future, I would like to hear a bit more about how you intend to represent the CLASP students themselves in your DH project. Will they play a kind of co-authorial role in the development, design, or maintenance of your DH project? How will you go about getting their consent to be used in your data collection? I guess my questions pertain to more foundational than purely theoretical areas of your DH project, but I feel that answering them will provide a great deal of levity to what you're attempting to accomplish here. Thank you for sharing.
Mark