Digital and Computational Studies Blog

Bowdoin College - Brunswick, Maine

Events

“A Prehistory of The Museum of Capitalism” with Andrea Steves of FICTILIS – Part of the Technology, Art, and Culture Lecture Series

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January 25, 2018 | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM | Visual Arts Center, Beam Classroom

Andrea Steves, from the art collaborative FICTILIS, will talk about the project ‘The Museum of Capitalism’ – an institution dedicated to educating this generation and future generations about the history, philosophy, and legacy of capitalism, through exhibitions, research, and publication. The museum’s programs result from collaborations between a network of researchers, curators, artists, designers, filmmakers, writers, economists, historians, scientists, and non-specialists from all walks of life, including those with direct experience of capitalism.

FICTILIS is the collaborative practice of multimedia artists and curators Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau. The word “FICTILIS” is Latin for “capable of being shaped or changed; earthen,” which refers both to the form of their practice and the role it is intended to play within a larger culture.

FICTILIS has curated exhibitions, organized events, and been artists in residence or visiting artists in many different venues across the US and internationally, including Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito, CA); Princeton School of Architecture (Princeton, NJ); Science Gallery (Dublin, Ireland); the Art Meets Radical Openness Festival (Linz, Austria); and the Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, NM). Recent projects have received grants from the Puffin Foundation, the Left Tilt Fund, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and have been nominated for the Human Impacts Institute’s Creative Climate Award, the COAL Art & Environment Prize in Paris, France, as part of ARTCOP21.

Lecture sponsored by Digital and Computational Studies (DCS).

“Visual Effects in Film – Art, Craft, and (Sometimes) Bad Movies”

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On Friday, February 17th in Kresge Auditorium at 12:30- 1:30 pm, Dave Fogler, a Bowdoin alumnus of 1990, will be accompanied by the Industrial Light + Magic in 1997 as a miniature model maker on Starship Troopers. During his eight years in ILM’s traditional model shop, Dave contributed to eight motion pictures including Star Wars: Episodes I and II, Galaxy Quest, Artificial Intelligence: AI, and Pearl Harbor. In 2005, Dave transitioned to digital modeling and texturing for Star Wars: Episode III and has gone on to supervise the work on all five Transformers films, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Avatar, Pacific Rim, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Currently, Fogler is the Associate Visual Effects Supervisor on Transformers: The Last Knight.

A Maine native, Fogler has a B.A. from Bowdoin College and a Masters of Fine Arts from The University of California at Berkeley.

Logistics: Friday, February 17th in Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center at 12:30- 1:30 pm.

European Summer University in Digital Humanities

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From July 18- 28, 2017 the Leipzig Summer University will offer a unique space for the discussion and acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and competences in computer technologies which are essential in Humanities Computing. The eleven days of this Summer University will include an intensive program that consists of workshops, teaser sessions, public lectures, regular project presentations, a poster session and a panel discussion. Furthermore, the Summer University aims to confront the “Gender Divide,” the under- representation of women in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Germany and other parts of the world. Application deadlines and more information can be found at their website linked below:

http://www.culingtec.uni-leipzig.de/ESU_C_T/

DCS-Related Conference and Workshop Opportunities!

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Early Modern Digital Agendas: Network Analysis

This two-week, July 17- 28, 2017, institute expands on the growing interest and expertise in the field of Network Analysis and its scholarly applications for early modern scholars. The focus of this institute is on the best practices for building and curating network analysis projects while ensuring that each participant comes away with their own understanding of how such work fits into the broader developments within the disciplinary fields of early modern studies and Digital Humanities. Participants are shown practical skills and methods that can be contributed to their own work. The visiting faculty are exciting people working in the United Staes, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Location: Folger Institute Washington, DC. Application Deadline: March 1, 2017.

http://folgerpedia.folger.edu/EMDA_2017

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Digital Humanities Summer Workshop 

The University of Guelph is hosting a series of 4-day workshops on topics related to digital humanities research and teaching from May 8 -11, 2017. Available workshops include: Introduction to Code/ Art and Visualization, Minimal Computing for Humanities Scholars, 3D Modeling, Getting Going with Scholarship Online, Online Public Intellectual Work through Social Media, An Introduction to Augmented Reality, Spatial Humanities, Get Down with Your Data, Omeka Workshop, Introduction to Digital Humanities Pedagogy, Making Manuscripts Digital, Integrating Archival Research into the Classroom, and XSLT for Digital Editions. Explore their website for an in-depth look at  each individual workshop! Registration Early Bird Deadline: April 1st and Registration Open until: May 1, 2017.

https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/dhguelph/summer2017

Five Day Coding School 

Interested in learning text encoding methods and their applications in the Digital Humanities in the context of an active digital archive project? Pitt- Greensburg’s Coding School is offering a Coding School from June 27th- July 1, 2017. Participants learn and reflect on the encoding of markings on manuscript material, as well as the auto- tagging enormous and complicated texts with regular expression matching. You are asked to indicate your data analysis and visualizaiton background that way both beginning and advanced coders will have an opportunity to learn something new at their respective level. The focus is to share knowledge of TEI XML and related humanities computing practices with all serious scholars interested contributing to the project. Email Indication of interest Deadline: email: [email protected] by April 3, 2017. Registration fees Deadline: May 15, 2017.

https://digitalmitford.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/call-for-registration-fifth-digital-mitford-coding-school-june-27-july-1-2017/

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Visualizing for Justice- Creative, Critical and Contestational Mapping

This two hour event is open to the public on April 5, 2017 at Emerson College. In order to attend you’re required to book a ticket and register your details in advance. Infographics, data visualizations, and mapping for civic engagement advocacy have grown in popularity due to the rise of Big Data, freedom of information, and user- friendly software. The rise in data visualization increases the opportunity for information re- use, increased transparency, and new forms of civic participation. Yet challenges with security, tracking down hard to find information, and more often leads to ambiguous data.  Event includes short presentations of recent data visualization and mapping work from critical cartographers, journalists, designers and social justice campaigners.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visualizing-for-justice-creative-critical-and-contestational-mapping-tickets-31354550304

Humanitarian Technology Conference 2016

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DCS Co-director Crystal Hall sat down with Samantha Valdivia (Class of 2019) to talk about the Humanitarian Technology 2016 Conference in Boston, MA. DCS has established a small travel fund for students who wish to supplement their coursework with an experience at a regional conference. Using these funds along with mini-grant support from the Roberts Fund, Sam attended one day of the conference this summer.

Professor Hall: How would you describe the conference? Who was there, what were they doing, what did you do?

Sam: I attended the Humanitarian Technology Conference (HTC) on the second day of the three day conference. It was located in the Revere Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. This environment was filled with innovators and intellectuals whose life work was to pursue philanthropic goals through the scope of technology. Involved in this conversation were professors, graduates students, military veterans, and representatives of private companies and philanthropic organizations like Microsoft, IBM, Oxfam, and the Electronic Telecommunications Cluster.

The HTC event sparked my interest because I desired to learn more about the different types of humanitarian efforts taking place in the real world. Although my interest in philanthropy has persisted for a while, I haven’t taken much action beyond a few isolated acts of service. Thus I was filled with nerves because I knew the real world of service is completely new territory. However, in the midst of the conference, I found that I was able to add my own undergraduate voice to the conversation.

Prof. Hall: How did the conference connect with your DCS coursework?

Sam: During my Data Driven Societies research, about whether community satisfaction increased if an NGO has access to Internet during natural disaster relief efforts, I learned about the Electronic Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). They implement technology necessary to create internet hubs for the NGOs. At the HTC conference I met a member of the ETC organization. I spoke to him about the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and their effort to implement internet hubs. I asked him about the struggles in supporting Nepal after the 2015 earthquake. He stressed that transporting the equipment needed to install internet systems for the NGOs was difficult because of Nepal’s geography. This incited an obstacle because the majority of funding would be invested in transportation. Later in the conference I spoke with a woman from Microsoft. We talked about Big Data’s influence in society and data scientist’s current search to represent it credibly. I spoke to her about the research I had done and asked her about the Hack for Humanity hackathons she organizes.

Prof. Hall: What advice do you have for anyone thinking about attending this conference or a similar event in the future?

Sam: If you’re interested in going to the Humanitarian Technology Conference next year, I highly recommend going all three days. This will give you a better grasp of the conversation taking place. Unfortunately I attended the event for only one day because of a scheduling conflict. Regardless, it was a memorable and insightful experience. Many thanks to Professor Hall for informing me about and helping me plan the Humanitarian Technology Conference trip.

Prof. Hall: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Sam: Beyond the conversations I had with different professors, graduates, and corporate staff, I noticed that all the speakers stressed in some way that there is a pertinent need for an umbrella organization to consolidate all the humanitarian efforts efficiently. There are bunches of organizations who desire to make change, but these efforts would be strengthened if there was an organization that was able to balance and bridge the corporate and academic desire to change the world. I discovered many things during this conference, however I was surprised at how much we diverted from the technology theme. The main focus seemed to be discovering a method to concentrate philanthropic energies into something more impactful rather than theoretical.