Scholars' Lab

Next week's public (open to all!), free events at SLab: workshops on making instant GIS apps, creating digital exhibits+collections w/ @omeka.org; lasercutting basics & laser foam art, origami, lightsticks, and kandi bead bracelets: scholarslab.org/events

Working on this right now!

A collaborative research team (1 faculty, 1 grad student) will get support exploring high-performance computing for humanities or DH research or teaching. Projects might work w/a lot of images/audio/3D scans, use ML, games, geospatial tech, new tools... See event link to set up time to chat ideas:

UVA faculty & grad students: for the 2nd iteration of our funded DH Center + Data Analytics Center Fellowship (CFP coming soon!), come to a 3/10 info session (cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/16478642) & 3/26 mixer (cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/16478923) to help you find collaborators +

📖 SLab's @jeremyboggs.net is reading Matthew Crawford's "Shop Class as Soulcraft" & thinking how crafter pushback against consumer culture + disposability applies to his DH digital preservation work. 🎓🦮

What does Scholars' Lab staff's DH (digital humanities—creative & critical tech+culture!) work look like on a daily basis? ☕🪡📚💻🪩 We're restarting weekly-ish sharing, as part of our already-always-active blog+essay feed (ScholarsLab.org/blog) as well as a new tweet series here.

Here's last year's call (scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/blog/hpc-fel...), though note this year's may have some updates! Adrienne Ghaly & @twilliams81.bsky.social are this year's fellows, working on reading biodiversity in prose fiction—here's their mid-stage research-sharing event from the fall:

We're heading toward opening another funded call for UVA faculty+grad student pairs exploring high-performance computing approaches to a humanities research Q. Not sure what that could mean for your humanities work? Come to our March event w/examples & Q&A—date/info will be shared here very soon:

Next week is UVA's Spring Break (w/our staff on employee holiday Friday 3/6). We'll be back with more public events the following week: workshops on instant GIS apps, creating digital exhibits+collections w/ @omeka.org; lasercutting basics & laser foam art, origami, lightsticks, and kandi bracelets

Looking ahead to after UVA's spring break (ie 2nd wk of March): we've got public workshops on making instant GIS apps; digital exhibits w/ @omeka.org; & in our makerspace: origami, lasercutting basics, lasercut foam wall art, custom lightsticks, & Kandi bracelet beading. All: scholarslab.org/events

Next week's SLab public events: learn to make neat GIS/mapping projects including ready demographic & geo data; & join us for (always free) makerspace workshops teaching lasercutting wood keychains, sewing a pouch, ribbon Ita Bag keychains, & punk/emo style soda tab wallet chains:

Event publicity image with the following text: "Stuck on a draft? Get unstuck in 2 hours or less. Bring your writing project to a guided work session with Heidi Nobles, editor + Associate Professor of Writing & Rhetoric What you get: / Protected writing time / Live editorial coaching / Optional peer feedback v Optional Virtual Editor trained on 20 years of practice What to bring: An idea, a draft, a revision youre stuck on, or a project youre avoiding Come to any or all: MARCH 17 | 10am-12pm | Focus: Idea Development MARCH 27 | 10am-12pm | Focus: Structure & Flow APRIL 15 | 12-2pm | Focus: Sentence-Level Style Scholars Lab |308 Shannon Library Register Brought to you be Writing Across the Curriculum @ UVA and the UVA Library"

Faculty, grad students, others: we've got 3 spring drop-in sessions w/UVA Prof+editor @hgnroadshow.bsky.social to aid your writing (article, conference paper, creative essay, ?). Protected writing time, editing coach if you want, chill ambiance. Free+open to all: cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/16380021

Some quick DHy prints for @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social using "The March of the Intellect" automaton I lasercut. "What we talk about when we talk about AI". "textpocalypse, now :(". "disentangle the signifier, entangle the social & material of AI" (from Matt's bsky.app/profile/mkir...) #DHmakes

My work with the @dhandlib.bsky.social team to co-edit two special issues dedicated to #DHmakes really transformed my way of thinking about the possibilities for teaching #DigitalHumanities. Links to both special issues below👇

Co-sign. My hot take is that conversations about death or life of DH feel similar to conversations about trying to define DH in the first place. They are thought terminating cliches that serve particular institutional and tactical purposes but rarely represent actual lived experience and practice.

<3 the # of folks I follow all noting power, race/gender/etc in whose DH work was critical then+alive & flourishing & urgent now, including the key pillars of pedagogy, knowledge community, social justice. I wouldn't be in it if the community mission was supporting the next tech.

Closeup photo of a pine wood plaque that's been lasercut, similar to woodburning, with the name "Scholars' Lab" in an inline, shadowed font

Photo of a pine wood plaque that's been lasercut, similar to woodburning, with the name "Scholars' Lab" in an inline, shadowed font. It's sitting at the base of a large table monitor screen near some unfolded minizines and a blue Zohran-campaign-design-generator "FREE ZINES for the people!" sign

Lasercut a new sign for @scholarslab.bsky.social #DHmakes

We're big fans of the SDSU Library DH Center's joyful, curious, smart approach to scholarship, including QT & bsky.app/profile/plac... & bsky.app/profile/plac... Thanks @plach.bsky.social & all!

The printing unit of a 3d printer partly disassembled

A failed set of 3d printed whistles

I am deep into my first major "take it apart and fix it" moment with the 3d printer. It's the kind of thing that's always terrified me. But I'm telling myself that I handle small fiddly things all the time with embroidery, knitting, and crochet and screws are no different. #DHmakes #DHtries

Bookmarking this to share with students in the Textile Dataviz class when they're struggling to get started on their final projects. Really appreciate how Kim lays out the struggles of a project like this: it's never just "stitch the color for the temperature". #DHmakes

And: the DH Center is co-sponsoring another installment of the Humanities AI Research Showcase, organized by @ctmathewes.bsky.social (Religious Studies) on 2/19. @hgnroadshow.bsky.social will present on her virtual writing editor agent.

Next week's free+public events at SLab: learn to add fancy features to online maps; join us for housebrewed coffee & @jeremyboggs.net sharing how he currently approaches CSS for web design; makerspace workshops on lasercutting wood Pokemon keychains, & crafting soda-can tab chains (or chainmail!) +

For #LoveData26 week, #ICYMI for 2 free data advocacy zines: "DIY Web Archiving" to protect data (& other online things!) you care about 🔗⬇️, & a #datarescue zine documenting the recently removed Nat'l Park exhibit on the people Washington enslaved zinebakery.com/bakeshop/cen...

These are now by the zine rack in our entryway, if you're local to Cville area & want any (of this or other free zines). Taking, making, printing+sharing zines are great ways to meet your neighbors & build community:

Calendar | Jefferson-Madison Regional Library

Josef organizes weekly Wed dropin 5:30-7:30pm "Bookmakers" hangouts at the Cville downtown JMRL library, 3rd floor. Informal, friendly gatherings for all ages & experience levels, for working on your own book+paper arts (print/carve/etch, bookbinding/making, zines, more) projects or try a BookBeetle

Another crowd of 70+ folks came through yesterday to letterpress print Valentines cards w/printer & Brown College Fellow @josefbeery.bsky.social! Thanks to Josef for teaching all these lovely, free events combining community, history, creativity, & tech 🎨 For more, there's a weekly option at JMRL...

Since I've been screenshotting these when I see them anyway... maybe a fun class assignment: reverse image search, try to find publications these were used to print in & date of use? enthusiastictype.com/longletterpress

"Long Letterpress" 🚀 web gallery of letterpress printing blocks you might not think existed at the same time as TV, space travel, climate crisis, Burger King, other 2nd half of 20th-c stuff. New lil DH project of mine, under my Enthusiastic Type project umbrella: enthusiastictype.com/longletterpr...

The title page of volume one of The Gospel of John embossed in moon type.

The same moon title page, but a screenshot of a 3D scan of the page that is blue with scanner guide markers placed randomly on the page.

The same 3D scan but now white with the extra details around the page deleted and cleaned up as a 3D model.

The same title page in moon, but now a 3D printed physical object printed with purple filament. There are printed supports on the front, right side, and base still attached.

From rare book (physical) to 3D scan (digital) to cleaned-up 3D model (digital) to 3D printed object (physical).

This was a really fun process to think through texture and materiality of a tactile book object. This was a test, and I learned a lot from the process. More to come later this year!

This Monday—come learn to print your own letterpress Valentine to take home! 2-4pm in our Shannon 308 Common Room; free & open to all (no UVA affiliation needed). cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/16214282 Photos from a previous printing event @josefbeery.bsky.social also taught at SLab (zine covers!):