Weekly
Digital Humanities
Meet-Up

Monthly Schedule: March

The DH Meet-up Schedule for April 2023THIS WEEK
Wednesday Apr 12, 11:00am - 12:30pm:Putting People First: User Experience Research and the Digital Humanities
(leader: Dr. Rachel Ten Haaf, Assistant Professor, Spanish)

Upcoming Meet-UpsThursday Apr 20, 3:30 - 5:00pm: Podcasting at the WLDH Studio
(Leader: Dr. Rhodora Vennarucci, Assistant Professor, Classics)


Wednesday Apr 26, 11:00am - 12:30pm: Game Development in the Age of the Metaverse
(leader: Joe Payne, Professional Game Designer at ULTD)


May 4, 3:30 - 5:00pm: WLLC Fall Class Showcase
(Leaders: Many!)Past Meet-Ups This MonthThursday Apr 6, 3:30 - 5:00 pm: VR Club for Language Learning: Implementation of VR in World Language Learning
(leader: Jhonatan Carmona T., Spanish MA student and Mike Hall, CLCS Ph.D. student)

• Current Week

Current Week's Topic

Putting People First: User Experience Research and the Digital HumanitiesUser Experience, a major buzzword in the tech industry and beyond, is the area dedicated to researching how people interact with products. In this interactive presentation led by Dr. Rachel Ten Haaf (Assistant Professor, Spanish), we will learn what UX is, and with the help of some case studies, look at ways the humanities (and languages in particular) are crucial to keep products people-centered.

• Purpose

Purpose

The Meet-up will explore the intersection of digital technology and humanist thought in both theoretical and practical applications. The DH Meet-up strives to establish an interdisciplinary and diverse constellation of educators and researchers, students and faculty, across the UARK campus, as we probe and interrogate what the digital humanities mean today.

• Past Meet-Ups

Past Meet-Ups: March

** Thursday Mar 2, 3:30 - 5:00 pm: DH Tools for the Language Classroom __
(leaders: Jhonatan Carmona T.)

__Wednesday Mar 8, 11:00am - 12:30pm: Building a Digital Technology Curriculum to Bridge Education and Industry in North Africa.**
(leaders: Professors Mohamed Karim Azizi (Game Development) and Hosni Ajlani (3D Animation))

Past Meet-Ups: November

November 9: Virtual Reality Applications
Global Campus members Alicia Marie Wright and Lesley Speller demonstrated a wide array of educational and entertaining VR applications. From a historical and cultural accurate cooking simulator to a 3D model puzzle, these applications can give students a new insight to the cultures they are studying.November 16: Gundolf Freyermuth Lecture: Utopian Audio Visions in the Future’s Modern History: From the Total Work of Art to the Metaverse
Cologne Game Lab co-founder Gundolf Freyermuth gave a public lecture on the history of utopia and futuristic technology and how they connect to and influence the concept of the Metaverse. A link to a recording of the talk can be here! Utopian Audio Visions in the Future’s Modern History: From the Total Work of Art to the MetaverseNovember 17: Workshop - Starting an institute for game development and game researchGundolf presented on how CGL was established and how it has developed over the years. Gundolf paid special attention to how he has positioned the Humanities (from literary studies to art history to adaptation studies) alongside practical-technological skill development in the CGL curriculum. A video of the talk can be found here.Wednesday Nov 30, 2:00 - 3:00 pm: DH Course on the Roman Poet CatullusDr. David Fredrick and Rachel Murray had a demonstration of their Spring 2023 class focusing around using Twine to transform how we understand and translate the Roman poet Catullus. A video of the talk can be seen here!

Past Meet-Ups: October

October 12: Vision and Virtual Reality
The first Weekly DH Meet-up focused on the vision of the meet-up and implementation of VR technology at the World Languages and Digital Humanities Studio (WLDHS), namely showcasing the goals and methods of the VR Club for Language Learning which was held the following day. The attached photos are from the first VR Club for Language Learning session which focused on Spanish.October 20: Defining DH
The second weekly dh meet-up focused on how the field of Digital Humanities defines itself and the inherent problems with the definition process. There was a discussion held around the text The Push and Pull of Digital Humanities: Topic Modeling the “What is digital humanities?” Genre and how to make an equitable definition for DH at UARK.October 26: Surveillance and AI
PhD Students Chy'Na Nellon (CLCS) and Carter Buckner (CompSci) discussed the implications of the use of artificial intelligence in the case of surveillance. Focusing on the America Under Watch text, Chy'na and Carter led a passionate and informed discussion around the concept of privacy, surveillance, and what constitutes AI and if it should be brought in to the concept of "protecting the public."