In 2019, the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College collaborated to develop a week-long digital skills workshop for humanities graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, and staff, using a curriculum developed by the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. The goal of the institute is to provide participants with foundational computing skills that will allow them to advance their own digital projects, assist others in the creation and maintenance of digital research, and/or instruct others in digital methodologies.
The original core courses included command line functionality, Git and Github workflows, markdown, Python, HTML/CSS, and GIS mapping. Participants also discussed the ethics of gathering, using, and maintaining data, and considered how the products of algorithms and machine learning can reflect unconscious bias. Many of these components will remain, and additional modules may be added.
In addition to teaching skills, the institute aims to foster a sense of community among the participants, as the regional proximity of the attendees could position them to collaborate on projects in the future and serve as valuable resources for each other when questions arise. There is no “minimum knowledge requirement,” just a willingness to learn. In fact, grouping participants of different skill levels is part of the intentional instructional design of the institute.
Several DH practitioners from area universities hoped to further boost this collaboration by building a broader “Indiana DHRI” travelling program, and submitted a grant application to support the effort in 2020, but the grant ultimately was not funded, and the Covid 19 pandemic further complicated cross-institutional instructional programming. In July 2023, Notre Dame is hosting a smaller, 2-day “mini DHRI” to reboot the program.
South Bend DHRI is co-managed by Daniel Johnson (Notre Dame) and Sarah Noonan (Saint Mary’s College).
Hi! I’m looking for more information about this. Where are the classes held? (looking to see if there are affordable hotels in walking distance). What materials would we need to bring? What software is provided?
Dear Megan,
Classes will be held at Saint Mary’s College and the University of Notre Dame. We have a block of rooms reserved at a hotel in walking distance of the classes; rooms are $109/night. We would ask that you bring a laptop, if at all possible. All the software we will be using is free, and we will help with installations on the Tuesday morning before the first class begins.
If you would like more information, email Sarah Noonan at Saint Mary’s College or Dan Johnson at the University of Notre Dame.
All best,
Sarah