Hero or Villain: Digital / Public History and Me
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Harvey Dent -- The Dark Knight (2008)
What a way to start. Don't worry, I'm not planning on taking the supervillain route...yet. You know I like comics and I've shown myself capable of framing those ideas in a way to talk about larger questions. I'm talking at University of Florida in February 2017. I'm a proud graduate of History program at UF. I'm duly employed, so I'm thinking they can't complain from their perspective either.
Still, I find myself in a space not exactly defined by the things I learned in school. Harvey Dent's quote came to mind as I thought about where I stand. I do a end of the year retrospective. I check in with people, talk through ideas, see where the landscape has taken us all. Ask myself questions about what I've done and what I should stop doing. I'm honored to be asked back to speak by UF Digital Humanities Working Group. In many ways, this group is on the cutting edge of creating tool and crafting frameworks linked to digital humanities. Clearly, my time as a working academic at a teaching institution has forced me to be flexible and creative. Core principles of my training as a historian of urban America are in everything I do, but not in a straightforward manner. This talk, which I named after my blog, will give me a chance to map out how I got where I am. I often say to students, "I'm the villain in your story" as a way to acknowledge their frustration. As much as a strive for them to have a positive experience, I also commitment myself to a practice that unstructured and inquiry driven for the purpose of intellectual growth. The upside is that it pays off for them later. The downside is that it pays off for them later. This is not a joke as I recognize the benefits are perhaps too detached from the process. The modern academic in a teaching space like mine is under a variety of pressures. Our rewards and professional assessments are linked to specifics kinds of outcomes that students and parents don't care about. At the same time, creating the mechanisms to nurture the 21st century learner increasingly pushes professors to create experiential spaces in and out of the classroom. As I think about this presentation, I will sketch out that process and its implications.
Dr. Julian Chambliss, “A Hybrid Graphic Space: Thematic Explorations of Digital History Practice” LibraryPress@UF presenter, Feb. 23, 2-3:30pm, Smathers Library, room 100
February 23, 2017 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
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Please join us for a presentation by Dr. Julian Chambliss, the first invited speaker for the new LibraryPress@UF which is bringing in experts on the changing nature of academic publishing.
Presentation:
Julian Chambliss: A Hybrid Graphic Space: Thematic Explorations of Digital History Practice
This talk will explore the intersection of digital practice and history in order to discuss how collecting, preserving, and presenting history within the broad landscape of digital humanities can be used to enhance teaching, service, and scholarship. Deeply informed by the ideas of critical making and generative scholarship, the talk will explore the differing mode of engagement linked to the integration of digital tools and techniques in and out of the classroom. From interdisciplinary projects that blend curatorial and research practice to immersive evolving classroom based projects, the opportunity for the modern humanities scholar to teach, learning, and engage across platforms offers unique opportunities and challenges.
