Simulating History Research Lab
The Simulating History project folks at Brock University’s Centre for Digital Humanities, with whom I do my games-based research, have released a nice little video about the Lab:
May 2, 2008
April 7, 2008
Omeka Plugins
Ah! One of the plugins available for Omeka is a geolocation plugin… excellent. I haven’t made much headway on my exploratory omeka installation, other than getting a wee bit of info into it (tempus fugit and all of that). I was initially perplexed how I was going to get all my old GIS/cultural heritage data point-data into it, but this plugin should make life easier. FYI, other plugins are:
The following plugins may be downloaded separately and installed, following information on the codex.
Bilingual Enabler
Makes several of Omeka’s core metadata fields bilingual.COinS
Adds COinS metadata to item show pages, making them Zotero compatible. Learn more.Contribution
Allows collecting items from visitors. Learn more.Dropbox
Allows Omeka users to ‘batch upload’ a large quantity of files at one time, creating unique items in the archive for each file. Learn more.Geolocation
Adds location info and maps to Omeka. Learn more.Sitenotes
Administrative users can write notes about the site in an an editable space. Learn more.TagSuggest
When creating new items, the Tag Suggest plugin offers suggestions of tags based upon their frequency in the item textareas. Learn more.iPaper
Embed iPaper document viewers into your Omeka item pages. Learn more.PdfMeNot
Embed PdfMeNot document viewers into your Omeka item pages. Learn more.
February 27, 2008
Omeka Live!
The Omeka platform has now gone live! And what is Omeka, you may ask? It is a platform for the publication of collections and exhibitions online. Eventually, the makers of Omeka, the Centre for History and New Media, intend to make it available online a la WordPress, but if you’ve got the right system requirements on your server: 
- Linux operating system
- Apache server (with mod_rewrite enabled)
- Mysql 5.0 or greater
- PHP 5.2.x or greater
- ImageMagick
… you can download and install it right away. I’m in the process of setting it up on a server that I have access to - it might not work, since I’m not entirely sure what I can do on that server (although it hosted both a Joomla and a WordPress installation well enough, so I’m hopeful). The data that I intend to put up concerns the built heritage of the township that I live in. The archaeological implications are obvious, especially in terms of public archaeology. Imagine that you are working on a project in a city neighbourhood- you could use Omeka to solicit community memories much the way this project is doing. Or you could showcase items in your collection, like the Object of History site. More showcase sites are listed here.
All of these sites have very sharp visuals and aesthetically pleasing themes, and more themes will become available as this project progresses - more info on themes right here.
postscript - woops. Turns out my host doesn’t run Linux, which nuked my ambitions right there. Ah well…
February 25, 2008
Forum Novum: a market in the Sabine Hills - scenario for Caesar IV
This is my first attempt at a scenario for Caesar IV. It is based, loosely, on the site of Forum Novum in the Sabine Hills north of Rome. What I have always found fascinating about this site is the way it didn’t develop into what we would recognise as a ‘town’, per se.
A student playing this scenario as part of a class on Roman urbanism would try to reach the ‘winning conditions’, but would be encouraged to look at the underlying assumptions the game makes about social, civil, economic, and religious life. Specifically, by using the game as a kind of Roman socio-economics simulation engine, the student is forced through game play to confront the Roman economy…
It’s late right now, so I’ll write more about how the game would be used in a class, and what playing it might teach. In the meanwhile, you can download the scenario here into your ‘data’ -> ’scenarios’ folder for Caesar IV. No doubt there are bugs and other problems that need to be worked out, so let me know how you get on…
(by the way - the game puts an ‘apron’ around the scenario for aesthetics… but the one I chose doesn’t really fit, as you can see when you follow the Aia river by the town towards the edges… the painting tool in the scenario editor is absolutely abysmal!)
- postscript: I discovered that my scenario had a bug in it that caused catastrophic crashing of the game. So I’m rejigging it, and I’ve posted over at Titled Mill Forums asking for help… which I duly received. The ‘production version’ is available here, as will be any future updates.
February 7, 2008
Interviews with Digital Historians & Humanists
I was a participant at the First Digital Workshop held at the Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Nebraska Lincoln in the fall of 2006. I had forgotten that I - and others - had been interviewed for our thoughts on the Digital Humanities: what they were, what they were for, where the field was going, etc. So imagine my surprise when I found the video clips of those interviews today!
My clips are here:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
The atmosphere surrounding or reception of digital scholarship in the academy
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
It’s a bit odd to watch oneself on video for the first time… I remember I was caught somewhat by surprise, so you can see the little wheels exploding in my head, as I try to sound reasonably intelligent.
The people you should really listen to are:
Abdul Alkalimat, University of Toledo
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
The atmosphere surrounding or reception of digital scholarship in the academy
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Edward L. Ayers, University of Virginia
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Teaching and student involvement with digital scholarship
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Peter Bol, Harvard University
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
The atmosphere surrounding or reception of digital scholarship in the academy
Alan Liu, University of California, Santa Barbara
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Teaching and student involvement with digital scholarship
The atmosphere surrounding or reception of digital scholarship in the academy
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
John Lutz, University of Victoria
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
The influence of the Newberry Library on digital scholarship
Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
Her initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Teaching and student involvement with digital scholarship
Janice Reiff, University of California, Los Angeles
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
The influence of the Newberry Library on digital scholarship
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Robert Schwartz, Mount Holyoke College
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Andrew Torget, University of Virginia
October 6, 2007
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
His initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
How do you use digital history projects in your research and teaching
Does digital history reach the same or different audiences than “traditional” history
The potential for “humanities in the digital age”
Vika Zafrin, Brown University
September 22, 2006
Interview segments:
The definition of “digital history” or “digital humanities”
Ways that digital tools allow activity that traditional methodologies do not
Her initial encounters with digital scholarship in the humanities
Teaching and student involvement with digital scholarship
The atmosphere surrounding or reception of digital scholarship in the academy
Audiences for or community involvement with digital scholarship
