Attending part of UNL’s Digital Humanities Forum last Friday, a rather simple concept struck me as deeply important. As scholars, how certain are we of our conclusions? What percentage? Using a specific measurement, can we express our certainty? In a sense, historical arguments are mostly circumstantial. Historians use sources to describe societies, ideas, and events, [...]
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Is DH Hipster?
by Brian Sarnacki on October 3, 2012 in Digital Humanities
As a self-described digital humanist with admittedly hipster tendencies (I have a record player after all) this question may be entirely self-serving. However, I’m not the first person to put the two together, so I thought I would throw the comparison out there. Hipsters like organic and local. DHers like open access and open source. [...]
Kickstarter
by Brian Sarnacki on July 13, 2012 in Academia, Digital Humanities
Every couple of months it seems that one of my friends teases me about one of my first blog posts [re-posted here]. I’ll admit liking Pomplamoose is pretty hipster, but hey I like the music. I also really like their success in going around the traditional gatekeepers of the music industry. They first gained success [...]
The Promise of Digital History and Pomplamoose
by Brian Sarnacki on July 13, 2012 in Digital Humanities
[Posted mostly the same as the original at briansarnacki.wordpress.com on January 21, 2011] Since I want to blog on digital history and the digital humanities, I felt compelled to begin with some sort of introduction to/promise and perils of digital history post, but there are so many gooddefinitions for and introductions to digitial history and [...]
In the works
by Brian Sarnacki on April 1, 2012 in Academia, Digital Humanities, Teaching
I haven’t blogged all that much this semester, but here are a few blog posts I’ve been working on: Rickrolling your students and other attempts at bonding through Internet phenomena Typos, bad grammar, and misunderstandings: How and why you should expose your students’ writing to the world for a laugh How to grade papers in [...]
Am I a Historian?
by Brian Sarnacki on February 5, 2012 in Academia, Digital Humanities
The question “am I a historian?” first bothered me after reading a blog post written by colleague Jason Heppler, in which he writes: I am a young historian — heck, I barely even qualify for that title when I have no book to my name and don’t hold a PhD yet. But as a researcher [...]
Code Year
by Brian Sarnacki on January 23, 2012 in Digital Humanities
This is less of a “Follow Friday” and more of a “Sign up for it Monday.” I have been looking to expand my technology skill set since working with some really useful JavaScript tools during my digital history seminar. The more invested in the digital humanities I become, the more I believe that I need [...]
Not Looking Backwards
by Brian Sarnacki on December 16, 2011 in Digital Humanities
[This post is the text of my final essay for UNL's Digital Humanities Seminar.] Not Looking Backwards: Understanding New Technology’s Transformative Power and its limitations For every study decrying technology’s negative societal impacts,1 a study detailing how it reinforces and improves society exists.2 The debate over digital technology is not whether or not it is [...]
Digital (Urban) History
by Brian Sarnacki on December 7, 2011 in Digital Humanities
[In lieu of readings for the final class meeting of UNL's Digital Humanities Seminar. Each student was to give a brief presentation on the digital humanities in their field.] As a field built around places, urban history has always been cognizant of space. Beginning with Phil Ethington’s Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical [...]
HASTAC V: DH Strikes Back
by Brian Sarnacki on December 4, 2011 in Digital Humanities
For my first “real” conference experience (read: first non-grad student conference as a grad student), HASTAC V was terrific. I met a ton of friendly, smart, and engaging people. I presented successfully (no major faux pas) and received many good questions, comments, and tips. I particularly enjoyed the format of the conference, which was essentially [...]
