Digital Library Center Blog | UF

Theorizing the Web 2012; #TtW12; Saturday, April 14th; University of Maryland

Keynote Session:  “Social & Social Movements” – Andy Carvin (NPR; @acarvin) in conversation with Zeynep Tufekci (UNC; @techsoc)

Deadline for Abstracts: February 5th
Registration Opens: February 1st

Call for Papers:

The goal of the second annual Theorizing the Web conference is to expand the range and depth of theory used to help us make sense of how the Internet, digitality, and technology have changed the ways humans live. We hope to bring together researchers from a range of
disciplines, including sociology, communications, philosophy, economics, English, history, political science, information science, the performing arts and many more. In addition, we invite session and other proposals by tech-industry professionals, journalists, and other
figures outside of academia. Submit abstracts online at http://tinyurl.com/TtW12.

Topics include:

• Citizen/participant journalism and media curation
• Identity, self-documentation and self-presentation
• Privacy and publicity on the Web
• Cyborgism and the technologically-mediated body (e.g., body modification)
• Political mobilization, uprisings, revolutions and riots on social media (including the Arab Spring/Fall, Occupy)
• Repression and the Web: Surveillance, wire-tapping, anonymity, pseudonymity
• Code, values and design
• Epistemology of the Web: Wikipedia, Global Voices, “filter bubbles” and the prosumption of information
• Theorizing whose Web? How power and inequality (e.g., the Digital Divide) manifest on the Web
• Mobile computing, online/offline space
• Digital dualism and “augmented reality”
• What art/literature can offer research and theory of the Web
• Intersections of gender, race, class, age, sexual orientation, and disability with respect to any of the above topics

We plan to curate 7 open submission panels, 4 presenters each as well as a couple invited panels and a keynote session on social media and social movements with Andy Carvin (NPR) and Zeynep Tufekci (UNC). Other events may be added before April.

The first Theorizing the Web conference happened last year. We decided to do this because there often is not a place for scholars who are theorizing about the Internet and society to gather and share their work. The 2011 program consisted of 14 panels, two workshops, two symposia (one on social media’s role in the Arab revolutions, the other, on social media and street art), two plenaries (by Saskia Sassen on “Digital Formations of the Powerful and the Powerless” and George Ritzer on “Why the Web Needs Post-Modern Theory”), and a keynote by danah boyd from Microsoft Research and NYU on “Privacy, Publicity Intertwined.” Presenters traveled from around the world (including Hong Kong and New Zealand). The archive is available at: http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb/2011

There will be a new website with much more information coming January 2012. For further inquiries, email theorizingtheweb@gmail.com.

Call for Artists:

In addition to traditional presentations, the conference will feature a variety of artistic and multimedia events. As such, we invite proposals from artists for relevant works or performances in any medium as well as for discussion of such pieces. We seek to display
art of all forms during the conference and after at a reception. This could include, but is not limited to, paintings, sculpture, poetry, fiction writing, digital art, and performance art.

Europeana has released their second whitepaper, Whitepaper No. 2: The Problem of the Yellow Milkmaid. The whitepaper begins with an excellent example, that of the yellow Milkmaid:

‘The Milkmaid’, one of Johannes Vermeer’s most famous pieces, depicts a scene of a woman quietly pouring milk into a bowl. During a survey the Rijksmuseum discovered that there were over 10,000 copies of the image on the internet—mostly poor, yellowish reproductions. As a result of all of these low-quality copies on the web, according to the Rijksmuseum, “people simply didn’t believe the postcards in our museum shop were showing the original painting. This was the trigger for us to put high-resolution images of the original work with open metadata on the web ourselves. Opening up our data is our best defence against the ‘yellow Milkmaid’.”

From the example comes the subtitle for the paper: “A Business Model Perspective on Open Metadata.” The problem, however, is far greater than a “business model perspective on open metadata” seems to suggest. If not truly present online (meaning accessible, connected, and information rich), cultural heritage institutions risk being erased in the deluge of information from other sources that make important concerns like authenticity and expertise seem less important in the face of sheer quantity.

The problem of the yellow milkmaid is an argument from a business perspective in terms of the core value propositions for cultural heritage institutions and their very reasons for existing. The problem of the yellow milkmaid is an excellent and memorable example of the need for cultural heritage institutions to engage with technologies in ways that support their core value propositions and their roles in society. The whitepaper as a whole is excellent and worth the read for its arguments on open data as well as for application to larger concerns.

Press Release from ITHAKA:

ITHAKA is pleased to announce that Dr. Deanna Marcum has accepted the position of Managing Director, Ithaka S+R, effective January 1, 2012. Deanna will lead this growing not-for-profit service, which provides research and strategic consulting services that help transform scholarship and teaching.

Dr. Marcum brings a background of extraordinary accomplishment to her new role. She joins Ithaka S+R from the Library of Congress, where she was the Associate Librarian for Library Services. Previously, she served as the President of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the Dean of the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science. As a testament to her extraordinary leadership and distinguished career, the American Libraries Association (ALA) awarded her the Melvil Dewey Medal, its highest honor, this past June.

“I could not possibly be more excited that Deanna has agreed to join our team,” said Kevin Guthrie, president of ITHAKA, the organization of which Ithaka S+R is a part. “She is a giant in the field, one of the singular leaders in the library community. She has been an ITHAKA trustee since 2005, so she knows our organization well. Not only will she be a fantastic leader for Ithaka S+R, but she will also play an important role leading our overall organization.”

Dr. Marcum has provided invaluable leadership that has helped to encourage change during dynamic and challenging times. In 1997, she led the important process to merge the Council on Library Resources and the Commission on Preservation and Access to form CLIR.  While at CLIR, she formed a joint task force of libraries and publishers to develop effective ways for working together on a range of important issues. In collaboration with EDUCAUSE and Emory University, she developed the Frye Leadership Institute to help mid-career librarians and IT specialists broaden their understanding of higher education issues.

“As I retire from the Library of Congress, I want to remain engaged and devote more time to the issues I am passionate about: preservation, the future of information organizations, and higher education,” said Dr. Marcum. “Ithaka S+R provides the perfect opportunity for me to do this work and hopefully make a difference in these areas. I’ve watched the rapid development of ITHAKA as a board member and am excited about more direct involvement with the talented staff.”

About Ithaka S+R

Ithaka S+R is a research and consulting service that focuses on the transformation of scholarship and teaching in an online environment. Ithaka S+R pursues projects in five programmatic areas: Sustainability of Digital Resources, The Role of the Library, Practices & Attitudes in Scholarly Communications, Teaching & Learning with Technology, and Scholarly Publishing.

Ithaka S+R is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes JSTOR and Portico.

ARL has announced the release of their newest SPEC Kit: Digital Humanities (SPEC Kit 326). The survey used in creating the SPEC Kit is openly accessible online as is the front matter of the SPEC Kit.  This is an important publication for libraries and all digital humanities folks for both the digital humanities and for the ways in which digital humanities work supports and informs digital scholarship.

The 2012 Digital Assembly Symposium “Digital Platforms and the Transformation of Intellectual Discourse” will be held 1/20-1/21/2012 at UF.

Featured speakers will include David Blakesley (Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and Professor of English, Clemson University; Founder & Publisher, Parlor Press), Jay Bolter (Wesley Chair of New Media, Georgia Institute of Technology), Bob Stein (Founder & Director, Institute for the Future of the Book), and Elizabeth Swanstrom (Assistant Professor of English, Florida Atlantic University). More details will be forthcoming from the Department of English.

The “Writing the Digital Humanities” a conference is by graduate students in Laurie Gries’s current seminar and will be held 12/8/2011 from 1-6pm in Pugh Hall 210.

Details: The Digital Humanities is an emergent field of study currently being “written” by scholars across the humanities. This conference highlights innovative scholarship being produced by graduate students in the Department of English, who are working at the intersections of computing and media studies, children’s literature, writing studies, queer studies, creative writing, and ecocritism. All panel presentations will take place in Pugh Hall 210.

• 1 PM, Opening remarks by Laurie Gries
• 1:15 PM, Panel A, “Interfaced Materialities.” Caroline Stone, Sean Printz, and Joan Shaffer.
• 2:25 PM, Panel B, “Embedded Agents.” Kyle Bohunicky, Casey Wilson, and Melissa Bianchi.
• 4:00 PM, Panel C, “Envisioning Practice: Digital Media, Pedagogy, and the Creative Process.” Rebecca Evanhoe, John Tinnell,and Sam Hamilton.
• 5:10 PM, Panel D, “You Can’t Go Home Again: Queered Utopias in Digital Humanities.” Jordan Youngblood and Joseph Weakland.

THATCamp Florida 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012 – Sunday, February 19, 2012

Location: UCF Center for Emerging Media (Orlando, FL)

The History Department and the RICHES program at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL) will be hosting a regional THATCamp on the weekend of February 18-19, 2012.  The gathering will involve about 75 people drawn broadly from the humanities and will include professors, librarians, graduate students and interested parties (writers, musicians, etc.) who are engaged in the many, various ways that their broadly shared disciplines intersect with emerging technologies.

Please visit THATCamp Florida 2012′s website for more information about the event.

Summer 2012 NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
Spatial Narrative and Deep Maps: Explorations in the Spatial Humanities
June 18-29, 2012
Call for Proposals:  Applications due Friday, February 3, 2012

The Virtual Center for Spatial Humanities (VCSH), a multidisciplinary collaboration among Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI), Florida State University, and West Virginia University, is pleased to announce an NEH Advanced Institute for summer 2012 designed to advance exploration of key topics in the spatial humanities. The institute will offer scholars the opportunity to discover the benefits of a spatial-analytical approach to humanities scholarship and to explore how to bend geo-spatial technologies, including GIS and Web 2.0 tools, to the needs of the humanities.  Two areas of emphasis will be spatial narratives and deep maps.  Fellows participating in the program will learn both by engaging with a variety of existing projects as well as through the production of a prototype project in collaboration with the VCSH team. Fellows also will have an opportunity to present their own work and to contribute to scholarly and Web products that result from the institute.

The institute will meet in Indianapolis from June 18 to 29, 2012 and will be administered by IUPUI’s Polis Center. It will draw upon a multidisciplinary faculty from the three collaborating institutions, as well as leading scholars in the field of spatial humanities from the US and UK, and will be supported technically by the advanced technology group of the Polis Center. The institute schedule will allow time for fellows to interact with the staff and to seek advice for their own projects or project ideas, but the primary focus will be on how to use geo-spatial technologies to enhance the narrative and analytical traditions of the humanities. The fellows will work with project staff to develop a prototype deep map to support multi-scalar and contingent analysis of problems of interests to humanists. To focus this work, the institute will explore the spatial contexts of American religion, using the Digital Atlas of American Religion, an NEH-supported project of VCSH, and the multi-faceted evidence from the Polis Center’s six-year study of the intersection of religion and urban culture in a mid-sized American city.

About the fellowships: 
Up to 12 fellowships will be awarded to individuals or teams who demonstrate serious interest in the application of geo-spatial technologies to problems in the humanities. While scholars in all humanities disciplines are eligible to apply, we are especially interested in collaborating with those who have experience in one or more geo-spatial technologies as well as scholars who have thought about the spatial dimensions of American religion.

During the institute, fellows will explore central issues in the spatial humanities, including such topics as database structures and information architectures, interactive design, and collaborative research, while situating these concerns within the fields of American history and religious studies. Guest lecturers during the summer include Ian Gregory (historical GIS and digital humanities, Lancaster University), Anne Knowles (historical geography, Middlebury College), Katy Börner (informatics and advanced visualization, Indiana University), and Art Farnsley (sociology of religion, IUPUI), among others. Institute leaders are David Bodenhamer (history, IUPUI), John Corrigan (religious studies, Florida State), and Trevor Harris (geography, West Virginia University).

All fellows will participate in a two-week residency June 18-29 at IUPUI. The residency will include colloquia and working sessions in which participants collectively will develop project foundations and address relevant issues in spatial humanities. Fellows also will be provided the opportunity to present their own projects. Applicants need not be proficient with geo-spatial technologies but must demonstrate some level of engagement with them as well as with spatial questions and analyses. Evidence of the capacity for successful collaboration and for scholarly innovation is required. Fellowship awards will include a stipend of $3,000 for each participant, as well as a travel allowance. Accommodation and meal costs will be the responsibility of each fellow, but the institute will seek to arrange low-cost housing for participants. We welcome scholars from all career levels, from advanced graduate student to full professor.

About the proposals: 

Proposals should include the following:

• Two to three-page statement of how participation in the institute will fit the scholarly and professional goals of the applicant.
• One-page description of the applicant’s experience with geo-spatial technologies and spatial analysis.
• Brief CV (maximum of three pages).
• Letter of support from department chair for non-tenured faculty or from dissertation advisor for doctoral candidates.

Projects that articulate a clear understanding of the potential of spatial humanities and the problems associated with the use of geo-spatial technologies in humanities scholarship will be regarded favorably.

Electronic applications are required.  Submit to ddearth@iupui.edu.

Deadline for applications: Friday, February 3, 2012. Fellowship recipients will be notified in mid April, 2012. 

Questions may be directed to ddearth@iupui.edu.

Just once month after announcing the highest ever usage for the UF Digital Collections (UFDC) with 3.2 million hits in October 2011, we saw another dramatic increase with 4 million hits for November 2011!

The UF Digital Collections (UFDC)  have seen continuous, steady increases in usage thanks to the abundance of amazing content and ongoing search engine optimization work. November was another milestone with nearly 4.1 million human hits to the UF Digital Collections (UFDC) and associated collections and libraries, as with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC).

• October usage: 3,196,063 views
• November usage: 4,076,673 views

Here’s to upcoming months of increased exposure, usage, and impact for the UF Digital Collections and for all those who work with and support open access to digitized materials as well as to digital scholarship!

Florida State University Libraries
Lead Developer Assistant In or Associate In
(rank to be based on qualifications)

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced developer to join a growing team in the area of Digital Scholarship and Technology at Florida State University Libraries as Lead Developer. The successful applicant will have programming responsibilities for the library’s website, the digital library, the Institutional Repository, as well as general programming needs that arise. It is anticipated that this new area in the Florida State University Libraries will evolve into a larger programming and web development team over time. As the Lead Developer, this position will be responsible for leading the programming and web development team and will report to the Associate Dean for Digital Scholarship and Technology Services.

Responsibilities:

• Provides programming/scripting for technical development and maintenance of the library website, digital library applications, Aleph ILS and other systems as needed.
• Works closely with members of the library faculty and staff to identify and help solve unmet needs. Implements new tools, user interfaces, and applications in a variety of programming languages.
• Responsible for the administration of the Library’s website, which will involve planning and implementing a move to Drupal.
• Responsible for supervision of one full time librarian. May also include supervision of graduate assistants, student workers, and new full-time permanent positions as projects evolve.
• Advises on selection and lead’s the technical implementation of a new digital library platform, transitioning from DigiTool.
• Develops other library applications as needed, i.e. computer availability maps, stacks maps, etc.
• Participates in goal setting and project planning, including the development and implementation of grant proposals.

Required Qualifications:

• BS in computer science, information systems or a related field.
• 4+ years of post-degree experience as a programmer/developer.
• Demonstrated experience managing a Drupal web environment.
• Demonstrated proficiency with most of the following required: web standards: XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, Cocoon, JSON; server applications: Apache, Tomcat, MySQL, Postgres; programming/scripting Languages: Java, PHP, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, JQuery; search platform: SOLR/Lucene.
• Ability to manage source code in a revision control system such as Subversion or Git.
• Experience with Fedora, DSpace or similar digital library/IR environments.
• Demonstrated project management experience.
• Two years of progressively responsible team leadership or management experience in an information environment.
• Demonstrated initiative, flexibility, and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication abilities, including the documentation of code.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working in an academic library, digital library or web environment.
• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Library/Information Science or related field.
• 2+ years in managing a Drupal web environment.
• 2+ years working in a Digital Library development environment.
• Five or more years of progressive supervisory or management experience.
• Knowledge of metadata schemas such as Dublin Core, METS, MODS, PREMIS, RDF.
• Grant writing/management.

Additional Details:
This is a full-time, 12-month non-tenured faculty appointment. Benefits include 22 days vacation, 13 days sick leave, group medical, dental, and life insurance, an optional retirement program or state retirement, and no state or local income tax. With supervisor’s approval, may qualify for University tuition scholarship for up to six hours credit each semester. A full listing of benefits can be found at http://hr.fsu.edu/index.cfm?page=FacultyStaff_homepage.

Located in beautiful Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city, a growing community with a population of more than 357,000, the Florida State University, a public, coeducational institution of the 11-member State University System of Florida, has an enrollment of over 40,000 students. The Library system includes ten libraries and a variety of subject based Library Resource Reading Rooms. Campus libraries have combined volume holdings totaling over 3 million volumes. The Library is a member of ARL, ASERL, CRL, OCLC, and Lyrasis. For more information about the Florida State University Libraries, see our home page at: http://www.lib.fsu.edu/

SALARY: Minimum starting salary – $65,000.

Contact:
Policia Clyne, Library Human Resources
Florida State University Libraries
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2047
pclyne@fsu.edu
Phone: (850) 645-8404
Fax: (850) 644-5016

How To Apply : If qualified and interested in the position as advertised, please apply through the Florida State University job site at https://jobs.fsu.edu. (Job ID # 33638)

Applicants are required to complete the online application with all applicable information. In one attachment, please include a cover letter with a complete statement of qualifications, a full resume of education and relevant experience, and the names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of at least three persons who are knowledgeable about your qualifications for this position.

Applications must include work history and all education details (if applicable) even if attaching a resume.