Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Dec 15, 2009, 11:12 AM

"Octopuses have been discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside for protection or deception, a new study says."

Submitted by sbrennan on Nov 18, 2009, 11:05 PM

A new model for digital scholarly publishing jumped online tonight, created by Dan Cohen, Director of the Center for History and New Media, GMU.

What's amazing is that Dan created this new publication in a few days. I like his approach: he had an idea and implemented it immediately. I think this is one trait that is shared by many digital humanists/scholars--the willingness to experiment and just do. He is assuming there will be adjustments, but wasn't afraid to go forward with an idea. I'm proud to be one of the 274 founding editors, together with some other HASTAC scholars.

Submitted by sbrennan on Nov 17, 2009, 10:04 AM

To continue the ongoing discussion about what "digital humanities" means, I wanted to share this CLIR Survey of Digital Humanities Centers http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub143abst.html report with everyone.

In the process of identifying and surveying DHC's, author Diane Zorich had to create some working definitions of "digital humanities" and the work done at "digital humanities centers." I think her framework is a good place to start and adds to this discussion, especially in thinking that digital humanities can be both "prosaic" and "transformative." This work needn't be both, although it certainly can be.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Jun 26, 2009, 09:08 AM

In one of the best articles I've read in a long time on the possibilities for new technologies to enhance and save scholarly publishing from its crisis, Robert C. Binkley, in the Yale Review, remembers all the elements that are essential if we really are going to make a difference in our Digital Futures. His piece remembers historical examples that did or did not prove revolutionary. Rather than techno-determinism, he understands technology as part of vast social changes and underscores the relationship between economics, opportunity, intereset, possibility, and social dynamics. And he never strays far from the actual details of the technology, what it costs relative to other consumer goods (for print is also that), and how issues of archiving and distribution, production and consumption, individuals and institutions (libraries and presses, writers and readers, universities and IT departments) are all interconnected in scholarly communication. . . . but there's a catch. He was writing in 1935.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Mar 23, 2009, 08:36 AM
If I have been blogging less frequently on the Cat in the Stack HASTAC site, it is because "This Is Your Brain on the Internet" has a blogging requirement and the comments there are so interesting and the conversations so rich that I've been spending much of my blogging time reading and posting to the class. I let them vote on whether they wanted their blogs private for the class or public to the world and they asked for private and, for some, even that has been hard. At least one very smart student in the class really doesn't like public internet documentation of his ideas at all. And I empathize with that, even though, as a lifelong writer, I've long ago given up on that issue. In any case, I've been blogging every few weeks, giving readers on the HASTAC network a taste of how this amazing class is going.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Feb 03, 2009, 07:34 AM
In his interview for the current HASTAC Scholars Forum on Digital Humanities, NEH's Director of Digital Humanities Programs, Brett Bobley, mentioned the excellent list of digital tools that Professor Lisa Spiro and her team has prepared. It's been on my to-do list to blog about this remarkable list for a long time and this is the nudge I needed. What I love about the list is that she gives a function or a desire and then you link to the tools that can make that goal a reality. Here's her list, but mostly you need to go to her website to check out this tools wiki and all of the other goodies available there. The URL to her DiRT WIki (Plant seeds. Grow ideas): http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com/Thank you, Lisa, for this wonderful service to scholarship! Now, my next stop is to go to the HASTAC Scholars and contribute there. C'mon everybody. Join this important and useful discussion that could make a difference to your future.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Dec 10, 2008, 08:57 AM
For an event honoring Doug Engelbart, creator of the Mouse, participants hand drew a looooooong, looooooooong mural commemorating the co-evolution of human systems and tool systems, from 1925 (when Engelbart was born) and projecting to 2025 . . hand drawn by artist Eileen Clegg with Valerie Landau and with content from Tim O'Reilly and many others. It is fantastically fascinating. Here's the url for the full screen:

http://programforthefuture.org/about-us/Engelbart-Mural.jpg/image_view_f....