#FlashbackFriday | Amber Covington (#ChesnuttArchives) Recounts Day Spent at 2014 THATCamp Piedmont at Davidson College (10.24.2014)

On Saturday, October 18th I attended THATCamp Piedmont at Davidson College. This daylong session included several discussions about digital humanities among people interested in collaborating, building, and sharing their ideas from a range of disciplines and specialties.

— Anelise H Shrout (@AneliseHShrout) October 18, 2014

(Amber Covington seated second from the left)

From the start I immediately started learning about interesting websites and mobile applications that could be used to enhance archival collections. Here are a few things that sparked my interest throughout the day.

Digital Mapping

In this session I was able to get hands on experience using free open source online resources such as omeka.net and Neatline. I was able to try my skills at creating a digital map using special collection items.

Dorkshorts and Hackathon

Dorkshorts refers to a short period of time for campers, the name for people attending THATCamp, to share and tell others about things they have learned or projects they are working on.  The Hackathon is a daylong event where campers brainstorm, create, and design a product. During this time I was introduced to the mobile application Yik Yak and the way college campuses use it and other several websites of digital projects of campers which included Indiegogo, GatheringPoint, and Internet Archive Book Images.

3-D Printing

During the 3-D printing session I was able to view and attempt to design an item using Tinkercad and Thingiverse.

Each image displays designs created by Davidson College students.

Each image displays designs created by Davidson College students.

THATCamp stands for “The Humanities and Technology Camp.” A day is spent learning in an unconference setting where individuals plan and discuss topics following an agenda and schedule very loosely. Interested in learning more about THATCamp please visit the website here.