Creating the Texas Digital Humanities Consortium

At the Inaugural Texas Digital Humanities Consortium Conference (TXDHC) on April 12, Elijah Meeks suggested that “interloping, more than computational approaches or the digital broadly construed as the object of study, defines digital humanities.” Indeed, as researchers pursue their curiosity and explore new methods, they often venture into unfamiliar territory. But there they may find others eager to experiment with new approaches and share what they know (or, as Elijah puts it, “a vibrant community of practice,” such as what we see in neogeography). This open, collaborative ethos characterized the TXDHC conference. Ably organized and hosted by Cameron Buckner from the University of Houston (with co-sponsorship from Rice and Texas A&M), the conference attracted participants from across Texas as well as from California, Alabama, Louisiana, and Switzerland. (See Geoffrey Rockwell’s great conference notes.) I think the conference met its fundamental goal of building community among (and beyond) Texas digital humanists by providing a forum where people could present their work, make connections with fellow interlopers, and learn new skills, such as at the hackfest facilitated by Elijah. By bringing in knowledgeable and engaged keynote speakers, the conference exposed participants to cutting-edge work and enabled them to interact with experts happy to offer advice about projects and pose stimulating questions. Already a colleague from Rice who attended the conference reports that she has made progress on her project thanks to help from Elijah, and I bet others can share similar stories.

The conference functioned as the first event hosted by the Texas Digital Humanities Consortium, a new organization that aims to support collaboration among digital humanists in Texas. The consortium (and conference) emerged from a conversation that Cameron Buckner, Laura Mandell (Texas A&M) and I had in October 2013 in which we discussed the growth of digital humanities across the state and the opportunity to band together in promoting DH research and education. We roped in a few more universities, including the University of Texas, the University of North Texas, St. Edward’s, and the University of Texas at Arlington. But we want to extend the consortium further, to create an open, participatory organization that includes liberal arts colleges, universities, community colleges, libraries, museums, and archives. At the conference, I facilitated a business meeting devoted to organizing the new consortium. While I worried that few people would show up to an 8:30 a.m. meeting on a Saturday, I was impressed by how many came and how engaged they were. We had participants from Southwestern, Prairie View A&M, and the University of Texas at Dallas as well as from Rice, UH, UT Austin, St. Edward’s, and UT Arlington. Since Texas is such a big state, we don’t necessarily have the advantage of close geographical proximity, but we do have a diverse and lively community, exciting research and educational projects, and a desire to do as much as we can together.

In the course of a very productive hour, we developed a framework for the consortium.  We plan to do the following:

• Establish a Commons in a Box web site where members of the consortium can share information about researchers, projects, events, and opportunities (such as internships). Laura Mandell and her colleagues at Texas A&M’s Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture (IDHMC) generously offered to set up the site. Contact Laura if you would like to be put on the mailing list for the group.
• Organize a monthly virtual meeting to plan activities, share ongoing research, and build community.
• Explore creating internship opportunities for graduate students (and potentially undergraduate students as well). Those looking for students to assist with DH projects can write short descriptions of these projects and share them on the TXDHC web site.
• Host an annual conference. We would like to hold the next TXDHC conference in the spring of 2015, perhaps in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
• Provide informal opportunities to interact, such as by hosting local reading groups and letting each other know about lectures and other events. Note that Texas A&M will host THATCamp DHCollaborate on May 16-17, 2014.
• Explore potential advocacy activities.

We encourage others interested in digital humanities from across Texas to join us. Currently the consortium operates as a “coalition of the willing,” with decision making by consensus. There are no membership fees or formal structures; to participate, you just need to indicate interest and be willing to contribute your ideas and time. If you are a Texas digital humanist, please fill out a brief survey to indicate your interest in the consortium and offer input into its activities. Interlopers welcomed!