Digital Campus

On this episode we were lucky to have a live link to Alexandria, Egypt, for Wikimania 2008, the international meeting of those who work on Wikipedia and related open collaborative projects. In the feature segment we talk with Liam Wyatt of Wikipedia Weekly, who gives an insider s scoop of the issues, debates, and future of Wikipedia. In the news roundup we discuss Yahoo s new open search service, BOSS, and Google s new virtual world, Lively, among other things. Picks of the week include some advice from Google s blogs, some rich web-based applications, and Gmail power user tweaks. Links mentioned on the podcast: Wikimania 2008 Wikipedia Weekly Yahoo BOSS Google Lively Aviary Google Labs Gmail tweaks Requesting reconsideration using Google Webmaster Tools Technologies Behind Google Ranking Running time: 48:03 Download the .mp3 Share This

As forms of scholarship move from the analog world of paper to the digital realm of the web, a debate has begun about how to give credit—if at all—to these new forms for the purposes of promotion and tenure. What will happen to peer review? What kinds of digital work should count, and how? That s the featured discussion on this episode. We also cover the launch of Firefox 3, university presses putting their books on Amazon s Kindle device, and the release of better copyright records. Links mentioned on the podcast: Google publishes copyright status of books from 1923-1963 U.S. Copyright Office Record Search Mills on Making Digital Scholarship Count Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage Creative Commons Case Studies MozillaZine on about:config Running time: 44:02 Download the .mp3 Share This

Might there be an alternative to the conventional meetings and conferences academics, librarians, and museum professionals go to every year, where papers and panels—and often bored or distracted attendees—are the norm? This episode s feature story tackles that question by looking back at the experience of THATCamp: The Humanities and Technology Camp, a less structured unconference or barcamp that turned everyone into active participants. The roundtable discussion of the news includes a discussion of what the iPhone 3G and iPhone apps mean for educational and cultural institutions. Picks of the week include a new site on the Soviet Gulag, a way to avoid distractions on the Mac, and an open source mapping site. Links mentioned on the podcast: THATCamp GreenNote OS X Spaces Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives Open Street Map Running time: 45:19 Download the .mp3 Share This

As Dan finally buckles under and joins in the most hyped Web 2.0 site of the moment, Twitter, Tom and Mills join him to debate the merits and demerits of the microblogging craze. Do services like Twitter merely increase the distractions and noise from the web, or might they be helpful for communication and community building in academia? In the news roundup, we cover Microsoft s exit from book digitization and the significance of the tech layoffs at the University of Washington. Picks of the week include a podcast series from Harvard, a blog post explaining the semantic web, and a wiki for digital research tools. Links mentioned on the podcast: Mills on Twitter Media Berkman Semantic Web Patterns Digital Research Tools (DiRT) wiki Running time: 47:21 Download the .mp3 Share This

At a time when everything seems to be trending toward being freely available online, how can education and digital resources and tools for academia, libraries, and museums sustain themselves? Tom, Dan, and Mills discuss models for sustainability in the age of the free in the feature segment of this week s podcast. In the news roundup, we cover the RIAA s newfound love of the lawsuit and the University of Chicago Law School s newfound hate of the laptop. Picks of the week include a proportional mapping tool, a thesis repository, and a site that helps non-techies understand and use RSS. Links mentioned on the podcast: Mills on free education Laura Dewis, Money makes the world go open? RSS Day Harvard Thesis Repository World Mapper Running time: 43:07 Download the .mp3 Share This

Tom and Dan are joined this week by Bill Turkel and Steve Ramsey, who provide fascinating insights into the nature of computer programming and how those in the humanities, museums, and libraries can get started with this foreign language. Bill and Steve were also kind enough to add their comments to our news roundup discussion of the launch of Google App Engine, which raises questions about outsourcing, and myLOC.gov, which raises questions about whether digital collections should have their own personalization tools. Picks for the week include two books on programming, an organizational tool for Thunderbird, and a map for browsing American history. Links mentioned on the podcast: The Programming Historian Google App Engine myLOC.gov Network in Canadian History Environment Social Explorer MIT Simile s Seek Beautiful Code The Mythical Man-Month Run time: 48:17 Download the .mp3 Share This

In the feature story of this episode, Tom, Mills, and Dan finally get to vent about the increasing annoyances of legal restrictions and threats that face those trying to do digital work in academia, libraries, and museums. Copyright both in its traditional form and in modern incarnations like the DMCA has made it more difficult than ever to figure out how and when to post something online, and for those creating digital tools, the further threat of patent lawsuits awaits. In the news roundup we talk about another threat that of online predators and a new Virginia law intended to thwart them and note the launch of offline Google Docs, which now provides a more compelling alternative to Microsoft Office. Links for the week include a museum podcast that s good for the classroom, a tech blog for students, and a declaration for open access to educational materials and technology. Links mentioned on the podcast: Virginia Schools Start To Teach Internet Safety DMCA Fair Use Open Access News NIH s Public Access Requirement Restriction: No Text Mining of PubMed Professor Sues Student Over Lecture Notes Elsevier Lets MIT Use Copyrighted Materials Patent Office Rejects Blackboard s E-Learning Patent in Preliminary Ruling Google Docs Launches Offline Support U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum @ iTunesU Hack College blog Cape Town Open Education Declaration Running time: 47:24 Download the .mp3 Share This

On the first birthday of the podcast, Tom, Mills, and Dan discuss how they produce the podcast and reflect on what they re doing right, what needs improvement, and what they might do in the coming year and ask the audience to write in with their own criticisms and suggestions. The news roundup looks at a new campus gossip website, the expulsion of a student for using a Facebook study group, and the significance of iPhones coming to campuses in the fall along with the new iPhone SDK (software development kit). Links for the week include an easy way to collaboratively markup and critique websites, a detailed description of a good web design and development setup, and one journal s take on Web 2.0. Links mentioned on the podcast: Audacity Call Recorder Twiddla Jeremy Boggs s Design and Development Setup First Monday issue on Web 2.0 Runtime: 44:38 Download the .mp3 Share This

Can print on demand shake up academic publishing, book buying, and reading habits? Another terrific guest joins us on the podcast for a feature segment on the promise and perils of print on demand: Yakov Shafranovich, a software developer who specializes in print on demand services including PublicDomainReprints.org, covered in several prior Digital Campus episodes. We spend most of the news roundup debating the impact of the Harvard faculty vote in favor of open access scholarship, while also covering Blackboard s victory in a flimsy patent case. Picks of the week include a good new podcast, a flashy historical website, and an easy way to add images to your blog posts. Links mentioned on the podcast: Harvard Open Access Policy PublicDomainReprints.org European Navigator First Monday Podcast PhotoDropper Run time: 58:32 Download the .mp3 Share This

Is reading declining in the digital age, or is it simply changing? The Digital Campus team is joined by two guests in our feature segment, Sunil Iyengar of the National Endowment for the Arts and Matt Kirschenbaum of the University of Maryland, to debate the future of reading and its past. The news roundup covers Microsoft s courtship of Yahoo and what it means (if anything) for campuses, provides an update on a problematic U.S. House of Representatives bill, and covers the new Horizon Report on digital technologies that will affect universities in the coming five years. Links mentioned on the podcast: 2008 Horizon Report College Opportunity and Affordability Act Aluka Today s Front Pages at the Newseum Amistad Digital Resource Running time: 50:49 Download the .mp3 Share This

Are open educational resources such as iTunes U and thought-provoking dot-coms such as BigThink.com a distraction from the mission of professors and universities, or the wave of the future? Tom, Mills, and Dan debate the merits of open access intellectual content in the feature story. We also follow up on Dan s experience with buying a book from PublicDomainReprints.org, compare the MacBook Air with the small, cheap laptops discussed on the last episode of Digital Campus, and discuss the launch of Flickr Commons. Our picks of the week point to three great ways to use RSS feeds more effectively. Links mentioned on podcast: PublicDomainReprints.org Flickr Commons MacBook Air iTunes U BigThink.com Berkeley s YouTube Channel Google Reader Sharing ReadBurner Yahoo Pipes FeedJournal Runtime: 51:15 Download the .mp3 Share This

On our first podcast of the new year, we look at the rise of the small, cheap laptop and its significance for education and cultural sites. In addition to a full rundown of the latest news about the One Laptop Per Child project and its $188 XO laptop, we cover the wildly popular Asus Eee PC and the forthcoming Everex CloudBook, both costing under $400. In the news roundup we note the end of the line for Netscape, mention the darker alleyways of social networking, and congratulate ourselves for predicting the decline of Second Life. And at the end of the podcast we highlight a great new word processor for the Mac, a service to print out-of-print books, and the digitization of a gigantic medieval bible. Links mentioned on the podcast: One Laptop Per Child Pixel Qi Asus Eee PC Everex CloudBook Scrivener Codex Gigas Public Domain Books Reprints Service THATPodcast THATCamp Running time: 45:48 Download the .mp3 Share This

The regulars close out the first calendar year of Digital Campus with a countdown of the top stories of 2007. In a year when lines formed for the iPhone, social networking went mainstream, Vista battled with Leopard (and XP), and virtual worlds beckoned, find out which stories made Mills, Tom, and Dan s top ten list. What flew, what fizzled, and what will 2008 hold for technology at universities, libraries, and museums? We reveal the answers on our year end special. Running time: 53:32 Download the .mp3 Share This

On this podcast we finally put to rest the Great Facebook Controversy of 2007. We tell listeners how to turn off Facebook s intrusive Beacon advertising system, and note LinkedIn s attempt to capitalize on Facebook s stumble. We also assess the importance of privacy for search engines given Ask.com s move to make it easier to search anonymously, and revisit the rise of the podcasting of lectures now that commercial companies are entering the market. Our featured story examines the potential educational uses of cell phones on campus and in museums and libraries, looking ahead to Google s Android cell phone operating system and other application platforms. Our links for the week include exhibition software for museums, a great new academic blog from Stan Katz, and a simple way for libraries and museums to turn cell phones into audio tour handsets. Links mentioned on the podcast: Omeka Podlinez Brainstorm: Stan Katz Running time: 52:00 Download the .mp3 Share This

Amazon.com s release of its new e-book reader the Kindle has set off a frenzy of speculation about the future of books, reading, and publishing. The Digital Campus team debates the promise and problems of the Kindle and e-book readers in general. In the news roundup we express outrage at a possible new U.S. bill that would remove funds from universities that fail to stop online piracy and at Facebook s new feature that allows everyone to see what you re buying. A cranky holiday-season podcast for listeners new and old! Other links mentioned on the podcast: Marvel Comics Archive Vixy phillyhistory.org OpenCast Running time: 44:02 Download the .mp3 Share This

Think Google is scary with all of the information it gathers about you through your web searches? Wait until Facebook starts its advertising platform based on all of the likes and dislikes you ve given it, and combines that with the power of Microsoft, which just bought a stake in the biggest social network on campus. We tackle privacy, anonymity, and giving away personal information in this week s podcast. In the news roundup we celebrate the release of Apple s new operating system upgrade, Leopard, and whether it and Ubuntu can begin to steal market share from a faltering Windows Vista. Other links mentioned on the podcast: New York Public Library Labs Anthony Grafton on Future Reading Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy Running time: 51:11 Download the .mp3 Share This

The second most frequently asked question at museums after Where are the restrooms? is Where is the art? In this episode we ask whether those artifacts belong on a museum s website, and if so, how, as we debate the proper relationship between a museum s virtual and physical manifestations. Our news roundup covers the opening up of Harvard s scholarship, Berkeley s YouTube channel, iTunesU, and two software projects that aim to improve the library catalog and the museum exhibit. We also highlight Errol Morris s blog posts on truth in photography, a great museum blog, and a tool for converting one type of digital file to another. Links mentioned on the podcast: Omeka Scriblio Harvard Crimson editorial on open access Berkeley s YouTube channel National Museum of African American History and Culture Errol Morris on two Crimean War photographs (part 1; part 2) Nina Simon s Museum 2.0 blog YouConvertIt Running time:51:35 Download the .mp3 Share This

Is the moderated environment of email discussion lists still the best way for scholars to communicate with others in their field? Or is the time ripe to move those conversations onto blogs and less mediated and more open formats? That s this week s debate in the feature segment. In the roundup we cover news about greater competition for Microsoft Office and the significance of the New York Times dumping its pay-for-certain-content model. Picks of the week include a great podcast from the BBC, a blog for bizarre and interesting maps, and a way to overlay historical (and other) maps onto current ones. Links mentioned: The End of H-Net In Our Time Strange Maps MapMixer Running time: 51:59 Download the .mp3. Share This

We begin the news roundup this week with a bit of embarrassing news from Dan, then dig into several stories about big media companies entering the online learning market and Google Books becoming more useful for scholarship. In our feature segment, Tom and Mills explain how they try to stay productive in a world of constant digital distractions like email and blog feeds. Helpful links this week include a terrific site for teaching through famous trials, a way to customize Google, and a dead simple online to-do list. And we remember 9/11 through our own site, the September 11 Digital Archive. Running time: 48:34 Download the .mp3. Share This

We continue our discussion of blogging, this time with a closer look at the challenges and difficulties of starting and maintaining a blog, attracting and keeping an audience, and making sure it doesn t get in the way of other academic pursuits. In the news roundup, we compare the iPhone and Facebook platforms, examine two software projects that mine Wikipedia for trustworthiness, and wonder once again if anyone is home in Second Life. Case Western Finds Few Takers in Second Life Hackers Make the iPhone Better WikiScanner Wikipedia Trust Tool Firefox Campus Edition Museum Blogs directory The Hawaii Nisei Story Running time: 49:04 Download the .mp3. [Apologies for the audio quality this week. We were affected by the problems Skype has been having.] [Update: Further technical difficulties led to a gap in the audio. Apologies again. Please update your versions.] Share This

We continue our discussion of blogging, this time with a closer look at the challenges and difficulties of starting and maintaining a blog, attracting and keeping an audience, and making sure it doesn t get in the way of other academic pursuits. In the news roundup, we compare the iPhone and Facebook platforms, examine two software projects that mine Wikipedia for trustworthiness, and wonder once again if anyone is home in Second Life. Case Western Finds Few Takers in Second Life Hackers Make the iPhone Better WikiScanner Wikipedia Trust Tool Firefox Campus Edition Museum Blogs directory The Hawaii Nisei Story Running time: 49:04 Download the .mp3. [Apologies for the audio quality this week. We were affected by the problems Skype has been having.] Share This

Dan, Mills, and Tom celebrate the tenth edition of Digital Campus with part one in a new series on blogs and blogging. In this episode, we take a look back at how we became bloggers, examine questions of subject matter, voice, and style, and debate the risks and rewards of blogging in a scholarly context. We also report on problems posed by the iPhone for wireless network administrators, the subversive role of SMS in China, and ups and downs for humanists in Second Life. Picks of the week include Flock, a social web browser, the David Rumsey collection of nearly 16,000 historic maps, and the launch of plain text Google Books. Other links include: Professors, Start Your Blogs The Perils of Anonymity Finding History L.A. Times on the true number of Second Lifers MacArthur funds work in Second Life, from NYT PhDinHistory s new blog Running time: 52:20 Download the .mp3. Share This

What are students, researchers, and librarians supposed to do with the tremendous volume of digitized scholarly materials now available to them? We discuss the problem of information overload in this week s feature segment. The news roundup turns into an iPhone-fest or is it an iPhone-bashing? Dan tries not to go near an iPhone for fear of an impulse buy, while Tom and Mills debate the true value of Apple s new gadget. Helpful tips for the week include a site for getting to know learning 2.0, a great new blog on museums and technology, and a digital Time Magazine archive. Links mentioned on the podcast: Learning 2.0 Electronic Museum Time Magazine, 1923-2007 Enable dictionary and thesaurus on Google Docs Running time: 51:07 Download the .mp3. Share This

How can you learn technical skills such as web design, programming, and related methods and technologies for work in the digital humanities? We tackle that difficult question on this week s show, while also covering the top IT issues that universities face (according to CIOs), transcribing books the new fashioned way, and analog and digital news about Abraham Lincoln. Links mentioned on the podcast: Your Archives The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Google PageRank: What do we really know about it Is Computer Science an Outdated Term? from Wired Campus reCAPTCHA Lincoln to Halleck from Footnote.com What Al Wishes Abe Said Top Ten IT Issues from Educause Review Running time: 55:09 Download the .mp3. Share This

Bill Turkel joins us on the podcast to discuss his fascinating work on history appliances, or the possibility of making history more real by creating physical environments and interfaces that truly immerse us in the past. In the news roundup we ponder whether the opening of Facebook to outside developers means possibly better integration with academic services or merely the end of its pretty interface, applaud Google s new universal search for returning video and other media in addition to text, express skepticism that Google has crushed the market for online term papers, and wonder if a university might soon suffer the same fate as Estonia, which saw its computer networks swamped by hactivists or the Russian government. Sites mentioned on the podcast: Digital History Hacks Dave Lester s Blog Seashore Phixr Scratch Place-based Computing Running time: 45:26 Download the .mp3. Share This

Web design guru Jeremy Boggs joins Dan, Tom, and Mills to discuss the past, present, and future of designing websites for academia, museums, and libraries. In the news roundup, we cover a number of situations where information and images have shown up at inopportune times and in inopportune places, including the case of the MySpace photo that got a student in hot water, a chart on a blog that caused a copyright furor, and the liberation of class-related documents that got some Harvard students in trouble. Sites mentioned in the podcast: Molly.com SimpleBits mezzoblue meyerweb Color Blindness Simulator 20 Usability Tips for Your Blog Google Earth Overlays of Greensburg, Kansas Directory of Open Access Journals Running Time: 50:24 Download the .mp3 Share This

We take a break from our normal format to spend the entirety of this episode thinking about the role of technology its great power to forge social bonds and enable a new kind of memorialization, as well as its unfortunate ability to underscore the separation of those who remain outside social circles in the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech. We discuss the April 16 Archive website and Omeka, the software that runs it, as well as issues related to social networking sites, online gaming, and text messaging. Running time: 29:28. Download the .mp3. Share This

Can social networking sites like Facebook play a productive role in the humanities? In this episode Dan plays the old fogey, while Tom and Mills talk about how to use these sites in an advantageous way. We also report on recent meetings on the digital humanities and digital museums, and discuss Google s My Maps and Creative Common s Learn initiative. And Mills and Dan plot an intervention to get Tom off of Twitter. Also discussed were iGTD, Scenemaker, and the new digital humanities PBWiki. Featuring: Dan Cohen, Mills Kelly, Tom Scheinfeldt. Running time: 47:57. Download the mp3. [Editor s note: This podcast was recorded before the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech thus our normal, jovial tone and failure to mention that horrible day. Our hearts go out to the entire Virginia Tech community, some of whom are now or have been our colleagues at the Center for History and New Media.] Share This

Our third podcast begins with some discussion of April Fools pranks, including a great one about Google acquiring the OCLC, and how blogs and the internet can foster hoaxes. This week s feature takes a look at the hot topic of cyberinfrastructure. We also take a look at Turnitin, and the larger issue of plagiarism. Links for the week include Librivox, Swivel, and the Center s own research tool Zotero. Featuring: Dan Cohen, Mills Kelly, Tom Scheinfeldt Running time: 55:16 Download the .mp3 Share This

In our second podcast, we revisit the debate over Wikipedia, including hearing from Mills about how Cambodians are using it (and whether you can find a WiFi signal in the jungle of Cambodia). Our feature story explores whether and how YouTube is useful in the classroom. Links for this week include a podcast on Byzantine rulers, the Documentation Center of Cambodia, and a tool for making timelines. And we make a solemn pledge not to discuss Vista for a long time. Featuring: Dan Cohen, Mills Kelly, Tom Scheinfeldt Running time: 43:52 Download the .mp3 Share This