Written by Anna Kijas, Music & Dramatic Arts Librarian and Project Coordinator, Scholars’ Collaborative.
Reprinted from UConn Libraries Newsletter, published December, 2013
The Scholars’ Collaborative, which began in March and concluded in December, was a pilot project undertaken by the Libraries. Through it, faculty and graduate students were provided with physical space, expertise, and project management assistance to develop innovative projects using digital tools. For it, the Scholars’ Collaborative partnered with graduate students and faculty from several departments and programs, including English, Geography, History, Medieval Studies, and Digital Media & Design. During the pilot, we coordinated and taught workshops, which introduced faculty, students, and library staff to methods and tools used in digital scholarship.
Two projects currently underway, include, “Studying Judith in Anglo-Saxon England” directed by Brandon W. Hawk, a Ph.D. candidate in the Medieval Studies program and “Virtual Hartford” led by Kevin Finefrock and Mary Mahoney, Ph.D. candidates in the History department. While the two projects differ widely from each other, they are both being built in Omeka, a free, open- source platform created at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Hawk’s project focuses on an Old English poem Judith, which was adapted from the biblical Book of Judith (10th- century). Through this project, he aims to introduce readers to the ways in which Anglo-Saxon English society (c.600-1200) studied the Book of Judith, and to approach research in this area from various disciplines. Hawk’s project will feature a multimedia archive, analytical tools, and an interactive map. Finefrock and Mahoney’s project will present an interactive history website focused on events in Hartford, Connecticut’s past. They are building a site which will allow users to examine people, places, and events through access to primary source documents in an interactive environment. This site will also enable users to access documents for teaching and research in undergraduate education, as well as promote and publicize persons active in writing and presenting Hartford’s history. Readmore about these projects.
Although the pilot has ended, we encourage faculty and graduate students to contact the Scholars’ Collaborative with questions about digital scholarship. Stay tuned to developments with the Scholars’ Collaborative; recommendations based on discussions and projects from this pilot are being reviewed and next steps will be determined in the near future.
Brandon Hawk, a Ph.D. candidate explained his project in a public presentation