Jun
1
On Coding in the Digital Humanities
June 1, 2013 | Leave a Comment
A bonus entry. A post I wrote last September and never published. -Aaron Among all the recurrent questions surrounding the mainstream emergence of the “digital humanities,” most divisive seems to be the question do you need to know how to code? Sure, there’s disagreement. And although my post will hardly be the final word on the topic, I […]
Sep
12
On Omeka 2.0
September 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment
If you’ve been working on a site using Omeka, you’ve hopefully caught wind of the new version that’s arriving rather quickly [October to be exact]. In my work with the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, I’ve built two massive websites on the Omeka platform. The first, and most obvious: HERB was launched a […]
Sep
11
On Choices in OS [a personal history]
September 11, 2012 | 2 Comments
First, let us have a digression to set the stage: In my spare time [as a hobby] I write and record music. And I’ve been hemming and hawing about what my new setup should be like. Currently I use a laptop which although acceptable, has latency issues. My M-audio firewire interface is over a decade […]
Jun
21
On Data Visualization
June 21, 2012 | 2 Comments
This won’t be a particularly long post, but it’s something that I’ve been working on a little bit that has excited me. There’s a lot of great javascript tools for designing sleek visualizations on the web right now (and to do with no more than just code!). Raphaël and D3 are among those which have gained a […]
May
23
On Using Text Analysis Tools and Web Pages
May 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment
First, a little bit of an introduction. The easy part of any technical project is figuring out “how to do it.” Sometimes students in the New Media Lab come to me to figure out the “how,” and I am always glad to help. But my job isn’t simply to present the “how,” but to complicate* […]
May
7
On What’s in a Name?
May 7, 2012 | 1 Comment
Searching through a popular music blog such as Stereogum or Pitchfork, one could be easily mistaken in their attempts to understand a new generation of band names. Neologisms abound, name changes are frequent and even common names are frequently misspelled in outrageous ways. So what’s up with this? Is this more of that infamous “Me […]
Apr
16
On Great Power and Great Responsibility
April 16, 2012 | 1 Comment
I’ve never been much of a fan of comic books, but I’ve nevertheless found the quote “with great power comes great responsibility” to be an apt quote for many circumstances that arise while in the web profession*. Today, I’m addressing designers of all types. The UX/UI/IDX and Front End types of the world. I’m imploring […]
Jan
19
On doing something cool
January 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Web Technology moves at a very fast speed. (obviously) But the hardest part of being a web developer is the question of “when can I use this awesome new technology?” If you haven’t seen the site CanIUse.com, its a great resource for approximating what portion of the web is using a browser that supports said […]
Jan
11
On Open-Source Alternatives and Education
January 11, 2012 | 1 Comment
I don’t believe I’ve made it a secret: I believe strongly in the mission of free and open-source software. I see them as great tools for democratizing technical spaces. Once the burden of cost is removed, the only burden that remains in learning software is the time required to learn it. Thankfully the difference in […]
Jan
3
On Omeka
January 3, 2012 | 4 Comments
I’ve been a big supporter of Omeka.I love the archive and information science oriented hierarchy. I love the considerations taken for small archival institutions. Really, I mean all of this sincerely. There’s a lot of great hooks for creating your own plugins and extending to your own themes. But with experience and seasoning comes a […]
