Episode 42 – The Real World

21 May, 2009 2 comments

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Dan and Mills welcome Tom back from paternity leave with a whirlwind roundup of the last month’s news. The regulars try to keep it real, exposing a scandal in scientific journal publishing, assessing the buzz surrounding the launch of a new computational search engine, questioning recent applications of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and delving once again into the Google Books settlement and some late breaking developments at the University of Michigan Library.

Episode 41 – Interview With Stan Katz

30 April, 2009 2 comments

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While Tom was out on paternity leave, Dan and Mills took the opportunity to interview Stan Katz (Princeton University). For those who don’t know Stan, he is the past president of the American Council of Learned Societies, an accomplished legal historian and Vice President for Research of the American Historical Association, and a lifetime Chicago Cubs fan. Stan is also, in many ways, one of the fathers of digital humanities. In the interview he discusses the past, the present, and the future of digital humanities from a perspective few can offer. We also ripped our way through the news of the past two weeks, including the incredible news that spending time on Facebook can lower your grades. Who knew?

Other links mentioned on the podcast:
Crowdsourcing on Twitter
The Twitter Revolution That Wasn’t

Running time: 48:15
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Episode 40 – Super Models

27 March, 2009 10 comments

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In a freewheeling news roundup we discuss the significance of a number of major changes in academic publishing, including MIT going open access, the University of Michigan Press going digital, Sony putting 500,000 books on their digital reading device, and the impact of budget cuts on presses and journals. We explore new models for academic publishing in the face of the economic downturn and the digital revolution. Picks of the week include a way for new Twitter users to find others in their discipline, documents from the National Security Archive, and a deadline for an unconference.

Other links mentioned on the podcast:
Stan Katz, “A Computer is Not a Typewriter”
UVA phasing out computer labs

Running time: 40:15
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Episode 39 – Upgrade in the Downturn?

10 March, 2009 4 comments

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The Digital Campus crew finally tackle the Great Recession: the significance of the financial meltdown on universities, libraries, and museums. What will change and what will stay the same? Are there technologies that can help us in our time of need? We also talk more about e-books, campus iPhone apps, and lecture podcasts.

Links mentioned in the podcast:
Google Apps For Your Domain
Duke U. Unveils Application Suite for iPhone
‘iTunes university’ better than the real thing
Tip Jar
Digital Archivists, Now in Demand

Running time: 44:41
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Episode 38 – E-Book Redux

17 February, 2009 3 comments

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In a very special timetraveling episode, the Digital Campus crew journey back to 2007 to hear from their old selves–specifically, what they said about e-books when Amazon’s Kindle was released–and whether their present selves agree with their ghosts from the past in light of the release of the Kindle 2 and the mobile version of Google Books. Also covered on the podcast are the demise of rumor site Juicy Campus and music site Ruckus, the impact of Creative Commons and downloads on YouTube, and the addition of history to Google Earth. Picks for the episode include a programming interface for New York Times articles, a blog on the futures of learning, a search engine for open journals, and a site for medieval manuscripts.

Links mentioned on the podcast:
Kindle 2
Google Book Search Mobile
New York Times Article Search API
Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts
Futures of Learning blog
Google Earth 5’s Historical Imagery
JURN search engine

Running time: 49:18
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Episode 37 – Material Culture

2 February, 2009 8 comments

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Aside from the technical challenges of moving museums online, there’s the cultural challenge of squaring the curator’s focus on the actual, authentic object with the free-for-all, non-hierarchical nature of the web. That’s the tension addressed in the feature story on this episode, a follow-up to concerns expressed at the Smithsonian 2.0 conference. We’re lucky to be joined in the discussion by Sharon Leon, Director of Public Projects at the Center for History and New Media. In the news roundup, we assemble our own stimulus package, talk about Creative Commons on the White House website, look at the impact of Gmail going offline, and debate a possible change to Wikipedia’s moderation policy. Picks include a new grant, Omeka training, museum awards, and (despite protests by Mills) a Twitter client.

Links mentioned on the podcast:
Broadband, Computers Part of Stimulus Package
Wikipedia Co-Founder Calls for Major New Moderation Policy
New White House Copyright Policy
Smithsonian 2.0
National Postal Museum’s Arago website
Best of the Web at the Museums and the Web 2009 meeting
Digging into Data Challenge
TweetDeck
Omeka Workshops
Gmail Goes Offline