Scholars' Lab

Join us on Zoom today for a free public talk: @aelang.bsky.social on using makerspace approaches to visualize & inspire thinking about poems. Register for link: cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242444

a clear resin cube with text on one face and a curved design extending from another face in front of a window

For people wanting a distraction from the end of the world who are into critical making/literary DH/info viz/Dickinson, I'm giving a talk on 7 Oct (12pm EST/5pm GMT) at @scholarslab.bsky.social on plotspaces, a thing I invented to think about spatial imaginaries cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242444

Posted another bit of the book. This time talking about how cultures of intellectualism deny the ways in which academic labor affects the teaching body.

walshbr.com/blog/teachin...

ICYMI I posted a historical view of the Praxis Program's funding structure that was described elsewhere as "extremely wonky but in a very good way."

Tuesday Forum: Anouk Lang on Poetry in the Makerspace Please join us for the next in our digital humanities series, the Tuesday Forums, brought to you by the Scholars' Lab, of the Library's DH Center. These presentations invite...

Anouk Lang's talk on literary+critical making scholarship will also explore how making-as-research opens questions about bodies, labor, & accessibility; intellectual process vs product. Virtual event, open to all! cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242444

Next week's public, free events:
* GIS workshops: edit/fix existing mappy data
* Makerspace workshops: basic sewing (zippered pencil case) & tshirt alteration (bring the clothing you want to alter)
* Anouk Lang on 3D printing+metal milling to visualize+interpret poetry
Info: scholarslab.org/events

Happening now! Livetweet thread for published parts of the talk (apologies to folks not in-person for missing cool works-in-progress parts & hot ☕): bsky.app/profile/lite...

If you're interested in machine learning, language models, & similar for research applications: a 3rd event in this lunchtime series is on 11/14 (cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/15242373) as well as more, spring term; & 12/2 Tom Williams teaches a workshop on humanistic annotation w/machine learning:

Posted to the blog some institutional memory about the changes that have been made to the Praxis Fellowship's funding structure over the years as it was experienced by students. walshbr.com/blog/histori...

Graphic showing a tall wire grid rack full of colorful zines attached with clothespins, then the same rack again with different zines and sometimes depleted as folks take zines before the rack is refilled. A wire bookshelf holding more zines is also pictured, next to the caption "(Added a second zine rack Spring 2025 to help keep them from emptying as fast)"

Thanks to a @uvalibrary.bsky.social's Culture, Engagement, & Community grant, I'm able to expand the "Zine Bakery @ Scholars' Lab" public zine distro's capacity (aka my tired zine-assembling hands), so our public racks of free zines should stay fuller + w/a wider rotation of zines 📚✨

Looking to the following week, 10/7 we've a public, virtual talk by Anouk Lang combining literary study & critical making: "plotspaces", 3D-fabricated sculptural objects representing the spatial+scalar shifts in a poem. Open to all (register for zoom info):

+ Scholars' Lab cosponsors a showcase of short talks by humanities researchers on their AI research applications (building on this summer's initial event; organized by UVA Religious Studies). Our latest events (& registration etc. info!) are always at scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/events/

This week's public events:
* workshops on GIS (get spatial data—addresses, zips—as points on a map) & making (lasercutter pencil engraving; keychain basic leathercrafting);
* @heatherfro.bsky.social (virtually) shares re:teaching rhetoricians how to read Python at (an in-person!) Coffee+Code; +

Always on the lookout for future #ByteSizedPedagogy contributions! If you have an idea, syllabus, lesson, theory, fail, etc etc you’d like to share with a supportive group fill out the form below. I always find the sessions very enriching.

"Z is for Zines" exhibit I curated w/ @rareuva.bsky.social help. As a librarian, zines=I can amplify more authors/experiences/topics our community cares about+needs than via just books; especially work where racism, transphobia+more violence+systematic harm=barriers to author, publish, widely share+

Moreover, I had the opportunity to remember that more than ever academia needs community and I made at the @scholarslab.bsky.social Without the support of the #DhMakes community, all the encouragement here, I couldn’t make it until the end of the piece

You can’t imagine how happy I was today when I first saw my data art piece on a wall. I’m tremendously grateful to @scholarslab.bsky.social for all the work and support on this. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible! #DhMakes

#DhMakes at the @scholarslab.bsky.social Academia without community is elitism!

Discussing her use of materiality and why the analog format is important to her, @sararribas.bsky.social notes how she was a "bad" student - for her, the approach is a way to honor the differences in how she learns. Resonates so much with me and how I think about teaching.

This isn't a pedagogical talk, but I'm struck by how much @sararribas.bsky.social's work on analog approaches to data resonates with minimalist approaches to DH teaching. Working carefully by hand forces you to rethink a lot of your assumptions of your digital methods.

Sara Arribas Colmenar presenting on her work in the Scholars’ Lab.

@sararribas.bsky.social in action! Impressively presenting without slides!

Social network analysis using thread!

It’s a gorgeous piece that you can find hanging in the DH Center!

Settling in for data art prize winner @sararribas.bsky.social in the @scholarslab.bsky.social to talk about "String Data Art: the Social Network Analysis of Concurso de Cante Jondo (1922) project" #DHMakes

Livetweet thread from @sararribas.bsky.social excellent talk on how digital research methods & physical critical making can strengthen scholarship when iterating between both modes. (HT @shane.logoff.website for photos!)

We also installed a new poster in @scholarslab.bsky.social (by @lmmiller.bsky.social & me) explaining the data + #DHmakes art that's been growing in our space & encouraging folks inspired by these to come chat w/us about how they might explore or share their own interests using digital+craft methods

More info about @sararribas.bsky.social's work here!: More info: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/work/string-... Huge thank you to Dr. Arribas Colmenar for working with us to share this fantastic model of how data, digital methods, & physical making can create effective public scholarship:

Photo of the VR corner of the Scholars' Lab Common Room, showing a square rug, windows into an atrium, and a colorful research string art exhibit on the wall, with multiple panels sharing photos and historical background.

Photo of Sara Arribas Colmenar's data art installation, a colorful research string art exhibit on the wall, with multiple panels sharing photos and historical background and explaining how to read the colorful strings modeling artistic historical relationships

A closeup view of Sara Arribas Colmenar's data art installation, a colorful research string art exhibit, showing how the colorful strings model artistic historical relationships and are layered up close in ways a digital network graph might not show as well

We've installed @sararribas.bsky.social's prize-winning data art in our Common Room (VR Corner) 🎉 Can't make her research methods+making talk today? Come by any time to view & follow the QR code or this link to an online exhibit: uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/e...

Es hoy, es hoy!

Our Zoom conversation will be interesting but look at those in person activities! Join @scholarslab.bsky.social if you can!

All events are free & open to anyone (no UVA affiliation needed); makerspace dropin workshop includes free materials. SIgn up for these & future events: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/events/

An event-full day here! Talk+data art exhibit= @sararribas.bsky.social's #DHmakes-ing digital+historical social network analysis tangible; on zoom= @jenniferisasi.bsky.social & @craftytechwiz.bsky.social #ByteSizedPedagogy ⚡talks on cool DH teaching approaches; in our makerspace=🪡🧵 pencil case wkshp