DH Anonymous

Throughout the course of this semester, I have struggled with each and every new piece of software to which we have been introduced. Thankfully, I have a fellow Medieval Studies colleague in the class who has more experience with some of the programs than I do, and he has been generous enough with his time to help me through my struggles and give me confidence to complete many of the projects on my own. Lately, I have been turning much more quickly to Google and Twitter to help me solve my problems rather than frantically texting my colleague (that now only happens in dire straits), but I'm noticing a severe lack of communication within our classroom environment, especially on the digital front. However, a few of us have been working steadily to help each other.

Yep.

Today, Sarah, Justin, and I decided to reserve a library study room for two hours and discuss the issues we were having with any of the software and try to help each other in any way possible. As a group, we were able to get Sarah more comfortable with HTML and CSS, and we started to unpack the mystery of MALLET. I also helped Sarah (and Justin, by extension) figure out how to get the base map on her QGIS map. Overall, this experience was extremely useful and something that I believe all three of us will repeat as often as possible. We sent the word out on Twitter for our fellow classmates to join us, but no one else seemed interested or, at least, replied. I really think that this is probably one of the most useful things I have done all semester, and if we had more people in the group working together, we would be able to have a much better understanding of the programs we're trying to use and incorporate into our portfolios.

Whatever your skill level, we don't judge. Join us!

In a seminar setting such as this, the group members truly need to work together for the common good of everyone involved. I truly wish the class itself was more like our two hour meeting this morning because it was the most productive I've been in a group setting. Justin, Sarah, and I will definitely be holding regular Digital Humanities Anonymous meetings for the rest of the semester, and I really think this will help us actually finish our portfolio requirements to the best of our abilities.