Profile: Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group

The creation and use of digital tools for research, publishing, and teaching continue to become important parts of academic life for anyone working in the humanities.

Fortunately, Fordham University’s Graduate Student Association offers a way for students to learn these pertinent digital tools: through the Fordham Graduate Student Digital Humanities Group (FGSDH). Seeking to benefit the research and pedagogy of its members, FGSDH aims “to engage, maintain, and deepen students' knowledge and interest in the digital humanities through discussion of and instruction in current practices and methodologies,” said Boyda Johnstone and Christy Pottroff, English PhD candidates who lead the group.

FGSDH welcomes students from all disciplines and with all levels of computer literacy. Targeted specifically are students seeking professional academic careers in the humanities and computer science students with an interest in the humanities. The group may also benefit those in pursuit of alternative academic careers. Not only graduate students, but all members of the Fordham community are welcome to attend meetings.

“One of the benefits of DH practices is that they are inherently collaborative,” said Johnstone and Pottroff. FGSDH, which seeks to engage with the larger NYC DH community, routinely welcomes scholars from Columbia, NYU, and CUNY, who attend the group’s events and lead workshops.

Last year, the group focused on digital mapping. This year, the group aims to teach a wider range of DH skills. Already this semester, the group offered a workshop in minimalist computing with Alex Gil, Digital Scholarship Coordinator in the Humanities and History Division of Columbia University Libraries. In the future, the group will offer sessions on digital pedagogy, social media as a professional platform, and DH in the job market. Important programs such as TimelineJS, Neatline, Omeka, and Pandoc will be highlighted.

“This year, we want graduate students to be able to walk away from every FGSDH group meeting with a new set of skills,” said Johnstone and Pottroff. “There should be something for anyone and everyone, from those who wish to integrate digital technologies into the classroom to those who want to find new methods of publishing or visualizing their research online.”

For more information, visit the group’s Facebook, WordPress, and Twitter pages.