Not exactly reassuring, is it? The Director of the DH@Oxford Summer School has never actually been to one. But thanks to our old friend Covid-19, that's the situation I find myself in – I've run the Summer School online for two years but not yet had the full experience of being in person at Keble College.
After joining the Digital Humanities community at Oxford in autumn 2019, my plan was to sit back and enjoy the Summer School as a spectator. But 2020 saw the Summer School team pivot to digital, just like everyone else. There was no choice for me but to roll up my sleeves and dive right into helping to organise our first-ever online-only event.
Fast forward to 2022 and we've done two fully online Summer Schools, both great events. But after a site visit to Keble College last week, and chats with all our summer school convenors, I can’t wait for my first full DHOxSS experience this 11-15 July. Here’s why:
- It’s at a gorgeous Oxford college: I’ll get to hang out with attendees, convenors and lecturers all week, fully immersed not just in the Victorian grandeur of Keble College, but also the social side of DH conversations and ideas.
- There 9 different strands you can join: From Introduction to Digital Humanities for the newbies, to Applied Data Analysis for the Python-heads. Sadly, I won't get to take part in all of them as I’ll be leading the Intro strand with Summer School veteran Professor Dave De Roure.
- There’ll be some awesome keynotes: Looking back at recent research and looking forward to new possibilities (watch this space for our keynote announcements)
- There’ll be a party: I didn’t realise how much I missed work parties, chatting to a whole load of people with a canape in hand, until I couldn’t do it. The Summer School party is also a chance to host a poster competition, so you can showcase your research to the DH great and good in the wonderful surroundings of the Oxford Natural History Museum.
- I’ll get to meet a new bunch of digital humanists: One thing I don’t get as an organiser from our online Summer Schools is to get to know the attendees, their research, and hear their ideas. I’m looking forward to talking with individuals and not just ‘at’ names on my screen this year.
- The Summer School is a place for a lot of Oxford researchers to get together and share their latest research: So I know I’ll discover projects and people I didn’t know about, and build new connections within the DH community
Finally, the Summer School is about you learning new things, but it will also be about me learning too. I’ll hear talks and take part in workshops by our excellent speakers, hear inspiring keynotes and meet a new batch of digital humanists. By the end of the week my brain will be fizzing with new ideas – the challenge will be not committing to a thousand new projects!
Sign up to our mailing list to be notified as soon as 2022 booking opens. See you this summer – in Oxford!
