Media artist sam smiley will be screening recent works that use archival images to tell alternative stories through video art. She will talk about tools and techniques, will show portions of her work, and will facilitate an open discussion to follow.

Open discussion: How can video artists and historians enact historical documents in a way that is accessible and meaningful without being literal?

The Films:

The Queen of Kudzu; 10 minutes

Produced by AstroDime Transit Authority and sam smiley

This video uses primary source documents, historical artifacts, interviews, and experimental video and audio to tell the story of C.E. and Lillie Pleas, who introduced Kudzu to the continental Americas in the early 1900’s. This video sheds some light on Kudzu’s amazing growth and use in the United States, prior to its being considered an “Invasive Species”. It is narrated by C.E. Pleas’ great great grandniece, Betty Pleas Taylor, and her husband John Taylor and produced by sam smiley with assistance from Lisa Gordon and AstroDime Transit Authority.
(FEEL FREE TO PREVIEW)
vimeo.com/83998526

Also loop screening: Imagining John: The Vision of a Tailor-Philanthropist
Produced by Denise Doherty Pappas; Direction, Editing and Sound Design by sam smiley
Based on the book John Simmons: The Measure of a Man by Denise Doherty Pappas. Portions shot on location at the LIttle Compton Historical Society and Brickbottom Artists’ Association Gallery.

THATCamp SHOT 2014 is just over two months away and we are now ready for registration.

THATCamp, The Humanities And Technology Camp, is a free, open, interdisciplinary “unconference” where humanists and technologists meet to work together for the common good. As historians of technology, we study the making and transformation over time, but the SHOT conferences have rarely functioned as an arena for discussing how we can make better use of technology in our own teaching and research. In this first THATCamp SHOT, we aim to change this by bringing together historians of technology, museum professionals, students, teachers, librarians, technologists, and others to explore new approaches to history of technology in an open, welcoming, and non-hierarchical manner.

If this sounds interesting, but you don’t know exactly what a THATCamp is and how it works, do not despair! You can find a full guide here and here.  We welcome all people regardless of technology skills, as long as you are interested in sharing, creating, and learning together.

This THATCamp is held in conjunction with the Society for the History of Technology annual meeting, but is not limited to conference participants. The THATCamp will take place at the Greenfield Village Pavillion, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Thursday November 6. Note that several of the conference excursions are on the same day.

We have room for 60 participants, so make sure you sign up early to get a spot – we expect to fill all of them! We’ll charge a low participation fee of $10 (collected at the door) to cover some of the expenses of arranging the THATCamp.  To register, go to this page and fill in an application.

The Henry Ford is generously sponsoring the THATCamp with our venue, AV equipment, coffee/tea, and a free lunch.

For more information, follow @THATCampSHOT on Twitter.

While we hope that many SHOT conference participants will come to the THATCamp, many more will not. In order to share some of what we will do at the THATCamp, Finn Arne Jørgensen proposed an untraditional session for this year’s conference, titled “This is not a roundtable: THATCamp SHOT and the place of technology in history of technology.” To our great pleasure, this “un-roundtable” was accepted and will take place in the first time slot, 8:30-10:00 AM on Friday 7 November. The intention is for this session to be made in the same manner as a THATCamp – on the fly, based on who’s interested in participating and what they would like to share. This could be good! Or, it could be a total failure – rather exciting, isn’t it?

Here is the full proposal:
Immediately before the start of the 2014 SHOT meeting in Dearborn, The Henry Ford will host the first SHOT THATCamp. THATCamp is a so-called unconference, and stands for “The Humanities and Technology Camp.” As such, it is an open and inexpensive meeting where humanists and technologists of all skill levels learn and build together in sessions proposed on the spot. As the official THATCamp website states, “an unconference is to a conference what a seminar is to a lecture, what a party at your house is to a church wedding, what a pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee is to an NBA game, what a jam band is to a symphony orchestra: it’s more informal and more participatory.” The THATCamp has become a well-established format since the first event at George Mason University in 2008, with close to 200 camps arranged worldwide. We are excited about this opportunity to create a new meeting place for SHOT where historians of technology, museum professionals, students, teachers, librarians, technologists, and others can explore new approaches to history of technology in an open, welcoming, and non-hierarchical manner.

In the spirit of the unconference format, I am here proposing what can best be described as an un-roundtable to follow up the THATCamp experience at the SHOT meeting, with the intent of debriefing and sharing what we learnt with the rest of the conference participants. This clearly falls under the “unconventional session” format – I will not submit a list of participants, nor spell out exactly what we plan to talk about. This doesn’t mean that the session will take place in a complete vacuum. As the main THATCamp organizer, my aim is to integrate these two events. A concluding discussion session at the THATCamp will function as a bridge to the un-roundtable, where I will invite 3-5 THATCamp participants to contribute to the session. I aim to have a have a good gender balance in this group, as well as include both junior and senior scholars. I will serve as the moderator for the session, where we’ll aim for the same spontaneously generative setup as the THATCamp itself.

While I can’t spell out exactly what issues the session will deal with, I still expect us to address the following questions in one way or another:
-Have we as historians of technology succeeded in employing new technologies in our teaching and research? What are some good examples that we can learn from?
-How can we create open and welcoming arenas where we as historians of technology can learn from each other, disregarding traditional ideas of mentoring and seniority?

THATCamp SHOT is happening! We will meet at The Henry Ford on November 6, 2014, immediately before the start of the annual SHOT conference. A roundtable will connect the THATCamp to the regular conference. Watch this space for more information!

The logo above is a work in progress – please comment if you have suggestions and feedback!