Comments on: Eliminating the Power Cord http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/ Covering the intersection of digital technology and research, teaching, and learning in the humanities, including search, data mining, website development and design, and programming. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:00:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: UCL DH Centre Talk « triproftri http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-6646 UCL DH Centre Talk « triproftri Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:50:58 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-6646 [...] Dan. “Eliminating the Power Cord,” UVA Shape of Things to Come [...] [...] Dan. “Eliminating the Power Cord,” UVA Shape of Things to Come [...]

]]> By: Revising the Scholarly Edition in the Digital Age (again) « triproftri http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-6485 Revising the Scholarly Edition in the Digital Age (again) « triproftri Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:53:57 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-6485 [...] Dan. “Eliminating the Power Cord,” UVA Shape of Things to Come [...] [...] Dan. “Eliminating the Power Cord,” UVA Shape of Things to Come [...]

]]> By: Matt Cohen http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4933 Matt Cohen Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:47:46 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4933 I enjoyed this thoughtful reflection on the problem of the openness of digital archive projects. I would extend John Muccigrosso's caveat about the proprietary tendencies of papyrologists to molecular biologists, who are exceedingly confident in their discipline, yet exceedingly picky about whom they share their data with--and when, and in what form. It seems to me that the social and technical conditions of the discipline do matter, as the Cohen-Chandler thesis suggests, but that the publishing protocols and the marketability of data as a commodity are also important factors. I enjoyed this thoughtful reflection on the problem of the openness of digital archive projects.

I would extend John Muccigrosso’s caveat about the proprietary tendencies of papyrologists to molecular biologists, who are exceedingly confident in their discipline, yet exceedingly picky about whom they share their data with–and when, and in what form. It seems to me that the social and technical conditions of the discipline do matter, as the Cohen-Chandler thesis suggests, but that the publishing protocols and the marketability of data as a commodity are also important factors.

]]> By: John Muccigrosso http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4903 John Muccigrosso Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:45:30 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4903 I don't quite see what Raskin's ideas about computer design have to do with open data. It's the "getting at" the raw data that requires the appliance in the first place. And rather contrary to this view, papyrologists were in fact extremely proprietary about their data and did not readily share, say, high-resolution photos of papyri to people who were not scholars. That has all changed within the past 15 years. It's not that the field got mature in that time, but that there was a lot of learning that went on, and a new generation of scholars came of age. I don’t quite see what Raskin’s ideas about computer design have to do with open data. It’s the “getting at” the raw data that requires the appliance in the first place.

And rather contrary to this view, papyrologists were in fact extremely proprietary about their data and did not readily share, say, high-resolution photos of papyri to people who were not scholars. That has all changed within the past 15 years. It’s not that the field got mature in that time, but that there was a lot of learning that went on, and a new generation of scholars came of age.

]]> By: Shane Landrum http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4902 Shane Landrum Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:23:11 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4902 Dan, thanks for this. The Cohen-Chandler thesis (if I may call it that), that mature disciplines are more comfortable exposing their raw material, intrigues me and seems accurate on a first glance. I'd like to see metadata-rich data sets and source materials become more common as forms of online scholarship, and I think the Internet Archive furnishes one model. Archive.org practices 3 phases of access: 1) bulk upload of materials (just get it online), 2) basic cataloging (make it findable) 3) OCR, user-contributed annotation, etc. Easy enough for print and media materials, and it's exactly the kind of raw-sources access you're describing (I think.) If I upload a historical primary source to archive.org, I'll get credit for that via my user id attached to the record; but archive.org (perhaps rightly) doesn't attach my name to every PDF of that item that they distribute. In traditional print or in online media, my name gets attached to a primary-source collection ("data set") only when I do the work of scholarly editing: transcribing, contextualizing, annotating, and (for print) selecting are some typical forms that that labor would take. We know what "scholarly editing" looks like in print forms. What do you think it looks like for historians? What tools do historians need to know in order to be the <i>producers</i> of digital data sets? (Other than the basics of <a href="http://www.opendatacommons.org/" rel="nofollow">open data licenses</a>, which would help maintain attribution for our labor.) Dan, thanks for this. The Cohen-Chandler thesis (if I may call it that), that mature disciplines are more comfortable exposing their raw material, intrigues me and seems accurate on a first glance.

I’d like to see metadata-rich data sets and source materials become more common as forms of online scholarship, and I think the Internet Archive furnishes one model. Archive.org practices 3 phases of access: 1) bulk upload of materials (just get it online), 2) basic cataloging (make it findable) 3) OCR, user-contributed annotation, etc. Easy enough for print and media materials, and it’s exactly the kind of raw-sources access you’re describing (I think.)

If I upload a historical primary source to archive.org, I’ll get credit for that via my user id attached to the record; but archive.org (perhaps rightly) doesn’t attach my name to every PDF of that item that they distribute.

In traditional print or in online media, my name gets attached to a primary-source collection (“data set”) only when I do the work of scholarly editing: transcribing, contextualizing, annotating, and (for print) selecting are some typical forms that that labor would take.

We know what “scholarly editing” looks like in print forms. What do you think it looks like for historians? What tools do historians need to know in order to be the producers of digital data sets? (Other than the basics of open data licenses, which would help maintain attribution for our labor.)

]]> By: Papyrology shows the way: according to Dan Cohen « Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4901 Papyrology shows the way: according to Dan Cohen « Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:55:23 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4901 [...] look like, what should they do? That’s the  question posed by Dan Cohen’s recent post, Eliminating the Power Cord . It’s all down to how secure we feel in what we’re doing. And interestingly, [...] [...] look like, what should they do? That’s the  question posed by Dan Cohen’s recent post, Eliminating the Power Cord . It’s all down to how secure we feel in what we’re doing. And interestingly, [...]

]]> By: edwired » Blog Archive » Digital Campus, the iPad, and the NEH http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4879 edwired » Blog Archive » Digital Campus, the iPad, and the NEH Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:35:24 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4879 [...] recently. And Dan gave us all an update on the Shape of Things to Come conference [Be sure to read this commentary on the meeting.]. For reasons I am less clear on, Twitter seemed to be an important part of the [...] [...] recently. And Dan gave us all an update on the Shape of Things to Come conference [Be sure to read this commentary on the meeting.]. For reasons I am less clear on, Twitter seemed to be an important part of the [...]

]]> By: Hive Talkin' http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4858 Hive Talkin' Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:50:46 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4858 <strong>The Shape of Things to Come...</strong> The title of this post is taken from a Mellon-sponsored conference held last week at the University of Virginia. The stated goal of the conference was to explore how to develop and sustain online humanities research and publication. I’m stealing ... The Shape of Things to Come…

The title of this post is taken from a Mellon-sponsored conference held last week at the University of Virginia. The stated goal of the conference was to explore how to develop and sustain online humanities research and publication. I’m stealing …

]]> By: Daniel Chamberlain http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4855 Daniel Chamberlain Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:26:25 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4855 I think this is another one of those both/and situations. Yes, we should find ways to value DH projects that result not just in a snazzy interface, but also in persistant repositories of well-described data. At the same time, compelling interfaces will still be helpful in sharing and publicizing the research in the first place. . I think this is another one of those both/and situations. Yes, we should find ways to value DH projects that result not just in a snazzy interface, but also in persistant repositories of well-described data. At the same time, compelling interfaces will still be helpful in sharing and publicizing the research in the first place. .

]]> By: Cameron Blevins http://www.dancohen.org/2010/03/28/eliminating-the-power-cord/comment-page-1/#comment-4838 Cameron Blevins Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:01:10 +0000 http://www.dancohen.org/?p=863#comment-4838 The question of credit is a big one, as you note. We've got a long ways to go in developing a robust model for both disseminating and crediting the creation of humanistic data. There aren't that many DH scholars that would object to others using and remixing, for instance, the raw KML files they put hundreds and hundreds of hours into creating. But the incentive for doing so would be a lot higher if there was a clear way for them to receive some kind of clear and standardized recognition for creating that data (beyond a couple words in an acknowledgment footnote, or the digital equivalent). The question of credit is a big one, as you note. We’ve got a long ways to go in developing a robust model for both disseminating and crediting the creation of humanistic data. There aren’t that many DH scholars that would object to others using and remixing, for instance, the raw KML files they put hundreds and hundreds of hours into creating. But the incentive for doing so would be a lot higher if there was a clear way for them to receive some kind of clear and standardized recognition for creating that data (beyond a couple words in an acknowledgment footnote, or the digital equivalent).

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