Around this time two years ago, I was gearing up with my good friend Ashley Williamson to give a presentation about teapots at Inquiry@Queen’s, an undergraduate research conference.

It's a manifesto for psychic automatism, duh. What, don't you get it?

This was my first foray into truly independent research, apart from any assignment or academic guidance. It was a real personal success. I discovered very interesting things about the implications of teapots for early 20th-century artists — but I also got a much more thorough knowledge of the workings of the Queen’s library system than I ever got researching a project for class. The conference got me interested in research for knowledge’s sake, and, I could argue, put me on a path towards working as a research assistant for Leslie and getting interested in the information sciences.

The ‘sixth annual’ I@Q conference is now fast approaching, and I’ve been thinking of topics to present. My interests as of late have been in the digital humanities, and my correspondences with research librarian Mary Claire Vandenburg and my supervisor Leslie Ritchie have each circled around the idea of getting a THATCamp organized at Queen’s.

What’s a THATCamp?

THATCamp stands for The Humanities and Technology Camp. It’s an informal, collaborative unconference for anyone interested in the humanities or in technology, looking to meet others interested in the humanities or in technology for skill-building and networking. THATCamps have been popping up all over the globe from Melbourne to Kansas, and it seems to be a growing phenomenon.

There’s a wealth of help out there for people like me to run a THATCamp: there are how-tos, forums, and available knowledgeable contacts, and lots of encouragement. As I’ve learned, although DH scholars come in many varieties, there is one thing they all seem to have in common: an enthusiastic desire to collaborate.

At Queen’s?

DH@QueensU isn’t really a thing yet, but with a bit of work and continued collaboration, I think the community has a lot of potential to grow. Mary Claire sent me a list of projects already on the go at Queen’s, including Dr. George Bevan’s Reflectance Transformation Imaging project in the Classics department and Mark Fortin’s Collaborative Canadian Literature Project. Queen’s grad Kevin Kee, now the Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing at Brock University, has developed a number of DH projects, many of which were started while he was here as a student.

Feel free to leave a comment below if you know of or are a part of any other projects, or if you would be interested in attending at THATCamp@QueensU.

I’ve recently joined twitter to get my toes wet in the DH community (@mayabielinski), and I’m keeping my eyes peeled. (Forgive the infrequency of tweets; I feel like I’m still feeling out the vibe!)