Could we design a project to use a (hypothetical) special collection of menus or cookbooks to find evidence of social change? Did restaurants change their menus after integration? How and when did various ethnic flavors and ingredients enter our experience? Is there a way to trace a culture’s understanding of ingredients and their cultural heritage? What is the relation of fusion cuisine to cultural authenticity? Could it be visualized? What other questions might we ask of such a collection and how would we display the findings on the web?

[Proposed by Nell Chenault.] It is a challenge to gather together publications, research, and information about the “New South”. Can a tool be developed to assist with this research issue? A portal or widget which focuses on many of the themes?

I’m planning a new version of an existing class that will focus on helping students understand and build their own digital identities (while learning about writing, oral presentations, argument, etc.). I have some ideas, but I want MORE. I’d love to talk with anyone teaching freshmen, in particular, but anyone working with undergrads to help them understand the best way to construct their online identity would be great. I’m especially interested in concerns about privacy, professionalism, and ways to talk to students about lifelong interaction with their new constructed digital selves–and, of course, new assignment ideas. See y’all soon!

I’d like to have a session about telling stories digitally, using whatever tools, on whichever platforms. Depending on our interest, this could be show-and-tell about interesting stories you’ve seen or created, brief walkthroughs of tools you’ve used, ideas about best practices, etc. Not thinking of a full-on intro to Digital Storytelling, like Bud Deihl’s workshop Friday, though maybe those of us who attend it can use some of what we learn there as a springboard for discussion & ideas.

Alternatively, if we want to run a Make-type session, we could try to create a story told collaboratively across many platforms, to give us all a hand at trying new tools. In this kind of scenario, perhaps we could all resolve to try a new (to us) platform for storytelling, but offer to act as resources for each other — e.g. I don’t have an Instagram account, so maybe I could try to tell part of our story on there and learn something about it, while answering questions about, e.g., WordPress. Not necessarily thinking of a complete/coherent narrative here; it could be finding new ways to present different aspects of a fictional project (Newspapers to Prisoners; Enslaved Geographies; etc.).

I like fiction and telling stories, but the practical takeaways I see for participants would be:

• Exposure to new tools
• Ideas about pitfalls & virtues of different kinds of storytelling
• Examples of online engagement/storytelling that might inspire you to try new things with promoting/discussing your project
• (Perhaps) experience using a new-to-you storytelling tool

I’m a tech-savvy but non-coding librarian and filmmaker and I’d like to learn more about creating mobile apps or other transmedia tools for engaging audiences after/before/during the life of a documentary project. Any others interested in this topic?

I’m currently working on a new documentary and could propose an app idea for this film that we could try to hack together in a MAKE session if there’s interest… Alternately, are any of you willing to lead a TEACH session on some mobile app creation or transmedia tools?

I’m really interested in exploring ways in which the 3D printing revolution might make its way into fields that aren’t really about material culture.  It’s somewhat obvious how archaeologists might use 3D printing, or engineers or product developers or model-makers.

But a lot of what we all do here–whether we’re historians or activists or poets or community builders–is based in words and text.  I’d love to kick around ideas with folks interested in imagining what our world will look like when everybody has easy access to 3D printers.  We’re almost there already.

I have a suspicion 3D printing will have a significant role in how we come to communicate ideas to others.  But will it affect the questions we ask in the first place? Thoughts on this are very welcome!