I have an active project underway that could benefit from a burst of great minds working together. Case method teaching (done at HKS, HBS, HLS) requires students to ‘prep for a case’ by close reading and reflection on a written case. Yet, at the core, a great case is about storytelling, in this case a story about the ethics of public officials who are navigating their response to a Supreme Court ruling. Can we turn a PDF text case into a more engaging digital format while retaining the complexity and nuance found in the words? We’re not replacing the words but building enhancements for them. We might look at the rough prototype I’ve started Creatavist.com (in beta), tear it apart, build it back up, think of ways to make it work with interactive timelines, images, video(?) and then publish it. We might think of how the digital format can be used to draw (not distract) from student focus, comprehension, self-direction…. Want to roll up sleeves and hack on the prototype with me?

AFTERNOON WORKSHOP

Amy Benson and Amanda Strauss will lead a session in which users hack the Library’s EAD-XML finding aids to design new, flexible, and dynamic ways to present and use research collection inventories and descriptions. Currently, the Library’s finding aids are presented as static text documents, but we think this data could be repurposed in new formats to allow reordering, filtering, annotation, and imaging to support new insights into archival materials.

The program will begin with a brief introduction to finding aids, the EAD XML schema, and existing repurposing options for the metadata. Participants will be provided with live Lib Guide pages to host and test results. Participants will be encouraged to explore ways to remix and re-imagine existing finding aid data into more flexible and dynamic research tools using technologies and systems commonly available to libraries.

Music is a multidimensional experience. How can we encode this experience into the web?

I am interested in music visualization and the development of music related software for research and pedagogy. This began with the creation of the Cyclochromatophone, a personal project and non-notational teaching tool for music by combining elements of proportion and synesthesia. Since then I have begun two new projects in music visualization: a jazz teaching tool collaboration with a faculty member in the Harvard Department of Music, and an interactive website called quoModo that will teach the musical modes.

I propose this session in an effort to discuss, brainstorm, or even code with other music enthusiasts who are interested in music visualization and software, and to gauge interest in the creation of a local music visualization/software developers group. I encourage anyone to join in the discussion regardless of technical skill level, and if there is enough interest I will cater the session around the interests of the group.