historian to hacker in 48 hours: what can humanists offer at govhack and what can they learn?
DESCRIPTION
The past few years have seen a surge in government sanctioned civic hacking events, including the ‘National Day of Hacking’ in the USA, ‘National Hack the Government Day’ in the UK and ‘GovHack’ in Australia. Propelled by a growing Open Data movement, these kinds of events attract problem solvers with a social conscience, with the aim of creating web applications that release the social value of government datasets. Yet, the vast majority of participants are developers, designers and entrepreneurs. Drawing from my experience at GovHack, I shall argue that humanists can make important contributions to civic hacking events as storytellers and strategists, ensuring concepts and executions are grounded in real life research problems. Further to this, collaboration with industry brings design and usability to the forefront and provides an opportunity for historians to engage with the commercial logics that drive the competitive world of online start-ups. For researchers new to digital humanities, these outcome-driven events offer a potential gateway into the field, providing opportunities to gain practical experience and establish networks with like-minded practitioners and organisations outside the academy. Digital Humanist, Alan Liu has argued that researchers in the humanities need to work harder to engage with public audiences and articulate the value of what tTRANSCRIPT
Historian to hacker in 48 hrs. What humanists have to offer at civic hacking events and what they can learn.
Jo Hawkins | University of Western Australia www.historypunk.com | @history_punk
What can humanists offer? Research driven outcomes. What can humanists learn? User-focused outcomes.
Research driven outcomes.
What can humanists offer?
Translator
Communicator
User-focused outcomes.
What can humanists learn?
UX/UI User experience User interface
Source: Jodie Moule, Killer UX Design, 2012 <http://www.sitepoint.com/store/killer-ux-design/>.
RESEARCH INSIGHT CONCEPT DESIGN
RESEARCH INSIGHT CONCEPT DESIGN
RESEARCH INSIGHT CONCEPT DESIGN
Digital humanists don’t need to know how to code. But they do need to know about UX/UI.
GovHack is happening around Australia 11-13 July 2014.