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Ashley Sanders is a doctoral candidate in the department of history at Michigan State University. You can follow her on twitter at @throughthe_veil or on her blog, Colonialism Through the Veil.
If you’re new to the scholarly digital environment, including the digital humanities or if you’re just looking for a way to clean out your RSS or Twitter feed, you may be wondering which blogs, people, and organizations to follow. I’ve compiled a few suggestions for some of the most helpful blogs and people to follow in higher education, teaching, the digital humanities (DH), the Alternative Academic (AltAc) movement, and where to go to find additional resources. *Please note that this list is suggestive and not meant to be exhaustive.
Higher Ed: (Beyond The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and Profhacker – all of which you should check out if you’re not already following them!)
- Wired Campus: This Chronicle of Higher Ed affiliated blog offers “the latest news on tech and education.” For those who want up to the minute daily news on these two topics, this is a great blog to follow, but for those already feeling inundated by content, Hack Education may prove a better choice, or consider following the headlines on Twitter: @wiredcampus.
- BlogHigherEd: This is actually a network of blogs focused on higher education that repost relevant stories pulled in daily from some of the best blogs on the subject. It’s a one-stop shop for the top headlines around the blogosphere. Follow on Twitter: @BlogHigherEd
Teaching: There are so many excellent blogs focused on teaching, so the following two suggestions are for Twitter accounts that focus on using digital tools in teaching.
- @HybridPed: This is the Twitter account linked to Hybrid Pedagogy, a digital journal “at the intersection between critical and digital pedagogy” that focuses on using technology to improve learning and teaching.
- @readywriting: Dr. Lee Skallerup is an English/Writing instructor and tweets about higher ed, pedagogy, and the use of technology and social media in teaching. Also check out her IHE affiliated blog, College Ready Writing, which expands on her tweet topics.
Digital Humanities: The very definition of DH is highly contested, but in its broadest sense, it is the intersection between computing technologies and the humanities that allows scholars to develop new pedagogical and research methodologies, to ask new questions, and answer them in new ways. It fosters communication and collaboration and allows scholars to share their research findings more broadly in more meaningful ways. (If interested in the numerous ways scholars interpret “DH,” see this year’s definitions on the Day of DH blog.)
- Journal of Digital Humanities: Extends the coverage of digital humanities topics by publishing peer-reviewed articles, bringing together content from relevant and timely public online discussions, and featuring the best new tools available to digital humanists.
- Digital Humanities Resource Guide: “The Future of the Past is Now!” Created by scholars at The Junto, which is a group blog on early American history, this list is broken down into the following categories: News & Reviews (includes job listings, workshops, and grants); DH @ Work, which includes links to DH labs, regional consortia, and info on digital pedagogy; and a Digital Toolbox.
- Issues in Digital History: Professor Michael J. Kramer addresses course development, utilizing digital tools, questions about copyright, DH, and digitizing sources, and he presents summaries of important conference talks.
#AltAc (Alternative Academic): This term, and its shorthand version, were formulated in a 2009 Twitter conversation between Bethany Nowviskie and Jason Rhody and refers to non-professorial careers in and related to the academy.
- #Alt-Academy, a site created and edited by Nowviskie, is designed to create a humanities AltAc community and facilitate conversations about the alternative academic movement.
- Versatile PhD : Provides support for PhDs to transition out of academia through tweeting about different ways to find and obtain jobs. For non-humanists, Sarah Boon’s blog post “X is for Exciting” offers some good questions to ponder as you decide which career path is the best fit for you.
- @Beyond_Grad: Author Teresa Crew is a PhD candidate at Bangor University and engages scholars in conversations about where PhDs go after graduation, which is also her dissertation topic. For more information on her study and findings, see her Beyond_Graduation Blog.
Additional Resources:
- @HASTAC: A group of scholars in the humanities, arts, sciences, and technology who examine the possibilities new technologies present for the way we teach and learn. Its goals expand beyond teaching, but it is a perfect space to share ideas and collaborate with others who have the same goals you do. Also see their website for more information on the consortium and how to participate.
- "101 Twitter Accounts Every PhD Should Follow"
- Twitter for Academics: Resources
One important caveat to all of these suggestions: Pare down as much as possible. If you're like me, you may become overwhelmed with the mountains of advice offered, especially about grad school and what you "should" be doing. Focus on what is most important to help you accomplish your goals and cut out that which paralyzes you with “shoulds.”
Share your suggestions for blogs, hashtags, and people to follow in the comments section.
[Picture by Paula M Wolter from WikiMedia Commons. Used under Creative Commons License]
