Location: STELLA Lab, 13 University Gardens
Attending: Elina, Stuart, Allison, Steve, Martin, Moritz, Victoria, Pernille
Apologies: Katy, Lorna, Conor, Graeme, Kim
- Elina and Stuart introduced the group, including the reasons for starting the group, the links with Columbia University, and displayed the web site.
- The group will run every two weeks, on a Friday, between 15:00 and 17:00. Sessions would provide a space for collaborative work across the group, or for members to have a space and time to work on their own projects outside of their thesis/coursework.
- Sessions will also potentially include workshops to be run by group members to demonstrate skills/practices/tools and may also include guest speakers/demonstrators, depending on the needs/aims of the group going forward.
- Elina discussed her visit to Columbia University, New York, in May 2015 and their Experimental Methods in the Humanities group, including the collaborative links between the groups and a potential Skype call with Columbia to be set up once the Glasgow group is more established.
- Stuart discussed his forthcoming visit to Columbia in April 2016 and the potential collaborations between the groups/institutions this is aimed at encouraging.
- We discussed some of the key aims of the group, including finding projects with the potential for public engagement/impact and the possibility of applying for funding for group projects, such as the SGSAH Cohort Funding. Elina also explained that she has been in touch with Kenny Brophy, who runs the University’s PGR training course on public engagement, with regard to his speaking to the group about his experiences and in relation to making us aware of any public projects the group could contribute to.
- We discussed the possibility of opening the group up to other institutions, including the Glasgow School of Art and, hopefully, the University of Strathclyde.
- Elina demonstrated the web site, showing the current sections and explaining its construction via GitHub and Jekyll.
- We also discussed adding web pages to the site for Projects/Publishing and for About Members.
- Elina showed the GitHub guides section of the site and discussed the possibility of expanding the section/site to include a broader set of common resources.
- Elina and Stuart explained the purpose of documenting the process of setting up the group as providing transparency and visibility.
- Everyone introduced themselves and their research/roles at the University and what they hoped to get out of the group.
- We discussed the group Goals for February 2016 post on the web site.
- Re: the possible expansion of the site to include an About Members section, the group were happy with this idea.
- Re: the possibility of running a workshop to create your own landing page, the group were very keen to do so. Elina and Stuart will run a workshop on introducing GitHub and creating your own landing page at the next meeting on the 19th of February.
- Re: collecting useful resources in one place on the web site, the group believed this would be useful.
- Re: a more suitable room for future meetings, the group agreed. Stuart will book Room 205, 5 University Gardens for the next meeting. The group confirmed they all have laptops and are happy to work from these in the next meeting. Stuart will check the room for power sockets and Elina can provide extension cables, if necessary.
- Re: other institutions and the possibility for engagement, the group will continue to think about this and raise ideas as and when they arise.
- Re: documenting our progress as a group, we will use the web site for the time being and think about other avenues to possibly explore as we see fit. Stuart will also create a Twitter page for the group.
- Re: future workshops, Moritz stated that he would run an introduction to Python and his use of the language for the session on the 4th of March. Elina and Stuart also discussed the possibility of having people speak to the group about archives at Glasgow University Library (Kim Beasley) and the Mitchell Library (Michael Gallagher) in the future.
- Elina also mentioned the possibility of linking up with the Digital Meetup Group at the Glasgow once our group is more established.
- Mortiz introduced the concept of text mining/scraping to the group and discussed his interest in this area.
- Steve asked a question re: group funding – whether we would have to make funding applications as a whole group. We decided that this was not the case, and smaller sub-groups within the group could apply for funding on their own.
- The group broke off into smaller groups to discuss more specific aspects of their own interests and potential collaborations.
- The group went to the pub!