The Event Hall in Morgan Library has an installation of Google Liquid Galaxy, which is essentially a wall-size display of Google Earth. During this session, you can explore the world, and some interesting data layers, in this immersive setting. For those who are interested, you can try your hand at “flying” yourself and/or learn to make new data to overlays to use in your personal projects.

While virtual worlds have been around for some time, the persistent, 3-D online versions became especially realistic and popular in the mid-2000s.  Many universities created virtual-world campuses and offered courses on those campuses.  Since roughly 2009, enthusiasm for virtual worlds in education has declined (a la the Gartner Hype Cycle); but increasingly accessible VR technologies and new virtual-world platforms may be leading to a renaissance.  The purpose of this talk is briefly to examine the nature of virtual worlds, focusing on Second Life, to describe how they have been used by educators in the past, and to speculate on what the future may hold.  This presentation is informal, based on twelve years of personal and professional experience.  Discussion is encouraged. 

In this proposal, I want to explore free digital tools that we can use in the classrooms (schools, undergraduate, graduate). We all know examples, so I think of this possible session as a way for all of us to interact. The idea is for all of us to take 5 minutes to present one free tool and to explain how we have used it, how we have evaluated the work of students. I can present 3 tools. The Clio, a mapping system, that I have used to make my student work on the history of beer and prohibition in Fort Collins. I can also present Poll Everywhere, a free alternative to I-Clicker. If interested, I can present omeka (assets and limits) to create virtual exhibit.

• THATCamp stands for “The Humanities and Technology Camp.” Check the “About” page for more details. A THATCamp is an unconventional conference (unconference)—an open, inexpensive meeting that draws together humanists and technologists of a range of skill levels and areas of expertise to learn and build together in sessions that are organized on the spot on the day of the program. Everyone is a collaborator at THATCamp and participates in collaboratively setting the agenda for the day. THATCamp is informal, spontaneous, and inexpensive compared with traditional conferences. For THATCamp Colorado, we hope to offer free registration to students, and nominal registration fees for faculty, staff, K-12 educators and community members.

• THATCamp and the Public Lands History Center (PLHC)

THATCamp is an ideal fit with the PLHC’s core values—technological tools, like public lands, are accessible, powerful platforms that tell the public important stories about themselves and their history in compelling ways.  THATCamp Colorado will take place November 3, 2018 on Colorado State University’s campus, and will highlight three major themes: Environment, Space, and the Digital Humanities. For the PLHC, THATCamp is not just a way to share our own experiences applying digital tools to telling the histories of public lands; it is also an opportunity to collaborate with others both on and beyond CSU’s campus to learn more about technological tools and to think creatively and critically about how we should engage with them in the humanities.

The Public Lands History Center and the History Department at Colorado State University organize a THATCamp in Fort Collins on Saturday November 3. More information is coming soon.

The details will be published here when known. Meanwhile, read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org. For questions about the event, contact Dr. Thomas Cauvin