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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · 13d

What’s medieval armor doing in a #DigitalHumanities class? Opening up questions about the role of surrogate sources! We often talk about the affordances of digital surrogates: gains like access and linked data, as well as limits like the inability to convey material, multisensory knowledge.

A student looks toward the camera smiling, wearing leather and metal armor on his arm and hand. Behind him, the screen displays two manuscripts with references to 14th century Genoese coyracies (or cuirasses).

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · 25d

Take a listen to @hrambsy.bsky.social’s interview about the Black Lit Network on @stlpublicradio.bsky.social! From the barbershop to the classroom, it’s a project deeply rooted in a genuinely public humanities. When you’re done, visit www.blacklitnetwork.org and try it out! #DigitalHumanities

How book recommendations at a barbershop led to an online network to find Black literature : St. Louis on the Air

Inspired by barbershop chats and a brotherly contest over hip-hop facts, the Black Lit Network is a digital resource designed to make African American literature more widely accessible. Southern Illin...

www.npr.org

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Aug 6

Check out these ideas for critical approaches to AI in humanities classrooms! #DigitalHumanities

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Aug 6

Hey historians and digital humanists, in light of the AHA’s AIgate, here are a few ways I approach AI in the classroom. Feel free to add your own! These are in the context of digital humanities courses deeply rooted in history, literature, and tech/data ethics.
#DigitalHumanities #AHA #Skystorians 🗃️

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jul 30

Just a day in the life of a digital humanities center
#DigitalHumanities #DHBreaks

A screenshot from an email. It reads:

"Hey Meg,

This is ready for you to break:"

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 30

You know what regalia needs? Pockets. IRIS can help, and in return, you can help IRIS!

Learn to add them yourself or have us do it for you for a suggested donation of $25.

Sign up at iris.siue.edu/pockets. Space is limited!

#DHMakes

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 29

Congratulations to @hrambsy.bsky.social and his collaborators on the award of a new grant to support the Black Lit Network! The Black Lit Network uses data viz and digital storytelling to provide new entry points into the study of African American literature. bit.ly/bln-mellon #DigitalHumanities

SIUE Awarded $1.6M Grant from Mellon Foundation to Support Public Knowledge Digital Project on African American Literary Studies, Jointly Headed by SIUE’s Dr. Howard Rambsy

bit.ly

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 25

Ope, it’s syllabus season. Join us for an in-person workshop on how to incorporate meaningful digital assignments and activities into your course, in ways that both enhance students’ engagement with the course content and encourage them to think critically about technology. #DigitalHumanities

A flyer for a workshop, “Crafting a Digital Humanities Assignment,” which will take place in the IRIS Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on July 30 from 11:00-12:00. The flyer features cartoonish images of a laptop, megaphone, magnifying glass, and other objects.

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jul 14

I’m super excited for this one! It combines some of my favorite things: minimal computing, critical data studies, spatial justice, and free and approachable DH pedagogy. If you can’t make this one, keep an eye out for future events! #DigitalHumanities

IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 14

This Wednesday, join us at the Wedge in Alton to chat about data representation, learn some spreadsheet and mapping technologies, and share your experiences of the Metro East as a cultural center. Free and no experience needed!

July 16, 3:00-4:30

#DigitalHumanities #STL #StLouis #MetroEast

The SIU System Office of Community Engagement

Putting Ourselves on the Map: Data, Bias, and the Stories We Tell

Learn how everyday tools like maps and spreadsheets shape public memory-and take part in telling your own story

The Wedge
620 E Broadway, Alton, IL
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Free and Open to the Public

The July Community Collaboration Lab, co-hosted with the SIUE IRIS Center, will explore how data shapes what we see, who gets represented, and how communities like the Metro East are too often left out of digital spaces. Dr. Meg Smith, Interim Director of the IRIS Center, will lead participants through real-world examples of data bias and introduce digital storytelling as a powerful tool for reclaiming narrative control. As part of the session, attendees will contribute their own stories and insights to a collaborative community map that highlights the Metro East as a vibrant cultural space. The map will remain open for future Lab participants to build on, creating an evolving record of local knowledge, identity, and place.

For more Information, contact Dr. Connie Frey-Spurlock at connie.freyspurlock@slu.edu
https://siusystem.edu/community-engagement/

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 14

Register for the workshop here:

The Wedge + SIUE Community Collaboration Lab: Data and Storytelling

Come join us at The Wedge + SIUE Community Collaboration Lab in Alton to explore how data can help shape storytelling and digital equity!

www.eventbrite.com

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jul 14

This Wednesday, join us at the Wedge in Alton to chat about data representation, learn some spreadsheet and mapping technologies, and share your experiences of the Metro East as a cultural center. Free and no experience needed!

July 16, 3:00-4:30

#DigitalHumanities #STL #StLouis #MetroEast

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dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jul 9

Today's AI Fictions Reading Group discussed @mdoriarussell.bsky.social's The Sparrow. It might seem like an unusual choice since AI quickly recedes to the background, but its extractive, venture capitalist vision of AI ca 2019 is an apt indictment of our present moment. #DigitalHumanities

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jun 27

A summer day in IRIS looks like...
💻web development
💡 teaching consultations
🧮building tools for assessment
🗺️map-making
☀️surviving the St. Louis heat (barely)

#DigitalHumanities

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jun 27

I made a map for tracking how much of the city I've visited by various modes. I'll keep adding datasets over time, but for now it contains city parks and bus routes. If you also like to track things, feel free to fork and reuse!
msmith0913.github.io/stl-sandbox/
#stl #StLouis #DigitalHumanities

St. Louis Sandbox

msmith0913.github.io

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jun 17

Even if we were to achieve the pipe dream of universal digitization, you cannot account for archival silences without building human relationships grounded in mutual trust, care, and a commitment to repair.

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jun 17

I finally read that awful NYT AI history piece, and I will add one note to The Discourse. As many have noted, LLMs are limited to what’s been digitized, a tiny fraction of what’s in the archives. But especially egregious: the book being written in that piece is an indigenous history.

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dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · Jun 13

Hey Metro East! Come chat about data representation, learn some spreadsheet and mapping technologies, and share your experiences of the Metro East as a cultural center. Join us at the Wedge in Alton on July 16. Free and no experience needed! #DigitalHumanities #STL #StLouis #MetroEast

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr. Amanda Wyatt Visconti @literaturegeek.bsky.social · Jun 13

From @megsmith.bsky.social #ach2025: “Infrastructure is something we owe to one another”. On NEH ODH's support for researching, amplifying norm+good of DH failure. Post-NEH ODH 💔: can infrastructure for DH be mutual aid? What might it look like fully untethered from federal funding? +

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pam lach @plach.bsky.social · Jun 13

@megsmith.bsky.social reminds us that infrastructure is a mutual obligation and a mutual aid #ACH2025

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

Quinn Dombrowski @quinnanya.me · Jun 13

Love love love a good failure talk, props to @megsmith.bsky.social for going there. #ACH2025

Meg Smith and slide "Infrastructure as mutual obligation and mutual aid, or... What do we do with failures of infrastructure?"

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jun 4

Next time, we’ll be discussing Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun. Want to join us? Head over to iris.siue.edu/ai-fictions for all the details and to sign up.

AI Fictions Reading Group (Summer 2025)

How do we conceptualize our relationship to technology and each other? What do we owe to one another in the evolving technological landscape? Join us this summer for a “reading” group, where we’ll …

iris.siue.edu

IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Jun 4

What a great first meeting! Our conversations about Mrs. Davis took us from the Duolingo owl (and its heavy-handed manipulation tactics) to pedagogies of process, with lots of stops in between. Thanks to everyone who shared their expertise, experiences, and reactions to the show!

#DigitalHumanities

IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Apr 23

Summer feels both around the corner and eons away, but we're already planning. Check out our new AI Fictions Reading Group! We'll use AI fiction -- tv, novels, short stories -- as a tool for exploring and developing AI ethics. More details: iris.siue.edu/ai-fictions/
#DigitalHumanities #CriticalAI

Flyer for an AI Fictions Reading Group, summer 2025, hosted by the IRIS Center
How do we define our relationship to technology and each other? What do we owe to one another in the evolving technological landscape?

In this “reading” group, we’ll explore AI ethics through AI fictions: books, short stories, and television that explore the possibilities and limits of AI.

More details: https://iris.siue.edu/ai-fictions

Schedule:
June 4, 2:00-3:30: Mrs. Davis (tv show)
June 19, 2:00-3:30: Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (novel)
July 9, 2:00-3:30: Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow (novel)
July 23, 2:00-3:30: Annalee Newitz, "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" and Cat Rambo, "Red in Tooth and Cog" (short stories + podcast)

Questions? Contact Dr. Meg Smith at margars@siue.edu

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dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · May 27

Hey #DigitalHumanities and #AmLit folks! @recoveryhubaww.bsky.social is offering free summer workshops to support DH projects that center the work of (global) American (trans-/queer-inclusive) women writers. If that sounds like you, register here! recoveryhub.siue.edu/2025/05/14/s...

Recovery Hub for American Women Writers @recoveryhubaww.bsky.social · May 26

This Wed., May 28 at 12 noon Central, join us for our first Tech Hour, "Getting Started with Digital Humanities." This free Zoom session will explore early steps for beginning a digital humanities project. Register and get the Zoom link: recoveryhub.siue.edu/2025/05/14/s... #academicsky

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · May 27

Next week is the first meeting of our AI Fictions Reading Group! We’re kicking things off not with a book but with a show: Mrs. Davis. If you’d like to join us, please sign up at the link below. #DigitalHumanities #TechEthics

IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · Apr 23

Summer feels both around the corner and eons away, but we're already planning. Check out our new AI Fictions Reading Group! We'll use AI fiction -- tv, novels, short stories -- as a tool for exploring and developing AI ethics. More details: iris.siue.edu/ai-fictions/
#DigitalHumanities #CriticalAI

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Reposted by IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · May 21

I’m laid up sick instead of helping with tornado clean-up, so here’s my small contribution:
Monday’s storms dumped a ton of rain on already damaged houses, and one of the casualties will be family photos and documents. If you’ve got damaged (modern!) photos, here are a few immediate triage steps.

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IRIS Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences @siueiris.bsky.social · May 12

Check out this post from Dr. Meg Smith about how traditional media and digital storytelling can combine to advocate for better public transit! #DigitalHumanities isn’t just for the classroom — it’s for being active and engaged members of our communities.

dr. meg smith @megsmith.bsky.social · May 12

More good reporting on Metro’s disastrous fare gate implementation! I appreciate my 2-2.5 hour commute making it in there, because it’s such a good example of how bad policy in one transit district has cascading impacts across all the others. #transit #stl

www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...

MetroLink’s new gates don’t yet work. ‘Worse than useless,’ rider says

The new MetroLink fare system that will automatically open gates when customers present their tickets won’t be online until early next year.

www.stltoday.com

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