I like what Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost do with the Atari VCS in Racing the Beam, and following their lead, consider pinball platform studies. Concurrent to the first decade of videogames, hundreds of thousands of electronic pinball machines were created using a small number of discrete architectures. Pinball platforms like the Bally AS 2518-35 exemplify one such platform (search for Bally Electronic Pinball Games Theory of Operation to find an interesting 1982 technical document that introduces the platform; various websites exist that introduce the platform as well). What is it like? What affordances and constraints can be intuited from its design, and how do they play out in various games? How can the study of pinball platforms contribute to an overall awareness of computer technology, as well as their cultural and social milieu that is part of a recent past now forming the mythical foundation of the Internet age? What can we do with pinball as humanities scholars who also solder and write software?

Okay, the title must look like a horrible Hollywood-style “high concept” description of … well, something. Something awful, probably. Or something fun.

I hope the latter. Can we play with the core ideas of our disciplines in a way that is unavoidable, that forces students (or others we engage) to think about those core ideas? There are two concepts dancing around the edge of Digital Humanities that might help. On the one hand are the ideas Mills Kelly presents in his talk about disruptive pedagogy (see the notes taken at his session at THATCamp CHNM last year), where he argues that it is very useful to disrupt normal classroom discourse in ways that deliberately play with the sacred underpinnings of a discipline/field. Kelly has a number of interesting applications, not least of which is his historical hoax class that has become famous in the past few years (and gotten him a lifetime ban from Wikipedia).

The other useful concept I grab is the argument of Ian Bogost about the procedural rhetoric of games, the argument that a computer algorithm pushes players to encounter a certain form of reality that can persuade. This has become famous in game studies — see for example Gail Carmichael’s application of procedural rhetoric to analyzing the game Agricola. But it might help us play with the idea of procedural rhetoric more broadly, either as games used in the classroom to disrupt discourse or as the broader rhetorical consequences of classroom structure.

In any case, the session would have less yakking than this entry.

We are happy to see the registrations rolling in at an increasing pace. Soon it will be time for the more adventurous to begin posting their proposals for sessions for THATCamp Florida 2013. Honestly, it is never too early for session proposals so if any of you are ready to jump in please do so.

A quick note on our proceedings for THATCamp: as an unconference the final schedule for the weekend will be decided the morning of the 16th when we gather for breakfast. There will be a whiteboard with a schedule grid and you can all slot in your sessions when/where you feel they would fit best. Keep in mind that there will concurrent breakout sessions throughout the weekend as well as Workshops that are more formal in nature. So, as with any conference, you will not be able to make every session in full. However, unlike most conferences, THATCamp encourages participants to move about during sessions as they feel it appropriate. The schedule of Workshops that will be offered is still coming together. We will post it here when it is ready, which should be some time next week.

For a broad overview of our proceedings please see the Schedule page.

Let us know if you have any questions via Twitter @tahtcampfl or via email: markhlong at ucf dot edu, or you can always add comments and/or questions below this post.

Welcome to the Third Annual THATCamp Florida website.  The History Department and the RICHES program at the University of Central Florida, in cooperation with the UCF Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology + Entertainment (Create), and the Center for Humanities and Digital Research will be hosting a regional THATCamp on the weekend of February 16-17, 2013 in sunny Orlando.  The gathering will involve about 75 people drawn broadly from the Humanities and will include Professors, Librarians, Graduate Students and interested parties (writers, musicians, etc.) who are engaged in sorting through the many and varied ways that our broadly shared disciplines intersect with emerging technologies.  It is our hope that the two-day affair at Create will offer a stimulating and energizing atmosphere which will foster a fruitful exchange of ideas as well as collaborative work among attendees. If you are interested in attending this year’s THATCamp Florida you will need to register in advance. We also encourage you to begin thinking about what you would like to discuss at THATCamp and to submit a proposal for a session that is designed to address your interests/needs in the Digital Humanities, broadly defined. There is a length discussion of the proposal process on the page linked above.

We are excited to be hosting another great weekend of informal conversation and learning about the Digital Humanities and are looking forward to assembling a broad and diverse group of Campers from around the state.