Today was THATCamp RTP, months in the making, supported by HASTAC, ISIS, and FHI at Duke, and UNC Comm Studies.  It was very good.

Everyone who registered didn’t turn up, but those who did turn up were really in to it.  Everywhere I went there were some very exciting conversations.  Lots of stuff around digital histories, archiving, community engagement, museums, and the future of the academy with the changing digital environment (something I will also be exploring at Mozzila Drumbeat next month in Spain).

Highlights for me:

• Ghost Histories: Histories that can be found with geolocation tools of places that no longer exist (i.e. where this house now stands is the former site of church x… etc.)
• Acoustic Recreation: Using technology to recreate the acoustics of former buildings to enable people to hear what performances, or worship etc sounded like in buildings no longer exist (the person who was working on this was specifically looking at St. Paul’s Cathedral pre the fire that burned it down).
• Future of the Academy: People from the academy have no clue what the future of the academy is and what it is going to look like.  This is exciting because it could be anything and no one knows.  I am excited to be a part of the shift (hopefully).

I was told that our THATCamp had a much different feel than THATCamp prime, in that it was more academic.  But that makes sense.  We are in the research triangle after all.  Either way, it was a very good time.  There was talk of another school hosting one next year.

And now it is time to move on to prep for Drumbeat.