metaLAB (Harvard University) has published several documents produced during Beautiful Data, a week-long workshop for art historians held this past summer. Describing the workshop and the documents, Matthew Battles, notes: “Although conceived as an engagement in digital-humanities ‘training,’ we thought quick-and-dirty tutorials in javascript and topic-modeling would be less useful than the chance to discover ways of collaborating ‘in the wild’ around questions of computation in art history, museums, and collections-based scholarship.”
The publications include:
The field guide [pdf] documents the concepts and flows of information that came out of the Beautiful Data workshop, linking critical discussion with invitations to experimentation and making. Using a range of modes, including case studies, maps, activities, and prototypes (and linking to online documentation of these elements), the guide aims to serve as a resource, providing various entry points into the dialogue surrounding Beautiful Data and promoting further experimentation around this material.
The prototyping game [pdf] provides a set of raw materials for remixing and rethinking the ways in which we design experiences with objects. This playful framework, drawn from institutional missions and contexts, offers springboards for discussion, ideation, and project development.
The provocation cards [pdf], drawn from the work of participants in Beautiful Data’s weekend workshop component, provide prompts for adventures in museums, lightly provoking users to engage with these spaces in new and generative ways.
dh+lib Review
This post was produced through a cooperation between Paromita Biswas, Jennie Burroughs, Jennifer Millen, A. Miller, Martin Patrick, Ayla Stein, Amy Wickner (Editors-at-large for the week), Zach Coble (Editor for the week), Sarah Potvin (Site Editor), and Caro Pinto and Roxanne Shirazi (dh+lib Review Editors).