. @elotroalex Computation is universal in the sense that it's a machine that should be able to predict or encompass all other machines. Input/output, say this thing = that thing, evaluate if something is on/off, can do it over and over mechanically. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Computation is potential threat to human labor; it can replace us in some kinds of tasks. Computation allows us to do incredible things. Also one of the whitest spaces in DH, and shouldn't be. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Google created a giant library of books; now that it's data, we can use computational approaches (like NGram Viewer). If citations and documents are fundamental components, "gram" becomes the quintessential unit for computation. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Extraction or data mining of things, or counting of things, happen all the time in computation. Shout-out to @VoyantTools for helping people start to do this computation work / mining / extraction w/o learning how to code. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex What happens with the output of computation? It often ends up in a journal, you don't have to have a fancy digital output. (You can get credit as faculty for a journal article, not for a fancy digital interface.) #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Network analysis: a kind of sweet spot between architectures of knowledge (e.g. citation) and computation. Open Syllabus project: 7M syllabi, citation extraction. Get a sense of what's being taught in what discipline, where. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Open Syllabus project: paints a big picture of human knowledge as taught in English-language classrooms; you can see the clusters, Italian literature, French literature, films. Other networks focus on people. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex http://sameboats.org/trajectories  shows the life trajectory and movement of Black historical figures. "It's a dissertation generator." #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Legacy of the post-Columbus 1492 world. Genocide of Indigenous people, slavery. It has a bearing on this world depicted. Computation means working with incomplete data, always, because destruction and creation of silences is built in. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Erasure of cultures is a major part of the last 500 years. Computational humanities helps us start thinking about how to map that destruction, understand the transformation into what data we have today, who controls it. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Notes that Haitian revolution was the first to abolish slavery, but what gets taught is American/French revolutions. Creation of documents/sources/archives. Narratives. (Prose can do a lot of things!) #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex University administrators are in bed with the companies of the knowledge cartel. What they don't have, that we do, is the ability to create significance, explain to others what's important. (Competing against "public intellectuals" on CNN.) #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Community-based significance is what we can do that companies cannot. It's on us to clarify what things signify, make them important. Ability to intensify our communciations through channels like Zoom/Twitter. New genres of humanistic production. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Right now can go on Twitter, create a hashtag, tell people to come fill out a spreadsheet. We can build directories with this, also a favorite new genre, the "angry syllabus". Something happens, we make a syllabus about it (e.g. Puerto Rico syllabus.) #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex https://puertoricosyllabus.com/  and other is intervention in network culture. Rearranging labor through our networks. Also the genre of aggregation, e.g. @jmjafrx with the African Diaspora PhD Tumblr account. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex TikTok accounts doing humanities work? Great! We also come together and annotate documents collectively using Hypothesis. Fantasic conversations, enriching texts. New series based on collectivity and dialogue. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex PR Mapathon: 23 different DH centers around US and Mexico came together to rebuild the map of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Using same techniques we use in Neatline, teaching workshops, "knowing how to put together events with pizza". #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex 7-day project of Torn Apart/Separados, people talking via Telegram. Mapping ICE, controlled by fascist government. No grant, no being in person together, using digital culture to build something valuable. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Using same machines from makerspace, was able to create over 30,000 face shields for hospitals in need in NY in the beginning of Covid. Final context for DH: the hot mess we find ourselves in with the anthropocene. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Significance is finding the right subjects to help us move together as society, but also understanding there are real people at stake. Recovery work means not forgetting people broken by these systems are still with us. Emphasis on LIVING communities. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Celebrating that he's managed to go two minutes under his time, instead of going over like usual. Addendum! Should people of color code? Yes. For this we need to create environment w/ good support for people of color to learn to code. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Crisis of anthropocene related to crisis of universities. Generosity is having its moment in university discourse, but throughout history, scholars of color have always worked with one leg in their communities. Have to consider post-university world. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Lots of pepole are doing humanities work, without being able to answer question of "what does this have to do with where we are? The fundamental problems of humans today?" Encyclopedia for its own sake is dismissible. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex One class dictates the flow of data, what the mechanization should be. "10k people will be replaced, let's do it!" Seeing this with MOOCs, faculty building career on a single project where grad students did all the labor. #SpectrumsofDH

. @elotroalex Minimal computing is key: you can do a lot with a little. A little is what we'll have, and we can use these miraculous weapons of automation to fight back. #SpectrumsofDH