I’d like to explore scalar as a platform for investigating the intersections of material feminisms, posthumanisms, feminist science studies, ecofeminisms, and other related difference feminisms with digital media.  If, as Haraway claims, we are all cyborgs (1985),  then what implications might this have for women and their interaction with nature and technology?  How might scalar offer a means of representing, understanding, exploring, and instigating discourse on feminism and technology, or feminism and media?  This would also allow for collaborative efforts in that others could post on the scalar website and discuss the questions, issues, and subjects raised by the scalar project.

I use this game in my classes as an ice-breaker and as a way of introducing non-traditional heuristics (weird ways of coming up with creative ideas). It started out as a drinking game with friends, but I’ve found it transfers nicely to the classroom. If we need a break and want to all play a game, it’s a pretty easy one to set up. It’s all the fun of telephone and pictionary. Players alternate writing and drawing as they pass a stack of pages around the room. For example: I write “Go frogs!”. The person to my left tries to draw that. Maybe it’s a frog and an arrow. The next person looks only at the drawing and writes what they think it means. Maybe, leap frog. So on and so on. By the time it gets back to me, it’s usually pretty funny.

I’ve been working extensively with Adobe Muse for the last year. I’m no master designer or anything, but I can get it to do just about anything I might need. I’d be happy to walk people through the basics if they’re interested.

I’ve been teaching Edge Animate for a few years now. It’s the latest Adobe product for creating HTML5 native animations. Because it’s HTML5 native, it works on iPhones and allows for just about any javascript functionality you can think up. Also, there’s a free version that isn’t very restricted (use it forever, but it’s the old beta version so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles).

I use a kinetic typography assignment in my classes to teach the basics of making animations and adding interactivity in Edge animate. It’s not terribly advanced. Edge is pretty easy to work with (at least compared to Flash, which it replaced). I’d be happy to share the assignment and teach it if people are interested.

I’ve been working a lot on alt-scholarship like webtexts (Kairos, DHQ, Enculturation). I’ve always thought of it within the tradition of various avant-garde lineages. However, I recently realized how privileged and limited such a scope is (Sullivan 2012). At the same time, I’ve been teaching feminist theory in my classes. It occurred to me that alt-scholarship is pretty darn feminist in nature. It feels like Cixous’ L’ecriture feminine, Lorde’s body writing, and a lot like queering scholarship. This is a new thought to me (I know, it shouldn’t be), so I’m stepping carefully. I want to begin this conversation by asking if digital scholarship is inherently feminist. And if so, why is DH so not feminist (see Jamie Skye Bianco and others for this revelation)? In my own work, I want to figure out ways to remember the feminist push for embodied, non-linear writing without just stealing it for myself (I’m a white dude). So, that’s where I want to start, but for the most part, I want to shut up and listen. Thanks!

In her 2010 Ted Talk, Courtney Martin, blogger at Feministing.com, the most widely-read feminist publication in the world, highlights the impact the Internet, digital networking, and social media have made on feminist activism saying, “Feminist blogging is basically the 21st century version of consciousness-raising.” In the last few years informative and cheeky hashtags like #yesallwomen, #bringbackourgirls, #menexplainthingstome, and #bindersfullofwomen have raised consciousness about national and global women’s issues.

While it may be clear that feminist activism and consciousness-raising has gone digital, what implications does this have for Women and Gender Studies as a field? What about the activist nature of the Feminist classroom? How can we (students, scholars, activists) embrace digital consciousness raising without becoming arm-chair activists? I’d like to lead a conversation that attempts to answer some of these questions–and I can provide relevant scholarship on feminist pedagogy–but I hope participants will have their own ideas and stories to tell as we work to understand these ideas together.

Between now and Saturday the 28th, please visit the WordPress site and propose a session and/or workshop: feminismstexas2015.thatcamp.org/propose/. At an unconference, the program isn’t set beforehand: it’s created on the first day with the help of all the participants rather than beforehand by a program committee. Our first session on Saturday will be setting the schedule and sessions for the rest of the day.

If you haven’t already registered for a free account on the WordPress site but you’ve paid your registration fee via TCU’s Extended Education site, go here and fill out the registration form: feminismstexas2015.thatcamp.org/register/#registerwp

There are roughly four things people do in THATCamp sessions: Talk, Make, Teach, and Play. Sometimes one session contains elements of all these, but it’s also a fair taxonomy for THATCamp sessions. In a Talk session proposal, you offer to lead a group discussion on a topic or question of interest to you. In a Make session proposal, you offer to lead a small group in a hands-on collaborative working session with the aim of producing a draft document or piece of software. In a Teach session, you offer to teach a skill, either a “hard” skill or a “soft” skill. In a Play session, anything goes — you suggest literally playing a game, or playing around as a group with one or more technologies, or just doing something fun or original.

For examples of sessions, see the Propose page on the site.

I have been asexual my whole life, but I didn’t know it until I came across the term on the internet my freshman year of college. It was such a validating experience to see that other people felt the same way about sex that I do! But if it weren’t for the internet, I never would have found that my sexual orientation was shared by thousands of others, as I have never met another asexual in person.

I would like to talk about the value of the internet, new media, and technology for raising awareness of identities and experiences like asexuality, both as a way to reach people trying to understand themselves and for others who do not know about sexual orientations beyond the usual gay/lesbian, heterosexual, and bisexual categories, especially when information is coming from the commuity members themselves rather than scholars. This discussion can/should also include ways to include these non-scholarly texts into our classrooms, campus activities, and research.