DH Box: A Virtual Computer Lab in the Cloud

Author

Stephen Zweibel, Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

2-2016

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

Matthew Gold

Subject Categories

Digital Humanities

Keywords

Infrastructure, Installation, Workshops, Pedagogy, Omeka, Programming

Abstract

Education in the use and manipulation of Digital Humanities (DH) tools is rife with challenges, stemming from issues of knowledge (ie, how to install, configure, and work with DH tools on a variety of devices) and resources (access to hardware and software). Particularly in an academic environment, humanities scholars may not only lack access to institutional devices, but their drive to experiment with new programs may run counter to the security concerns of their information technology department personnel. DH Box, originally developed as a project for an introduction to DH course, was conceived as a solution to these challenges: a toolset that would offer simpler setup and execution of DH instruction, to create an easy-to-deploy learning environment for DH students. The project has cycled through a number of iterations, from local installs to a cloud-based solution, and in its current form has been tested in several classroom and workshop scenarios. This testing has confirmed its utility with respect to the challenges of learning DH tools and has informed its continued development. With growing awareness and further development, it is anticipated that DH Box will see still wider adoption.

Recommended Citation

Zweibel, Stephen, "DH Box: A Virtual Computer Lab in the Cloud" (2016). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/787