The Programming Historian

Processes
+
Products

fred gibbs / @fredgibbs

Introduction

What?

The Programming Historian offers novice-friendly, peer-reviewed tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate their research.

Who?

Entirely volunteer driven

editors, authors, reviewers, and random contributors we don’t even know.

Lesson Authors

Kellen Kurschinski, Seth Bernstein, James Baker, Amanda Morton, Dennis Tenen, Grant Wythoff, Shawn Graham, Scott Weingart, Jim Clifford, Daniel Macfarlane, Josh MacFadyen, Jon Crump, Vilja Hulden, Marten Düring, Max De Wilde, Ruben Verborgh, Seth van Hooland, Jonathan Reeve, Spencer Roberts, Doug Knox, Heather Froehlich, Laura Turner O’Hara, Matthew Lincoln, Sarah Simpkin, Megan R. Brett, Brandon Walsh, Ted Dawson, M. H. Beals, Elizabeth Venditto, Jacob W. Greene, Jeanette Sewell, Boris Capitanu, Peter Organisciak

Reviewers

Celeste Tưởng Vy Sharpe, Matthew Lincoln, Shawn Graham, Patrik Persson, Daniel van Strien, Andrew Dunning, milaoiva, Amanda Morton, Eira Tansey, Jim Clifford, James Baker, Jonathan Reeve, Jacob W Greene, Luke Bergmann, Kim Pham, John Fink, silviaegt, Patrick Burns, John Levin, bmw9t, Adam Crymble, Evan Taparata, M. H. Beals, Mary Beth Start, Robert Blades, Ian Milligan, John Laudun, Konrad Lawson, Nora McGregor, Dennis Tenen, William J Turkel, Taryn Dewar, Finn Arne Jørgensen, Jeff Bain-Conkin, Nick Pearce, Amanda Visconti, Eli Pousson, Sarah Simpkin, Aurélien Berra, Fred Gibbs, Chris Forster, W. Caleb McDaniel, Nick Ruest, Miriam Posner, Dave Shepard, Thomas J. Duck, Eduardo Sanchez, Spencer Roberts, Sheila Brennan, Sara Palmer, Jeff Veitch, Tim Compeau, Stéfan Sinclair, Catherine DeRose, Jane Winters, Sharon Howard, Nancy Lemay, Ethan Miller, Lisa Spiro, Paige Morgan, Jamie Howe, John Russell, Charlotte Tupman, Erin N. Bush, Derek Price, Michelle Moravec, Ezra Brooks, Russell Alleen-Willems, Brandon Hawk, Guy McClellan, Jonathan Blaney, Tessa C Hausewdell, Jonanna Swafford, Nabeel Siddiqui, Rob Sieczkiewicz, Ben Hurwitz, Patrick Murray-John, Jason Heppler, Will Hanley, Peter Webster, Ryan Cordell, Justin Larsen, Jason Crider, Sean Morey

Why?

Historians don't program

Maintaining a Project Site

Dynamic site

• Wordpress, Drupal
• database driven
• easy administrative tools
• ubiquitous
• but...

Document States

• new submissions
• editorial engagement
• revisions

= lots of WordPress hacking

Administrative Bloat

• complex interfaces for simple tasks
• software/component maintenance
• language barriers
• abstraction penalties
• platform dictated process/form
• avoided editing
• avoided experimenting

Static site

• file based
• maintenance
• preservation
• security
• precision/customization
• experimentation

GitHub Features

• free hosting
• minimum overhead
• direct file editing (+ offline) →
• version control →
• fundamentally collaborative
• issue tracking →
  • did we talk about this?
  • why did we do that?
  • whatever happened with that?
• constantly evolving →

Editorial Review

Editorial Values

• inclusivity
• transparency
• rigorous peer review
• collaborative learning
• accountability

Submission Process

• initial consultation
• editorial discussion
• lesson development
• authors create GitHub account
• added as collaborator →
• commit lesson →
• review ticket →
• merge lesson into main site

Lesson Formatting

• plain text
• use a text editor like atom →
• markdown
• live demo →
• cheatsheet →
• let's compare HTML and Markdown

Digital Publishing Goals

• exploration
• product + process
• mutual learning
• self-enforced peer review
• open and public critiques
• guided by DIGITAL criteria

The End

Thank you

Get in touch

fwgibbs@gmail.com