Episode 1: Matt Gold

TL;DR: check out the episode’s Key Takeaways

Digital Fellows Di Yoong, Nicole Cote, and Zach Lloyd talk to GC professor Matt Gold about his perspective as a digital dissertation advisor, the benefits and hurdles of producing and archiving digital scholarship, and tips on navigating departmental dissertation conversations.

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Matthew K. Gold is Associate Professor of English and Digital Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY, where he is Advisor to the Provost for Digital Initiatives, and where he directs the MA Program in Digital Humanities and the MS Program in Data Analysis and Visualization. With Lauren F. Klein, he co-edits the Debates in the Digital Humanities series at the University of Minnesota Press, and has recently co-edited Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities and Debates in the Digital Humanities 2019. His collaborative digital humanities projects, including Manifold Scholarship, the CUNY Academic Commons, and The Commons In A Box have been supported by grants from a the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and other funding institutions. He is Past President of the Association for Computers and the Humanities, the US-based scholarly society for the digital humanities, and the Association for Digital Humanities Organizations, the international association for DH organizations.

00:53: Introduction of speaker

02:13: What is a digital dissertation?

06:34: What kinds of opportunities do digital dissertations offer students and faculty?

10:36: How do you evaluate a digital dissertation?

18:20: How do you plan for changes in technology and obsoletion?

24:22: What wisdom might you have for faculty in advising students on digital dissertations?

28:33: What might benefit students from knowing in advance of starting the project?

35:47: The importance of community

  1. Communication between a student, faculty committee, and department about the scholarly production of a digital project is essential. Dissertation advisors can facilitate the process of departmental discussions, but it is also key to ensure you are working with a committee who is willing to support this kind of work and has openly communicated that approval.
  2. Having a textual component (such as a corresponding chapter or White Paper) is useful for explaining the project and its process–as well as for documenting the work–especially as technology changes so rapidly.
  3. Like all dissertations, community is essential–find a writing or “making” group to discuss your work with your peers.
    1. GC Librarians Roxanne Shirazi and Stephen Zweibel
    2. GCDI Digital Fellows
    3. Manifold
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