We asked last year’s graduate student coordinator for THATCamp CAA (held in Feb 2013 in NYC), Ileana Selejan, to reflect a little on her participation. Anyone want to take up her suggestion for a panel for next year…..? Proposals can be made here. 

I should start by saying it was THATCamp CAA 2013 that inspired and motivated me to pursue DH “methods” in my research and writing. One question that has always been central to my working process, especially since I started teaching: how do students learn? How do I learn? How does our educational community learn through its practices? I do believe that broader access to education online (albeit unequally distributed), coupled with the prevalence of tech in our daily routines have had profound effects on precisely these learning processes, and hence our responsibilities as scholars, writers, curators and educators have changed. I’m very interested in understanding these massive shifts; philosophically, that’s where I think sustainable innovation can happen.

I’ve been working on some ideas for online publications and collaborative research, both academic and beyond. I think it’s a pressing concern, yes, for young scholars, although not exclusively. It’s about trying to think through alternative models for art writing. DH has already proven that the grounds for experimentation are ample and can generate rich content.

Art Writing in the Digital Playground — perhaps a panel for THATCamp CAA 2014?

Ileana is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, an Adjunct Lecturer at Parsons, The New School for Design. She’s also a contributing member of kinema ikon, a Romanian-based new media experimental art group. She received an MA (2007) and a BA (2005) from Jacobs University Bremen.