Reflections on the Colloquium
After a few days of retreat in rural Worcestershire, helping my recently moved parents settle into their new home, I now feel able to set the colloquium in its proper context. For me, at least, it was a whirlwind, and it was thanks only to my excellent volunteers (Liza Penn-Thomas, Lisa Herlihy and Charlotte Jackson) that I remained anchored to the ground at all.
Internet access is rather limited here (in good weather, one has to sit among the bushes at the very bottom of the garden next to the LPG tank and be eternally grateful to the mercy of the nearest neighbour in sharing his wireless; in bad weather or after dark, there’s none whatsoever), so my reflections are perforce but a modest pendant to Catherine’s thorough review of two days of the colloquium. But enough prefatory warble – it’s getting dark!
I think the colloquium attested to the fruitfulness of interdisciplinary conversation – panels, coffee break chats, and the Mapping Medieval Chester (MMC) project itself all show that we need to talk to our peers from other faculties, institutions and walks of life as regularly as possible.
It also, I think, attested that the digital humanities are here to stay, and that they offer far more than traditional scholarship with added baubles. They offer not only a vast range of novel outcomes (I’m thinking particularly about the multiple pathways into texts and maps that the project website facilitates), but pretexts and frameworks for reflecting on the purposes and methods of scholarship. One way this is evident is in MMC’s vibrant partnership with Sue Hughes and the Grosvenor Museum in Chester – the digital humanities offer accessibility in ways print editions perhaps cannot.
The particular resonance of these issues was apparent in the closing round table, when questions from Gareth Dean, Dan Power, Ralph Hanna and others provoked extensive debate between the project team and the conference delegates. We should look at ways to ensure this reflexivity continues as delegates as others begin to use the website in their research, teaching and personal lives (a project wiki perhaps?).
MMC has been a fascinating project in which to be involved, and the colloquium was equally fascinating. Thanks, then, to our speakers, delegates and volunteers for making the colloquium such a success.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I’d like to publicly thank Mark and the volunteers for setting up such a wonderful conference, and I’d like to thank the presenters for giving such excellent talks. Kudos all around!