Caribbean Scholarship in the Digital Age is a webinar series showcasing digital and/as public research and teaching in Caribbean Studies. The series provides a collaborative space for professionals to share on projects and experiences to foster communication and support our shared constellations of communities of practice.
Please join us for an upcoming event, Demystifying Digital History: A Caribbean Perspective, April 9, 2018, 11am-12pm (Miami Time).
Presenter: Dr. Debbie McCollin
Click here to participate in the online event: https://zoom.us/j/3982941835
About the Presentation:
As History and the Humanities at large came increasingly under threat in the latter 20th and 21st century new avenues were being sought to legitimise and modernise the subject areas to ensure their continuity. The use of the cyberworld, the maximisation of digital technology to support this goal, was seen as the answer to a small cadre of Caribbean scholars. However, with a Caribbean society and academia notoriously resistant to change, opposition to this trend, despite the obvious need, was constant. This webinar will explore the development of the first Digital History course at The University of the West Indies within this context – early plans to its final design and implementation. It will examine the nuanced support of the university community as well as the challenges faced in overcoming prejudice and ignorance of digital media’s use in academia. Furthermore, it will delve into the specific problems faced by Caribbean scholars within the digital space particularly in relation to the digital divide and the realities of open access. Ultimately, the impact of this novel course on the student body, university and the wider Caribbean historical community will be discussed.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Debbie McCollin has been a Lecturer at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago since 2012. She holds a PhD in History and a Certificate in University Teaching and Learning from the aforementioned university. Her recent publications include the edited volumes World War II and The Caribbean (coedited with Karen E. Eccles, UWI Press, 2017) and In the Fires of Hope: Fifty Years of Independence in Trinidad and Tobago 1962-2012 (Ian Randle Pub., 2016) and Chacachacare: The Island of Lepers 1922-1979, a chapter in Hospitals and Communities 1100–1960 (Chris Bonfield, ed., Peter Lang, 2013). Her current work is focused on the Pre-Independence era in Trinidad and Tobago, the History of Health and Medicine in the West Indies in the twentieth century, the impact of World War II on the West Indies and Caribbean Digital History.
About the Caribbean Scholarship in the Digital Age Webinar Series:
The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), in partnership with the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL), the Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies of the University of Puerto Rico, the Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Heritage Archives roundtable (LACCHA)of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), and the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), has organized a series of online events, Caribbean Scholarship in the Digital Age, a webinar series showcasing digital and/as public research and teaching in Caribbean Studies. The series provides a collaborative space for professionals to share on projects and experiences to foster communication and support our shared constellations of communities of practice.
Webinars in the 2018 series are:
Presented by Laura Perry, University of Florida
Presented by Dr. Debbie McCollin, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
Presented by Dr. Tracey Thompson and Jessica Dawson, University of The Bahamas (Facilitator: Crystal Felima)
Presenter: Marie-France Guillaume, Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne (Facilitator: Dr. Hélène Huet)
Please join us for next stage conversations at ACURIL’s 2018 annual conference, focusing onInterdisciplinary Research in the Caribbean: http://libguides.uwi.edu/acurilconference2018
Twitter: #digcaribbeanscholarship
