The MLA/CCCCs joint “task force” of which I am a member has produced its first (of multiple) working papers on Writing and AI. It includes specific recommendations with the upcoming fall semester in mind. Note too, that it is framed as a working paper, i.e. work in progress: we welcome comments and feedback. (Please share.)

https://aiandwriting.hcommons.org/working-paper-1/

Just to break up the stream of just plugging stuff I write elsewhere: hi! Outside of work. I’ve been enjoying the World Cup so far, plus I got out of the house to see some professional wrestling at TD Garden (Blood and Guts!) and to catch Oppenheimer in 70mm. Also going to see Guerilla Toss tomorrow night; I really like their most recent record (Famously Alive) and they are great live. Hope everyone’s having a good Saturday.

For my higher ed newsletter this week I wrote about The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s series on courseware and OER. https://university-of-hard-knocks.ghost.io/uhk-3/

@quinnanya thanks! that sounds like a great class!

I dug up a polished draft of a 2021 article I was writing for Digital Humanities Quarterly on digital projects and precarious labor. Provided a little context on the article too. It is still very much a draft (and long) but I wasn’t planning to revise it further and figured some folks may find it interesting: https://jimmcgrath.us/teaching/project-endings-and-precarious-labor/

New newsletter is up if you're looking for a weekend beach read. This one is about AI and academic labor, a great Python workshop I attended this week, and a little bit on DH 2023. https://university-of-hard-knocks.ghost.io/uhk-2-ai-academic-labor/

Coming in hot on a July Friday afternoon with a new installment of my new newsletter. This one is mainly about outsourcing faculty support to folks like ACUE but it's got some links to cool stuff besides that in there too. https://university-of-hard-knocks.ghost.io/higher-ed-link-roundup/

Just started a newsletter for my various thoughts on higher ed! First post is live and another one is on the way later this week. https://university-of-hard-knocks.ghost.io/university-of-hard-knocks-issue-zero-nails-on-a-chalkboard/

Teaching Public History is out this week from UNC Press! Excited to see my chapter in there ("Digital Restorative Justice in the Public History Classroom: Data Literacy and Archival Literacy in Mapping Violence"). Happy to talk more about the book or my approaches to public history and pedagogy with folks! https://uncpress.org/book/9781469673301/teaching-public-history/

This week on the instructional design work front I’m working with faculty and departments on assessment surveys, uses of video in online asynchronous courses, evaluations of student engagement, and uses of accessible technologies.

I keep meaning to write a longer thing on my switch to instructional design work but instead maybe I’ll just post weekly updates on what I’m up to in case folks are curious about this work. This week I’m putting together a faculty panel on AI, writing some newsletter content on end-of-semester assessment, drafting content for a LibGuide with a faculty member, researching some pedagogy stuff for a department, and meeting faculty for virtual consults (among other things).

Got my copy of Teaching Public History this past weekend! Out this May via UNC Press.

Don't miss a Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium workshop featuring Eduard Arriaga (Clark University). He'll be giving a workshop, "Community Engagement, Information Curation and Storytelling through Digital Portfolios." Join us April 24th at 4pm eastern/1pm pacific. Register now: https://tinyurl.com/DEFConSpeakerEA #DigitalHumanities #AcademicMastodon

Sneak preview of the virtual lecture I'm giving tomorrow (W 3/29, afternoon EST) for Salem State on digital public history. Yes, there will be AI talk. It's been fun to put my public history hat on again to think about some of this stuff. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visualizing-the-past-and-combating-erasures-with-dr-jim-mcgrath-tickets-577093089967

Doing work that resonates with wider publics seems to require that academics move away from their default desire to be Correct all the time. That being said, the "Look At How Correct I Am" crew does have its fans outside of academia (the annoying people you avoid at bars and parties). Especially fun when someone opts to be Correct in lieu of actually connecting with folks or helping people who are directly impacted by the thing you are glad you are so Correct about.

I was so delighted as Higher Ed editor to commission this state of the union for higher ed faculty and admin — with voices from all kinds of institutions. Don’t miss it! #AcademicMastodon https://www.publicbooks.org/state-of-higher-ed-after-covid/?utm_content=buffer61d17&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

My local bar has been running Sunday pinball tournaments for a bit now and it’s been a fun time. The person who maintains these machines got into learning how to care for them at the start of the pandemic: he taught himself how to do various repairs with YouTube videos. These machines are all from the early 90s and they’re in great shape. Of the three here, Creature looks the coolest but World Cup ‘94 is the most fun (there’s a little goal with a goalie blocking shots in there).

@Halperta nice!

Next week there's an exhibition opening at the Providence Public Library that includes materials from The Rhode Island COVID-19 Archive, a project I worked on during my last few (virtual) months in Providence (and for a bit after that!). Cool to see. The PPL (and its Special Collections team) remain one of my favorite cultural institutions. Hoping to get back there for a visit soon! https://provlib.libcal.com/event/10035024

As someone who is working to help faculty navigate the disruption caused by AI tools like ChatGPT on an ongoing basis, I've got to say that I have increasingly lower stocks of patience for the "everyone is doing it wrong" and whataboutism takes. Most folks I work with are cautious and critical while also trying to be responsive and communicative with their students as we all research and encounter these tools with increasing regularity. New stuff is popping up daily / weekly. It's a lot.