Just to confirm some details in the email I sent out earlier today, THATCamp AAR13 will kick off at 9am on Friday, November 22 in the Baltimore Hilton, rooms Key 7-8. We’ll have coffee and tea available in the morning thanks to the generosity of DeGruyter Press, so feel free to show up at 8:30am to register and get some caffeine before we get started.

All of THATCamp will meet during this first session, where we will vote upon which proposed sessions we all want to schedule and run. After that we’ll break out into our smaller sessions and workshops. You can see all of the rooms we’ll have available over at the schedule, but make sure to come to that first session at 9am!

With THATCampAAR less than a month away, it’s time to start thinking about the conversations you want to have and the problems you want to work on.

If you look at the schedule for the day, you will notice that the topics of the sessions are all “TBA.” This is where you come in! You control the schedule by proposing sessions, commenting on the session ideas you find interesting, and, on the morning of THATCamp, voting for the sessions you would like to attend.

Don’t wait until the last minute! Propose topics and questions that you would like to have a conversation about now. And comment on the sessions that you would like to participate in. Conversations that start now are more likely to be part of the schedule on November 22.

What makes a good session proposal?

Good sessions come in many varieties. Often they are organized around questions, projects, or points of concern.

For example, if you are interested in using technology for teaching, you could propose a session to talk about what strategies and tools other have used, what worked (and what didn’t), and what outcomes were seen.

Or if you have concerns about the ways a particular tool models space, language, or time and the implications of those assumptions, you could propose a session to discuss and evaluate that tool and its usefulness to scholars of religion.

Any topic connected to religion, technology, and the intersection thereof is fair game.

One useful way to structure a session is to focus on producing something that would be a resource for others. This could be an annotated list of current strategies, a manifesto or call to action, a collaborative essay, or a digital tool. You can include what you would like the session to produce as part of your proposal or suggest that it be determined by the group during the session.

What should I expect in a session?

You should expect to be an active participant in the sessions you attend. This means asking questions, sharing your ideas and opinions, and contributing to the goals of the session.

If you proposed the session, you should expect to be responsible for starting and facilitating the conversation and, if there is a particular goal, focusing the group on achieving that goal. You are not expected, however, to have the answers or to present the solution.

You are also under no obligation to attend only one session during a time block. If there are multiple sessions you want to be a part of, you can and should split your time between them. And if the conversation in a particular session shifts to a topic you are not interested in, join another.

How will the sessions be chosen?

We will finalize the schedule by voting during the first session on Friday.

All the session proposals will be printed and you will be given stickers to vote for the sessions you would like to participate in. The votes will be tallied and those sessions that have generated the greatest interest will be assigned to particular spaces and times.

You are also welcome to start up ad hoc sessions during the day as new conversations develop.

How do I propose a session?

To propose a session, log in to WordPress with the account information emailed to you when you were approved. On the left hand side of the window, select “Posts.” This will take you to a page that lists all the post currently published on aar2013.thatcamp.org.

From here, select “Add New Post.” This will open up the post editor.

You can either write your session proposal here or copy over the text from Word or another text editor. Give your session a title and assign it a Category. You can assign multiple categories to describe the topic you want to discussion. Also, be sure to also select “Session Proposals” and the type of session as two of your category choices.

When you are finished, select “Publish.” The post will appear on the home page of aar2013.thatcamp.org.

UPDATE: By popular demand and the AAR’s request, we’ll be opening registration for THATCamp at 9am CST on Wednesday, September 18!

The advent of digital technology and social media has not only transformed how today’s religious communities function. They have also changed how scholars teach about and conduct research on religion more broadly. If you are interested in how technology is changing—or can change—the work of religious studies scholars, then we invite you to attend the AAR’s first ever THATCamp!

THATCamp stands for “The Humanities and Technology Camp.” They exist to bring scholars and technologists of every skill level together to learn how to integrate digital technology into their teaching and research. This means the format is not your typical conference proceedings.

THATCamps are “unconferences,” which means sessions are built around hands-on workshops and collaborative working groups rather than formal presentations. Participants are encouraged to propose sessions they would like to attend in advance of the meeting on the THATCamp AAR13 blog. Topics we could cover include academic blogging, social media in the classroom, social media in religion, digital research methods, web-based class projects, online publishing, and countless others.

Sessions largely take one of four formats.

• Talk Sessions offer the chance for a group discussion around a topic or question.
• In Make Sessions, someone leads a small group in a hands-on collaborative working session with the aim actually making something–software, best practices document, a syllabus, etc.
• In Teach Sessions, an individual leads a hands-on workshop on a specific skill or software tool.
• In Play Sessions, anything goes. You can suggest literally playing a game, or spending some quality time exploring existing tools and resources for digital work.

For more information about proposing sessions, visit the “Propose” page of this site. All new session proposals will be posted to the home page. If you will be attending, please be sure to comment on the sessions that you would like to participate in!

The final schedule will be determined during the first session of the day, so be ready to vote for your favorite session ideas.

THATCamp AAR13 will run on Friday, November 22 from 9:00am to 5:00pm at the Baltimore Convention Center. Travel information can be found at aar2013.thatcamp.org/travel/.

THATCamp AAR13 is free and open to everyone, but a separate registration is required to ensure we have adequate space. Registration will open on October 1st at aar2013.thatcamp.org/register/.

We are bringing THATCamp, The Humanities and Technology Camp, to the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting on November 22, 2013.

We will post additional information in the weeks to come. In the meantime, you can read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.