DH Toolbox: Winter 2025

The DH Toolbox workshops introduce cutting edge tools and techniques in the digital humanities. The series was started by University of Ottawa Library, and organised by the DH Coordinator for the last two years. One of the most popular outreach events in digital humanities on campus, it has drawn participants from Arts, Medicine, Engineering, the University of Ottawa and St. Pauls Libraries, Libraries and Archives Canada, and Ingenium.

The Winter 2025 series launched on 14 January 2025! Join us on Tuesdays from 11:30 to 12:30 in the CreatorSpace (Pérez Hall, room 302) for the DH Toolbox workshop series! Masks are not required, but are encouraged to ensure the safety of all participants.

14 January: Infrequently asked questions: survey insights into the digital humanities workshop training environment


Workshops are a crucial feature of the Digital Humanities (DH) training environment, but that environment is one marked by continual change. What do current DH workshop attendees, instructors, and organizers need and want? What is causing people to decide not to participate in workshops? What should future workshops consider?

In this session, DR. BRIDGET MOYNIHAN will offer insight into these questions through the lens of a 2023 survey (n=162) ran as an initiative of the Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE.ca) partnership, with support from The Canadian Certificate in Digital Humanities/Certificat canadien en Humanités Numériques (ccdhhn.ca). 

28 January: Playing with metadata

Standardized metadata makes database items easily identifiable and as a dataset usable for research. In this workshop, ROXANNE LAFLEUR (DH Specialist, Archives and Special Collections) will discuss the importance of metadata, schemas, using Dublin Core as the main example and will lead participants in a metadata game. 

11 February: New languages for old languages: digital tools and methods for ancient history


Did women have legal and financial independence in Rome? Did Christianity make a difference? Did people actually follow the ‘Law’? DR. LYDIA SCHRIEMER (Religious Studies) will join us to discuss some of the digital tools used in her research on the contractual abilities of women in Greek-language contracts from the Later Roman Empire and their role in studying the ancient world more broadly. 

25 February: Feminism – its more than abortion rights

Feminism is often reduced to headline-grabbing issues in the mainstream press; abortion rights and affordable childcare – important, to be sure – are only the tip of the iceberg. By contrast, non-traditional platforms like blogs reveal the deeper pulse of feminism: a call for bodily autonomy, equitable education, access to healthcare and transnational politics. These grassroots platforms remind us that feminism isn’t a checklist; it’s a movement for systemic change, ranging from personal empowerment to reshaping foreign policy. Where the press simplifies, women amplify. In this session DR. PASCALE DANGOISSE MATECKI (Communication and Digital Cultures)will share results of her doctoral research on feminist politics and discourse in a liberal political context.

11 March: Digital innovation for student projects on Latin America

Dive into the world of digital tools like Omeka to learn how they are redefining teaching, learning and research on Latin American cultures and histories. DR. GABRIELA SANCHEZ and DR. GUADALUPE ESCALANTE-RENGIFO (Modern Languages and Literature) will discuss their experiences, highlighting inspiring experiments in which students use digital humanities to bring innovative projects to life: interactive exhibitions, digital archives, podcasts and video documentaries. These initiatives demonstrate the methodological potential of using these tools to transform research into creative, engaging experiences accessible to a wide audience. By appropriating these tools, students explore new ways of developing their final work and putting active learning into action. 

French presentation.

25 March: Intersectional classification, in theory

This session is cancelled. We will reschedule this presentation to Fall 2025.

8 April: Digital Cultures Open House

This session is cancelled. We aim to reschedule this showcase of student work at the start of the Fall 2025 session.