Newspapers as Data: Reflections on Teaching Students about the Borderlands through a Computational Approach

We invite you to learn about the partnerships between the library and disciplinary scholars, hear about the implementation of computational analysis in multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses in the social sciences and humanities, and preview a showcase of student work.

This symposium represents the culmination of a Collections as Data: Part to Whole grant awarded to the University of Arizona Libraries funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in partnership with the University of Nevada Las Vegas. "Using Newspapers as Data for Collaborative Pedagogy: A Multidisciplinary Interrogation of the Borderlands in Undergraduate Classrooms" brought together a group of disciplinary scholars, library faculty, and staff to introduce students to data literacy and computational analysis using digitized historical newspapers from Arizona.

To close the symposium, we welcome keynote speaker, Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, who will present, “De aquí y de allá: Development of Transborder Data and Archives through Borderlands Digital Humanities Pedagogy and Praxis.” Dr. Fernández is the Public and Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Researcher in the Hall Center for the Humanities, Institute of Digital Research in the Humanities and The Commons at the University of Kansas.

Stemming from her identity as a transfronteriza and from her scholarship at the intersections of border studies, archives-literature, and digital technologies. Dr. Fernández's talk will focus on the use of digital tools with archival sources to develop digital scholarship that challenges hierarchical schemes to intervene in the dominant canons of knowledge at both the individual and community level.  

Program Agenda

11:00am Welcome and Introduction

11:15am Round Table: Library-disciplinary faculty partnerships

Panelists:
Mary Feeney, Liaison Librarian and News Research Specialist, University of Arizona Libraries
Celeste González de Bustamante, Associate Professor of Journalism and Director of the Center for Border and Global Journalism, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona
Marya McQuirter, Director of the Public History Collaborative and Assistant Professor of History, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona
Jeffrey C. Oliver, Data Science Specialist, University of Arizona Libraries

Moderator:
Megan Senseney, Department Head, Office of Digital Innovation and Stewardship, University of Arizona Libraries

11:55am Premiere: Virtual Student Showcase

Speakers:
Erika Castaño, Assistant Librarian and Archivist, Special Collections
Mary Feeney, Liaison Librarian and News Research Specialist, University of Arizona Libraries

12:05pm Round Table: The pedagogical implementation of collections as data in classes and student project results

Panelists:
Anita Huizar-Hernández, Associate Professor of Border Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona
Katherine Morrissey, Associate Professor of History, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona
Cristina D. Ramírez, Associate Professor of English and Program Director of the Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English graduate program, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona

Moderator:
Mary Feeney, Liaison Librarian and News Research Specialist, University of Arizona Libraries

12:45pm Break

1:00pm Keynote with Q&A: Dr. Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla
“De aquí y de allá: Development of Transborder Data and Archives through Borderlands Digital Humanities Pedagogy and Praxis”

For questions or requests regarding disability-related accommodations, contact Maggie Verebelyi.