our Roles
Four Roles for Digital Scholars
and the Skills They Need
Jeremy Boggs
Creative Lead
Center for History and New Media

About Jeremy
‣ Creative Lead at the Center for History and New Media
‣ I'm a web designer/web developer/information architect/project
manager.
‣ PhD student in the Department of History and Art History at Mason
‣ Currently teach Clio Wired 2 at George Mason, slated to teach History in
the Digital Age at American University.

History and New Media
at George Mason

History and New Media at Mason
‣ Two required new media courses
‣ Clio Wired 1 – Intellectual and theoretical issues
‣ Clio Wired 2 – Practical issues and skills
‣ Minor Field in History and New Media
‣ Two additional courses
‣ Independent readings
‣ Minor Field Statement

Mason’s History PhD Program
CHNM provides practical work opportunities for
students interested in history and new media.

Four Roles

1 Project Manager

Project Manager
Project managers provide the tools, information, and
contexts with which others on a project team can do
their job. Document goals, requirements and
milestones.

Project Manager – Skills and Tools
Some Skills and Tools:
‣ Project management
software and
techniques.
‣ Wikis and collaborative
writing tools.
‣ Organizing and running
meetings.
‣ Conference call, video
chat.
‣ Balance theoretical and
practical.
‣ Manage people.

Project Manager – Why?
Digital scholarship is best when it is collaborative. Project
Managers strive for teamwork and cooperation, organize
people with seemingly disparate skill sets to collaborate
toward a common goal.

2 Information
Manager

Information Manager
On individual and group level, information managers
deal with the onslaught of information. They collect,
sort, search, and share information in various ways.

Information Manager – Skills and Tools
‣ Search (More than
Google).
‣ Using Zotero, CiteULike,
Connotea, other
bibliographic collecting
and sharing services.
‣ RSS/Newsreader
‣ Metadata Standards
‣ Information
Architecture
‣ Site Maps
‣ Page Wireframes
‣ Content Inventories

Information Manager – Why?
Abundance of available information makes managing
it, critiquing it, using it effectively even more valuable.
Need people who respect information, can help others
find and use it.

3 Creative Director

Creative Director
Creative directors...direct creativity and creation of
products. They foster it, live it, breathe it, expect it
from their peers and coworkers.

Creative Director – Skills and Tools
‣ Basic graphic design
knowledge; graphical
composition
‣ HTML/CSS
‣ Basic programming –
PHP, JavaScript
‣ Databases
‣ Image and video editing
‣ Mapping
‣ APIs

Creative Director – Why?
Creative Directors are critical users of tools and
techniques; They want the best set of tools for the job
at hand.

4 Outreach
Coordinator

Outreach Coordinator
Outreach coordinators get the word out about a
project, create networks and communities, and always
look for new things others are doing.

Outreach Coordinator – Skills and Tools
‣ Twitter
‣ Weblogs
‣ RSS
‣ Facebook
‣ SlideShare
‣ Vimeo/YouTube
‣ Flickr/Image sharing

Outreach Coordinator – Why?
Information moves quickly, more projects are
produced. Need skills of an outreach coordinator to
track those changes, connect with users, ensure that
your project is relevant outside your niche.

Old Roles, but New Skills

Thanks!
Contact me:
‣ Email: jeremy@clioweb.org
‣ Instant Messenger – jboggs22 (AIM)
‣ Skype – chnm_jeremy_boggs
‣ ClioWeb – http://clioweb.org
‣ Twitter – http://twitter.com/clioweb
‣ Zotero – http://zotero.org/clioweb
‣ SlideShare – http://slideshare.com/clioweb