Giving the Digital Humanities Life: Community Partnerships that Extend a Digital Humanities Project’s Relevance

KIPJ Theatre

In 2012, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee faculty and staff who founded the Digital Humanities Project: March on Milwaukee partnered with Milwaukee Public Schools and community organization Arts@Large to give the digital collection added purpose. For decades, local activists, teachers, and scholars have used civil rights narratives to educate and motivate people residing in cities such as Milwaukee, WI, to actively reflect on the causes of racial inequality as well as possible solutions. The March on Milwaukee project has helped evolve this movement by educating school-age youth and letting them share with the community what they learned through their artistic interpretations. This presentation will go through the steps UWM players took to effectively reach out to the surrounding community from conception to the implementation that gave their collection new relevance, as well as how the founders assessed the project and measured the success of their outreach. The presentation will also invite a more open discussion on digital humanities project outreach and assessment.