History grad colloquium talks big history, big data

Every year the Department of History puts on its Graduate Colloquium. Typically this is a day of presentations and discussion for graduate students in the program. This year they are going bigger.

BIG History, BIG Data, So What! The themes for this year’s colloquium ask the question – Does the advent of big database technology, geographic information systems, and digital humanities research affect how we view and study history?

Graduate students will be given the chance to respond to these issues in dialog with guest professors from University of Ottawa, University of Alberta, Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Western Ontario, University of Michigan, Université du Québec à Montréal and McMaster.

The debate should be lively. McMaster History professor John Weaver and José Igartua from the Université du Québec à Montréal have been enlisted to challenge assumptions and ask the question: “So what?”

All are welcome to attend the Department of History’s Annual Graduate Colloquium Thursday March 26 from 1:00- 5:00 p.m. in the Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship (Mills Library Room 110). If you can’t join in person, you can also participate in the discussion online through the Twitter hashtag #macbig.