This year, the AHA is proud to present to our annual meeting attendees two lightning rounds. This presentation format can bring verve and enthusiasm to a conference. The idea? Getting word out about a variety of research projects in a series of brief, high-energy presentations. The two lightning rounds we have planned this year are “Digital Pedagogy for History: Lightning Round” and the “Digital Projects Lightning Round.”

Digital Pedagogy for History: Lightning Round

AHA Session 95

Saturday, January 3, 2015: 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Conference Room D (Sheraton New York, Lower Level)

Using the “lightning round” method of spreading ideas in the digital humanities, this experimental panel features one-minute expositions on innovative projects and cool ideas in digital history for teaching and learning. In the digital humanities, ideas about digital pedagogy have coalesced around emphasizing collaboration, tinkering, a focus on process, praxis, and building. This lightning round explores the ways that the digital environment challenges traditional methods of teaching and learning and opens up fresh opportunities for new methods of participatory learning.

Slots for five or more panelists will be available by the time the meeting begins, and we will be inviting participants via Twitter. Audience members will also be invited to join the lightning round.

Digital Projects Lightning Round – Now accepting abstracts!

Saturday, January 3, 2015: 12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

Conference Room I (Sheraton New York, Lower Level)

This lightning round invites historians working on digital projects to share their work in a series of five-minute presentations. Digital technologies have expanded the reach of scholarship in the way scholars communicate their research to an audience and present findings, as well as influencing the questions they ask in planning a research project. Text analysis, data and text mining, mapping, data visualization, and a variety of other digital methods and tools make forms of research beyond the traditional text-based article or monograph possible, while also encouraging scholars to consider questions of data storage, visual presentation, and user engagement. Let us know what research questions you’re asking, how you’re using digital tools to tackle them, and demo your project.

If you are working on a digital project and would like to present, e-mail an abstract of no more than 80 words to Stephanie Kingsley (skingsley@historians.org) by Monday, December 29. Please include the title of your presentation, your Twitter handle if you would like us to put it in the program, and use “Digital Projects Lightning Round Submission” as your email subject line. Feel free to tweet @KingsleySteph with ideas, as well. Note: there are only 15 slots available for this session, so if you would like to email an abstract now to reserve a spot and submit other presentation materials (such as a PowerPoint) later, you may do so.

The AHA looks forward to including more sessions with non-traditional formats in the future, so if you have any ideas for AHA 2016, submit a proposal through the online system (the submission link will be available soon). The deadline for proposals is February 15, 2016.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.