This week has been a lot of python and a lot of hours on my computer. Now that TANDEM has successfully run on my computer, I feel more empowered to learn and potentially assist on the upcoming processes TANDEM must undertake to get the tool alive and available. I also am quite eager to apply some of what I learned at #DjangoGirlsNYC.

On the teamwork front, I have offered to take on some of the more tedious proofing (checking values against human counts). Given my limited resources, however, I think I will request a properly defined distribution of the grunt work to make sure it actually gets done. #picturebookshare continues to generate ideas and keep us thinking. And as I bop around the various DH events, I find as many chances to bring up TANDEM as I can.

Two particular outreach developments are exciting me right now:

1. I spoke with Grant Wythoff at the English department’s Friday Forum/GCDHI panel “Books Matter”. He explained a little more about Bill Gleason’s project at the Cotsen Children’s Library, and I am excited to test TANDEM with some of the research going on at Princeton. It seems the children’s literature course from which the library enlisted its archival army is one of the most popular courses offered at Princeton. Grant also recommended I look into the digital Victorian work of Natalie Houston at University of Houston.

2. I am gearing up to properly attend Django meetups. GC Digital Fellow Evan Misshula has been talking these up for weeks and after this weekend’s event, I feel a little better equipped to drop in. Geoffrey Sechter, who organized Django girls, and who was quite helpful describing the underlying principles of data migration (and the looming potential of foreign keys to make messes), organizes the meetup, so I aim to seek his help should the need arise. Now that I have a small consortium of django girls willing to plow through some projects together, I feel better able to get involved.

On other fronts — I am making more twitterbots and working toward productive use of git. For all its practicality, the particulars feel practically impossible. But I am sure I will figure it out.

Thanks for following along.

-Jojo

@dhTANDEM