The Graduate Center Digital Fellows are here to help provide support for your digital projects and digital research methods. One way that we do this is by holding office hours each week. All Graduate Center students are welcome to drop in without an appointment to ask for help on their digital projects, on anything from theoretical concerns to more practical issues and technical obstacles. The following post is a brief look at ways you can get the most out of your experience at Office Hours.

When: Visit our calendar for dates & times

Where: Office hours at held in the GC Digital Scholarship lab in room 7414

GC Digital Fellows are experienced users of technology who can help you think through your digital project, find resources, and work with you to troubleshoot problems. We can answer questions about a variety of digital methods, like mapping, text analysis, archiving, publishing, and working with sound, images, and more. However, because none of us is an expert in all these things, and every project is unique, we ask that visitors come prepared with questions and are willing to work collaboratively with our team. This way, we can make the most out of our time together, whether that be finding the right digital tools and methods, working through technical difficulties, or identifying useful resources to explore. Our approach to office hours is similar to our approach to teaching workshops and building projects: the objective is to put you in the best position possible to be the expert of your own project.

To get the most out of your Office Hours experience, we’ve created a pre-meeting checklist and some tips to keep in mind while you’re working with us in the Digital Scholarship Lab.

Before the meeting

[ ] Do a little preliminary research. The more information that you are able to give us, the better we will be able to assist you, so take some time to do a little research about your question before coming to office hours. 

[ ] Give us a heads up. Feel free to send us an email (gc.digitalfellows@gmail.com) beforehand to let us know about your question(s) so we can start thinking about it. 

[ ] If you work on a laptop, try to bring it with you. We have laptops to lend you, but we’ve found that it’s helpful to work in the environment that you are used to. 

[ ] Get there early. Fellows meet with students in the order in which students arrive, so if you think you might need a full hour of support then be sure to arrive at the start of the session.

At the meeting

Be collaborative: Enter the Lab mindful that our work here is a group activity, and that all digital scholarship thrives on cooperation and collaboration. We are here to help you, but none of us has all the answers. Be ready to ask questions and be open to exploring those questions with us. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and there is no shame in being a beginner. 

Be purposeful: Explain when you arrive what you hope to get out of the meeting and ask the fellow you are meeting with if they think that’s a manageable goal during office hours or if the task might need to be broken down into smaller tasks.

Be present: While you are meeting with the fellow, try to be fully present in the moment. In other words, don’t check your cell phone, answer calls, or reply to email, etc.

Don’t hesitate to ask more questions: If you’re stuck or feel overwhelmed, it’s okay to ask the fellow to repeat or rehash what you’ve worked on so far.

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