There seems to be no immediate solution to the ever-growing tech support crisis on college campuses. Most students "burn out" in this role faster than in most other work study jobs. Yet a handful of student lab consultants have been asking for more rewarding challenges on the job than those of fixing printer problems and software incompatibilities. Intellectual curiosity is often a factor. Especially in the humanities, it has become important for these students to find meaningful links between campus technology tools and their studies. Together, faculty and computer center directors often hold the key to helping students take on a more active role in project development.
This poster presentation focuses on student practitioners of humanities computing, their involvement in faculty-sponsored computing projects, and the creation of mechanisms for assessing their experiences. An assessment survey has been used which takes into account a variety of factors, including project goals, work conditions, time, guidance, and value of contribution. The four diverse case types of faculty-student collaboration featured in my poster session will no doubt look familiar to many faculty. By sharing these early models with faculty at several conferences, I hope to encourage broader participation in my study. The goal of the study is to promote continued generation and funding of humanities computing projects based on the increasingly important role of the student in this area.