Now that the last strains of vintage pan-Asian surf and garage rock are fading from our ears and most (though not all) THATCampers have made their way home, we can take a moment to express our sincere thanks.

First, to our stalwart organizing crew, who included faculty and staff from Mary Washington University, the University of Virginia, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (alphabetically: Joe Gilbert, Ronda Grizzle, Eric Johnson, Jeff McClurken, Patrick Murray-John, Bethany Nowviskie, and Becca Peters) — may your cardinals never lose their perukes!

We’d like to thank our sponsors: the Scholars’ Lab, SHANTI, and IATH at UVa, and Mary Washington’s Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies and Teaching Center. Thanks to the University of Virginia Library for its hospitality through the three-day event — and a big thank-you to Monticello for sponsoring our Sunday outing and behind-the-scenes, geeks-only tour.

Thanks to our wonderful BootCamp instructors: Chris Gist, Joe Gilbert, Kathy Gerber, Kelly Johnston, Nancy Kechner, Patrick Murray-John, Raf Alvarado, and Wayne Graham. Drop and give us 50!

And finally, thanks to all of YOU, who made this un-conference your own, and therefore made it great.

THATCampVA formally wraps up after lunch on Sunday, Dec. 19, but that won’t stop us from keeping the fun train rolling!

The good people at Thomas Jefferson’s historic home, Monticello, have invited interested THATCampers to be their guests for a special (free!) tour of the house, including a VIP trip to the legendary Dome Room. Thomas Jefferson would so have wanted to go to THATCampVA–technophile, researcher, and inveterate tinkerer that he was.

To get a sense of the schedule: the tour is timed so we can enjoy our closing lunch before we wind our way to Monticello. Attendees should aim to arrive at the Visitor Center at around 2:00 in order to catch the shuttle to the mountaintop.  Our two tour slots are at 2:40 and 2:50 and are limited to about twenty people each. The house tour plus Dome Room should take a little under an hour.  Then we’re free to enjoy the grounds or wander the exhibitions or head home with heads spinning from all the THATCamp-aliciousness.

Specific details will be covered at THATCampVA once we’re all together.  However, it would be helpful to get an early sense of how many people are interested in going on this tour, so that Monticello can adjust to numbers if needed. Please drop Eric Johnson a line either @edmj or at ejohnson [at] monticello [dot] org to indicate your interest in joining us.

Can’t wait!

Welcome, everybody! Coming very soon to the THATCampVA site are user accounts and a page of camper bios. (You people are amazing — we can’t wait to get you all in one room!)

Your local organizing team have decided to set a good example for session-proposal posts by writing a few to get started. The main thing we’re doing differently from other THATCamps in this regard is encouraging you to limit your posts to approximately 500 words. We’ve noticed, at other camps, that the preparatory reading and writing is getting overwhelming — and we firmly believe that an exciting and thoughtful proposal can be made with great economy. (Besides, observe how Bethany is about to cheat by linking to things she’s written elsewhere, for people interested in more detail.)

Onward!

Just a last reminder, that the deadline to apply to THATCamp Virginia is TONIGHT, October 25th, at midnight EST.

On to the extras! We’re excited to announce that, in addition to our rich BootCamp program and Saturday-night outing to hear North America’s premier Nakashi surf rock band, Dzian!, we are arranging a Sunday expedition and special tour of Thomas Jefferson’s amazing home, Monticello!

Many thanks to our co-sponsors on the little mountain. And stay tuned for details!

Applications are now open for approximately 60 slots at THATCampVA!

DUE DATE: October 25th

Selected attendees will be notified by early November.

A limited number of fellowships, meant to defray costs of travel and lodging, are available for qualified THATCampers who plan to attend our BootCamp sessions. Determine your eligibility for a BootCamp fellowship at the link above, and apply separately.

We’re proud to announce the schedule for THATCampVA’s BootCamp, to be held Friday, December 17 in the Scholars’ Lab. The BootCamp will be composed of two tracks: a GIS Track featuring sessions lifted from the SLab’s NEH-funded Geospatial Institute and a General Track with introductions to a variety of tools and approaches to Web development, statistics, and qualitative analysis.

Interested in attending the BootCamp? Be sure to let us know when you apply for THATCampVA. Tuition is free, but a handful of fellowships are available to defray travel costs for qualified applicants.

Hey, campers! We’ll open up this site to THATCamp applicants and announce our exciting BootCamp program later this week — including two tracks: one offering a super-condensed version of the training program from the Scholars’ Lab’s NEH Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship, and the other on programming, web design, and content management skills for humanists! BootCamp will be held the day before THATCampVA starts. Tuition is free while spaces last, but you may be eligible for fellowship funding to defray travel expenses!

But, whatever. Here’s the big news: on Saturday night, December 18th, Dzian!, an international surf-garage rock band with a sizable local following, will play a special show for THATCampVA and friends at the 12th Street Tap House. Dzian! plays a selection of 1960s-70s dance pop and garage/surf rock from the entire continent of Asia. They perform semi-regularly with their own gogo dancers, The Nakashi Dancers, and have lately started a collaboration with Fire in the Belly, a local belly dance group. Best of all? Dzian! is led by digital humanists: Scholars’ Lab denizens and fellows, UVa music grad students and recent PhDs. Dzian! (That means “super-cool!”)

Just a quick update to say: look at our lovely new site! Many thanks to Regional THATCamp coordinator Amanda French and CHNM‘s Creative Lead, Jeremy Boggs, for the work they are doing on a “THATCamp-in-a-box” infrastructure to support events like ours — and to Joe Gilbert of the Scholars’ Lab for his efforts, too. Finally, thanks to Eric Johnson of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, for our periwigged, puffed-up, dare-I-say prestigiously presidential logo. If a cardinal in a peruke doesn’t scream “Central Virginia” we don’t know what does.

Local organizers are hard at work on the arrangements for December — including our planned BootCamp sessions the day before THATCamp begins. We hope to be opening this site up to applicants by October 8th, so stay tuned!

We’re excited to announce THATCampVA!

What?
You know! a regional THATCamp.

When?
A BootCamp (heavy on technologies for studying space and place) will be held on Friday, December 17th; then…

THATCampVA will be held on Saturday and Sunday, December 18th and 19th, 2010.

Where?
Charlottesville, Virginia (at UVA Library’s Scholars’ Lab)

Who?
Organizers include digital humanities folks from UVA, Mary Washington, Monticello, and other central Virginia institutions

— but this is your unconference!

Anybody with energy and an interest in the humanities and/or technology should attend.

We’ll start accepting proposals on this site in early October — and only have slots for 50-60 attendees! Participants will be notified of acceptance in November. Questions in the meantime? Email us!

Look here for more news soon — and follow us at @THATCampVA.