Resources
The following list comprises all of the minimal computing material I have been able to find in my research for this project. This includes scholarly articles and blog posts engaging with minimal computing as theory and heuristic; records of lectures, presentations, and conference talks about minimal computing; case studies and reports on practical and pedagogical applications of minimal computing; and projects which claim minimal computing as a key component or influence. There are also some tools here that were developed specifically for minimal computing projects. While no attempt to document the development and applications of a concept like this can be completely exhaustive, I’ve tried to make this list as complete as I can, and I welcome new information. If you know of a new work using minimal computing not on this list, or if you’ve produced some yourself, please consider submitting it for inclusion here so that more interested readers can find it!
To get an initial sense of what minimal computing is in the world of academia and its conceptual development in a nutshell, I highly recommend reading Alex Gil and Roopika Risam’s introduction to Digital Humanities Quarterly’s recent Minimal Computing Special Issue. They do a fantastic job of illuminating minimal computing’s possibilities beyond the creation of simpler websites, as well as addressing potential pitfalls and gaps in existing work on minimal computing. If you want to get started making your own website using minimal computing principles, Take look at the Tools section below to see which might best fit your project!
Roots of Minimal Computing
Articles and Scholarly Publications
The Minimal Computing Working Group: the collection of articles and tools that represent the first body of scholarly work about minimal computing. This is the source of the term and its founding principles.
Digital Humanities Quarterly special issue on minimal computing
List of minimal computing articles at Reviews in DH
Interview of Andrew Lison by Shintaro Miyazaki about minimal computing
Course Materials and Pedagogy
Materials from a minimal computing seminar taught by Jentery Sayers, 2017.
Case study of minimal digital pedagogy using Raspberry Pis by Dillen Wout
Webpage for a digital publishing course using multilingualism and minimal computing principles
Projects and Other Media
Podcast with Alex Gil, a founding member of the Minimal Computing Working Group
Conversion of a heritage digital collection to a static site using minimal computing principles
Digital El Diario, an archival digital humanities project that uses minimal computing principles Minimal Computing as Reparative Practice (Workshop)
Workshop exploring plaintext in connection to minimal computing
Presentation on adapting minimal computing to history harvesting
Tools
Wax: A workflow for digital exhibitions based on minimal computing principles. Ideal for projects with a wealth of images.
Ed: A Jekyll theme for creating digital editions on a static website mased on minimal computing principles. Designed to be easy to learn.
Jekyll Now: A Jekyll theme, designed to be quick and easy to implement without extensive coding knowledge. Used to build this website. Not explicitly a minimal computing project, but can be leveraged for minimal computing purposes.
No Connect: A Jekyll template that works on a local computer or even a flash drive-that is, a downloadable website that works with no connection to the internet.