The Digital Knowledge Center provides UMW students with peer support on digital projects. DKC consultants can help you learn to build a website, edit a video, record a podcast, or design a graphic (and much more) via virtual or in-person consultations.
The Digital Knowledge Center (DKC) was founded on September 30, 2014, which coincided with the opening of the Hurley Convergence Center (HCC). The DKC grew out of the work of UMW’s Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies (renamed Digital Learning Support in 2019). As DTLT worked with faculty to incorporate digital projects and technology into more and more classes, students needed a formal space for support on digital assignments. And so the DKC was born.
The Digital Knowledge Center is a key stakeholder in many digital projects and initiatives, including, but not limited to, the Domain of One’s Own project and the Domain Fellows program. Domain of One’s Own is a project at UMW that allows UMW students, faculty, and staff to register their own domain name and receive a hosted web space, free of charge for the duration of their time at UMW. Begun by the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies in 2013 (renamed Digital Learning Support in 2019), the Digital Knowledge Center plays a critical role in supporting the thousands of websites that host student’s classwork and personal projects.
Moreover, the Domain Fellows program, created in 2017, brings together a cohort of incoming freshmen, current students, and DKC tutors. Throughout the academic year, these students develop a project to host on Domain of One’s Own and serve as Domain of One’s Own ambassadors to the rest of the UMW student community. By participating in a variety of on-campus activities and sharing their projects, the Domain Fellows demonstrate a variety of technical and artistic uses for Domain of One’s Own.
Current and Past Directors of the Digital Knowledge Center
Cartland Berge (2019-Present)
Cartland Berge is the Director of the Digital Knowledge Center and teaches Digital Media Studio, a video studio production course, at the University of Mary Washington. Berge, who joined the Digital Knowledge Center in 2019, also serves as the Hurley Convergence Center Manager, a position he has held since 2014. Previously, Cartland Berge worked for ten years in theater as an electrician and lighting designer in NYC, Baltimore, and Washington DC. Berge, a Virginia eastern shore native, is also an author and spearheaded the revival of the first English play performed in the American colonies, “The Bear and the Cub” (1665). Cartland holds a BFA in Theater Design and Technology from UNC Greensboro and an MA in Arts Management from George Mason University.
Martha Burtis (2014-2019)
The first director of the Digital Knowledge Center, Martha Burtis was responsible for establishing the Center in 2014 and creating many notable digital projects (Domain of One’s Own, Digital Storytelling-DS106, and Domain Fellows). While Director of the Digital Knowledge Center, Burtis also taught classes in computer science, American studies, and digital studies at UMW. Before serving as the Director of the Digital Knowledge Center, Burtis worked for the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies (renamed Digital Learning Support in 2019) and helped faculty incorporate digital technologies into their curriculum. Martha Burtis holds a BA in English from Mary Washington College and an MA in instructional technology and media from Teachers College, Columbia University. Since 2019, Burtis has served as a Learning and Teaching Developer at the Open CoLab at Plymouth State University.
Current and Past Associate Directors of the Digital Knowledge Center
Shannon Hauser (2019-Present)
Shannon Hauser is the Associate Director of the Digital Knowledge Center. Hauser first joined UMW in 2013 and initially worked at the UMW Library. Shannon holds a BA in History from the University of Mary Washington and is currently pursuing an MFA in Design Thinking from Radford University.