CFP: Exploring the “Humanity” in the Digital Humanities: Africana/Black Studies’ Perspectives on the Digital Humanities

Michael J. Kramer

Call for Papers

The 30th Annual Symposium on African American Culture & Philosophy

Exploring the “Humanity” in the Digital Humanities: Africana/Black Studies’ Perspectives on the Digital Humanities

Keynote Speaker: Abdul Alkalimat, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
Plenary Speakers: Marisa Parham, UMass-Amherst & Kenton Rambsy, University of Texas-Arlington

African American Studies and Research Center Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
December 1-3, 2016

The African American Studies and Research Center invites scholars, practitioners, and graduate students to submit proposals for papers, panels and digital presentations for “Exploring the “Humanity” in the Digital Humanities: Africana/Black Studies’ Perspectives on the Digital Humanities,” its 30th Annual Symposium on African American Culture & Philosophy to consider the relationship between the digital humanities and Africana/Black epistemological frameworks that ask, “What Does It Mean to Be Human?”

Work that is closely associated with the theme will be given preference during the review process. We seek papers and panels from across the disciplines on such sample topics as:

  •   Africana/Black Studies & Digital Recovery
  •   Africana/Black Digital Genealogies
  •   Africana/Black Studies & Spatial Humanities
  •   Africana/Black Studies & the Digital Arts
  •   Data Visualization in Africana/Black Studies
  •   Text & Data Mining in Africana/Black Studies
  •   Africana/Black Studies & Digital Scholarly Communication
  •   Africana/Black Studies & Digital Humanities Pedagogy
  •   Creation and Curation of Africana/Black Studies Digital Resources
  •   Africana/Black Studies & Software Design and Modeling
  •   Africana/Black Studies & New/Social Media
  •   Game Studies, Digital Humanities & Africana/Black Studies
  •   Africana Studies: Intersections of the Humanities and Social SciencesThe deadline for individual and panel abstract submission is June 6, 2016. Abstract submissions of up to 250 words should be sent to:

    Ronald J. Stephens, Director, African American Studies and Research Center

    Purdue University
    College of Liberal Arts, School of Interdisciplinary Studies 29th Symposium on Philosophy & Culture
    Steven Beering Hall, Room 6176
    100 North University Street
    West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098
    Or email: aasrc@purdue.edu with abstract in the subject line.

Digital Platforms Meet Infrastructures: Characterizing Complex Data Configurations

Michael J. Kramer

The Center for Global Culture and Communication,

an interdisciplinary initiative of Northwestern University’s School of Communication,

and

The Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University

present:

Jean-Christophe Plantin

(London School of Economics)

Digital Platforms Meet Infrastructures:

Characterizing Complex Data Configurations

Monday, April 18, 2016

4:00-5:30pm 

Frances Searle Building, Room 3-417

(Reception to Follow)

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1672845666310152/

Abstract: Two theoretical approaches are available to characterize data-driven objects of study: infrastructure studies and platform studies. While scholarship in the former emphasizes robustness, reliability, transparency, and breakdown, the latter insists on programmability, data flows, and connecting heterogeneous actors. How do these concepts and fields relate? How do they differ in terms of scale, fields of investigation, and analytical power? Which objects, and which methods of investigation, do they bring to the fore? Are they complementary, or oppositional — or are they basically the same thing?

To answer these questions, this talk will characterize digital platforms through their complex interactions with existing infrastructures. Using literature from STS, communication studies and management, along with case studies from citizen science, scientific data sharing, and open data initiatives, it will first show the different configurations this encounter can take: opposition, cooperation, or mutual influence between the two entities. Second, it will show the consequences these configurations have on shaping access to information, knowledge production, and circulation and valuation of data.

Biography: Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, department of Media & Communications. His research investigates the civic use of mapping platforms, the collaborative challenges in big data science, and the political implications of data science. His work has been published in Media, Culture & Society, International Journal of Communication, and Digital Humanities Quarterly.

This talk is a part of the Northwestern University and London School of Economics Initiative, sponsored by the Center for Global Culture and Communication and the Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University.
For more information, please contact Gabby Garcia at gabbygarcia@u.northwestern.edu.

CFP: DH Chicago: New Archival Knowledges (May 19-20, 2016)

Michael J. Kramer
CALL FOR PAPERS
DHChicago: New Archival Knowledges
University of Chicago, May 19-20, 2016
Organized by the Macroanalysis & the Humanities Working Group
DHChicago seeks to bring together scholars from across the Chicagoland area and across the disciplines to present work on one of the most promising areas of the digital humanities: macroanalysis, or the computational analysis of textual data and metadata. We are specifically looking for presenters whose work engages with questions, some of which may include:
  • What new knowledges can computational approaches produce about large cultural archives?
  • How can we fold these knowledges back into existing debates within the humanities?
  • How compatible are humanistic questions and computational methods?
The broader goal of DHChicago is to lay the groundwork for longer-term intellectual support by fostering inter-institutional and inter-departmental ties, connecting scholars to new resources, and creating new networks of potential interlocutors and collaborators for future endeavors. To this end, the conference de-privileges displays of expertise and erudition in favor of a practical, “under the hood” approach. We welcome presentations on ongoing as well as finished projects, and we encourage presenters to talk about the process of building their projects from the bottom up. What problem does the project address? Why did you choose a certain method to engage this problem? How did you arrive at a particular visual representation of your research?
Daniel Shore will deliver a keynote address on Thursday afternoon from his forthcoming work,Cyberformalism (Johns Hopkins UP). The conference will take place on Friday. Shore will also be leading a workshop that day on the syntactical analysis of regular expressions. Please email us to sign up to attend the workshop.
Proposals are due by April 29, 2016 and should include: a title, abstract of up to 250 words, and, in the email, the author’s name, a C.V., institutional affiliation, and email address. For more information, please contact Sarah Kunjummen and Jonathan Schroeder at digitalhumanitieschicago@gmail.com or visit our website.
Jonathan Schroeder | The University of Chicago | Department of English Language & Literature

Triple Canopy Publication Intensive Opportunity

Michael J. Kramer

Publication Intensive

June 6–17, 2016
Apply online through Monday, April 11 

What: A two-week program in the history and contemporary practice of publication.

Where: The program will take place at Triple Canopy’s venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and will include visits to studios of artists and designers, archives, and cultural institutions.

Who: We invite applications from higher-level college students, graduate students, and recent college graduates. Prospective participants might have backgrounds in areas such as writing, art, literature, art history, new media, and design.

Cost: Tuition is free, though participants must arrange and pay for their travel and accommodation. All reading and viewing materials will be provided free of cost.

During the Publication Intensive, Triple Canopy editors and invited artists, writers, and technologists will lead discussions and workshops with participating students, who will research, analyze, and enact an approach to publication that hinges on today’s networked forms of production and circulation but also mines the history of print culture and artistic practice.

The Publication Intensive will address such questions as: How have artists, writers, and designers used the pages of magazines and books as sites of and material for experimentation? How have new-media publications challenged conventions of authorship and reception, only to have those very challenges soon become the foundation of the new economy? How have artists, writers, designers, and technologists responded to ensuing changes in the media landscape? And how have responses differed in areas with disparate resources and relationships to technology? What are the politics of access and identity associated with online public forums and media?

Read more

Triple Canopy’s Arts Education Initiative is generously supported by the Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston.

Opportunity for Digital Scholars from CHCI & centerNet

Michael J. Kramer

Time Sensitive – Opportunity for Digital Scholars from CHCI & centerNet
Dear CHCI Members,

We are pleased to announce that CHCI and centerNet have teamed up for a second time to sponsor a New Scholars Seminar (NSS) at DH2016 (http://dh2016.adho.org/) in Kraków, including travel subventions to digital scholars affiliated with CHCI-member centers and institutes. The NSS will take place on July 10, 2016, and the deadline to apply is April 15, 2016.

The NSS is for new scholars to meet and develop research collaborations in the digital humanities, and the agenda for the event will be set by the participants, starting with an online phase of collaboration in advance of the event.

Details and instructions for applying are provided on the CHCI website:

http://chcinetwork.org/news/centernet-and-chci-collaborate-2nd-new-scholars-seminar

Questions and submissions to: kias@ualberta.ca

Best regards,

Sylvia K. Miller

Senior Program Manager
Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)

John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute | Duke University
114 S. Buchanan Blvd., Box 90403 | Durham, NC

T: 919-668-7951 | E: sylvia.miller@duke.edu | W: chcinetwork.org | fhi.duke.edu

Copyright © 2016 Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, All rights reserved.
This email is a benefit of CHCI membership. Directors, administrators, and general mailboxes of CHCI member organizations are included in the list of receipients. Apologies for any duplications.

Our mailing address is:
Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
114 S. Buchanan Blvd., Box 90403
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708

 

Digital Curation and Repository Work Group Opportunity

Michael J. Kramer

From: Meenasarani Murugan <meenasaranimurugan2013@u.northwestern.edu> and Debs Cane <deborah.cane@northwestern.edu>

Hello from the Digital Curation and Repository Work Group at Northwestern University Libraries!

Our working group is responsible for the functional development and community adoption of Avalon Media Systems. Our staff has applied for and received generous support from the Mellon Foundation to conduct the following user research:

A study of scholarly use of audio and video collections by researchers in at least two academic disciplines using contextual inquiry methods; we will use these results to guide future feature prioritization and communicate the value of Avalon to institutions supporting humanities scholars. Our methodology for the study is seated in ethnographic inquiry and user experience modeling. The study is being conducted with three different kinds of data collection:

  1. Environmental Observations
  2. In-person Interviews
  3. Diary Study

Mellon has made it possible to offer scholars a stipend of up to $600 for study participation.  We believe that the researchers in the Digital Humanities Working Group, because of their work in time-based media, would be prime candidates for this study. As a study participant you would agree to:

  • keeping a private online diary for the length of the study to record when you work with media;
  • being observed twice in a setting of your own choosing while using media for your own research;
  • and up to three follow-up interviews that would occur during the span of the study.

All data collected during this study will remain confidential and will aid us in better developing the software and understanding the specific needs of researchers who use media. Chances are, if you have used the library to stream your media reserves for your courses, you’ve already been acquainted with our open-source software.  As we further develop the software, we would like to improve its capacities for academic researchers. We are interested in how you use media, you are not in any way required to use Avalon in your own work to be a participant, nor are we asking you to try Avalon.

If this study piques your interest, and you have some time (estimation of time for participants is about 20 hours total over 6 months) to share your research methods with us, please respond to this Google Form by March 22 with your name, e-mail address, and the preferred time that you could attend an info session.

We thank you in advance for considering this project. Please feel free to write back to Repository Community Manager Debs Cane (deborah.cane@northwestern.edu) or Research Assistant Linde Murugan (murugan@u.northwestern.edu) with any additional questions about the study or to suggest any other researchers we should contact.

MMLC Workshop: Working with Video Essays

Michael J. Kramer
The Multimedia Learning Center offers a workshop on time-based media projects (video and audio).
What makes a good audio or visual student essay? How much do faculty need to know to include time-based media projects in student coursework? The answers to these questions may surprise you: multimedia classwork is more accessible than you think. In this workshop, we delve into the medium of audio and video essays. We’ll discuss both the skills and technology needed to assign and evaluate digital media in the classroom. Led by John Bresland.
When: Wednesday, March 2, 2:30-4:00 pm
Where: Main Library lower level: B183
Matthew W. Taylor, IT Director
WCAS Multimedia Learning Center
Northwestern University

NUDHL Reading Group: Between Humanities and the Digital

Michael J. Kramer

NUDHL
Northwestern University Digital Humanities Laboratory – nudhl.net

DIGITAL HUMANITIES READING GROUP

<<All welcome. No DH expertise or experience required. Attend one or all gatherings.>>

BETWEEN HUMANITIES AND THE DIGITAL

Svennson Goldberg BT Digital Humanities

eds. Patrik Svensson and David Theo Goldberg

(MIT Press, 2015)

The Northwestern University Digital Humanities Laboratory invites those interested in this emerging field of interdisciplinary scholarship to join us for a three-part reading group. No previous digital humanities experience required. Books are available *for free* at (and thanks to!) the AKIH. Attend one or all discussions as your schedule and interests permit.

Friday, 3/4, 10 am­­—noon: Introduction, Part I (pp. 1-172)

Friday, 4/22, 10 am—noon: Part II (pp. 173-328)

Friday, 5/27, 10 am—noon: Part III (pp. 329-506), *held in Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference Room, 1800 Sherman Ave* 

Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities

1800 Sherman Ave. 1st Floor Seminar Room

Light refreshments, coffee, tea will be served.

Please email NUDHL co-convener Michael Kramer, mjk@northwestern.edu, if you have any questions.

02/05, 12-2pm: Lisa Lynch, “Working with volatile archives: the case of Wikileaks.”

Jillana

N U D H L

Northwestern University Digital Humanities Laboratory

Research Workshop @ Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities

nudhl.net

Please join us for:

Dr. Lisa Lynch

“Working with volatile archives: the case of Wikileaks”

Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities

1800 Sherman Ave. 1st Floor Seminar Room

February 5, 2016, 12-2pm

Lisa Lynch is Associate Professor of New Media and Journalism at Concordia University. She served as a 2014 Fellow at the Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy and was 2015 Visiting Fellow at Yale University’s Information Society Project. Her publications include “‘We’re Going To Crack The World Open’: Wikileaks and the Future of Investigative Reporting,” Journalism Studies (2010). More on Lisa Lynch’s work can be found on her website, lisalynch.org.

Lunch will be served (Pad Thai). No DH experience necessary!

Questions? Contact NUDHL co-organizers Jillana Enteen (j-enteen@northwestern.edu), Michael J. Kramer (mjk@northwestern.edu), or Sylvester Johnson (sylvester.johnson@northwestern.edu).

Co-sponsorship by Gender & Sexuality Studies.

TALK: Micha Cárdenas, Shifting Poetics: Trans of Color Movement in Digital Media

Michael J. Kramer

Shifting Poetics: Trans of Color Movement in Digital Media

micha cárdenas
Assistant Professor, Interactive Media Design
University of Washington | Bothell

Wednesday, February 10th, 12:00 pm
Alvina Krause Studio
Annie May Swift Hall
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL

Lunch will be served

RSVP to ps@northwestern.edu

micha cárdenas is an artist/theorist who works in performance, wearable electronics, hacktivism  and critical gender studies. She develops technologies through workshops and collective design processes, inspired by existing networks of horizontal knowledge production in queer, transgender, and diasporic communities. In her talk, cárdenas will discuss her practice-based research projects, including Local Autonomy Networks (Autonets), Redshift and Portalmetal and UNSTOPPABLE, as well as media made by other artists including Zach Blas, Mattie Brice, and Nao Bustamante. Through these examples cárdenas will demonstrate the operations of the shift and the stitch as the basis for a trans of color poetics that offers alternatives to binaries of visibility/invisibility and transparency/opacity.

ps_series_micha_cardenas

FYI: Data Viz Collaborative Fall 2015, NU/SAIC

Michael J. Kramer
FYI:
Data Viz Collaborative Fall 2015

December 5–17
Reception: Friday, December 4, 4:00 p.m.
The LeRoy Neiman Center, 37 S. Wabash Ave., 1st floor

Students and faculty members from Northwestern University (NU) and SAIC are collaborating on research, studio arts, and visual communication design this fall at SAIC’s campus. As part of SAIC’s long history of connecting art and science, Data Viz Collaborative is a course involving creative approaches to information visualization, which culminates in this exhibition. Leading the course are SAIC’s Douglas Pancoast (Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects) and Judd Morrissey (Art and Technology Studies) along with NU’s Bruce E. Ankenman (Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences), Joshua N. Leonard (Chemical and Biological Engineering), and Amanda Stathopoulos (Civil and Environmental Engineering).