New Directions in Digital Humanities Scholarship

Sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the University of Illinois Library, the Illinois Informatics Institute, the Department of History at the University of Illinois, and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH), this symposium aims to promote digital humanities scholarship at the University of Illinois through discussion of opportunities and obstacles and by showcasing digital humanities projects.

New Directions in Humanities Research Logo: Medieval Help Desk

Join us on February 26-27, 2009 in Room 126 GSLIS Building. There is no fee to attend and no advance registration required. For more information contact Mary Stuart (m-stuart@illinois.edu).

Program

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Keynote Address, 5:00 p.m.

MP3| Real Audio
John Unsworth
Dean, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois

Friday, February 27, 2009

Morning Session

Opening Remarks (8:45-9:30)
MP3 | Real Audio

Welcome and Introductions: Paula Kaufman and Antoinette Burton
Brief statement of goals of symposium: Ray Fouche and Mary Stuart
Presentation and discussion of CLIR project – Scholars’ Evaluation of Mass Digitization
Presentation of conclusions from CLIR’s recent seminar on promoting digital humanities scholarship
Chuck Henry

Project profiles, (9:30-11:30):
MP3 |Real Audio

Jefferson’s Travels: Scot French, Director of Virginia Center for Digital History, and Bill Ferster, Director of Technology, VCDH
Rethinking Timelines: Modeling Historical Narrative in Time and Space (Silk Road Atlas, China)
Ruth Mostern, University of California – Merced
The Roots of Modern America: Technology, Culture and Social Change
The Difference Slavery Made: Will Thomas, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Digital Iam: History of Mobility in Russia: John Randolph, Department of History, University of Illinois

Lunch break (11:30-1:00)

Afternoon Session (1:00-4:45)

Project profiles continued (1:00-2:30): MP3 | Real Audio

Emancipating Digital Data: The Lincoln Digitization Project: Kevin Franklin, Executive Director, Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (I-CHASS), University of Illinois; Peter Bajcsy, Associate Director for Data Analytics, I-CHASS, and Research Scientist, NCSA, University of Illinois (http://isda.ncsa.uiuc.edu/lpapers/index.html)
Sean Takats, Director of Research Projects, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
Map of Early Modern London: Janelle Jenstad, University of Victoria, (CHE article: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i47/47b01001.htm)
Cartography of American Colonization Database: Max Edelson, Department of History, University of Illinois

Panel discussions (2:30-4:30):

Part 1 (2:30-3:30): MP3 |Real AudioWhat projects have worked, and what accounts for their success? Why have historians been slow to adopt the tools of digital scholarship compared to their colleagues in other humanities disciplines, such as literary studies? What are the lessons for historians from literary scholars? Moderator: John Unsworth. Panelists: Craig Koslofsky, Josh Greenberg, Mark Kornbluh, Sean Takata, Amy Friedlander, Scot French.
Part 2 (3:30-4:30): MP3 |Real AudioWhat is the role for libraries in creating and supporting the cyberinfrastructure for humanities research? What do researchers need from libraries to enable digital humanities scholarship? (short-term, medium-term, and long-range). Moderator: Chuck Henry. Panelists: Deanna Raineri, Sarah Shreeves, Kevin Franklin, Betsy Kruger, Scott Walter, Beth Sandore, John Randolph, Max Edelson.

Wrap up (4:30-4:45): Chuck Henry

Panelists, Presenters, Moderators:

Chuck Henry, President, Council on Library and Information Resources (chenry@clir.org)
Amy Friedlander, Director of Programs, Council on Library and Information Resources (AFriedlander@clir.org)
Paula Kaufman, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (ptk@illinois.edu)
Antoinette Burton, Professor and Chair, Department of History, Chatherine C. and Bruce A. Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (aburton@uiuc.edu)
Peter Bajcsy, Associate Director for Data Analytics, Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (I-CHASS), Research Scientist, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (bajcsy@illinois.edu)
S. Max Edelson, Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (edelson@illinois.edu)
Bill Ferster, Director of Technology, Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia (bferster@virginia.edu)
Kevin Franklin, Executive Director, Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (I-CHASS), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (kevinf@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
Scot French, Director, Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia (http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/index.php?page=VCDH) (sfrench@virginia.edu)
Joshua Greenberg, Director of Digital Strategy and Scholarship, New York Public Library (Joshua_Greenberg@nypl.org)
Janelle Jenstad, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Victoria (jenstad@uvic.ca)
Mark Kornbluh, Director, MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online, Professor of History and Computer Science, Michigan State University (Mark.Kornbluh@matrix.msu.edu)
Craig Koslofsky, Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (koslof@illinois.edu)
Betsy Kruger, Head, Digital Content Creation, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (betsyk@illinois.edu)
Ruth Mostern, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities, Social Science and the Arts, University of California Merced (rmostern@ucmerced.edu)
Deanna Raineri, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Associate Director, Illinois Informatics Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (raineri@illinois.edu)
John Randolph, Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (jwr@illinois.edu)
Beth Sandore, Professor of Library Administration and Associate University Librarian for Information Technology Policy and Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (sandore@illinois.edu)
Sarah Shreeves, Associate Professor of Library Administration and Coordinator, Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (sshreeve@illinois.edu)
Sean Takats, Director of Research Projects, Center for History and New Media, and Assistant Professor of History, George Mason University (stakats@gmu.edu)
William G. Thomas, III, John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History, University of Nebraska – Lincoln (wthomas4@unl.edu)
John Unsworth, Dean, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Director, Illinois Informatics Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (unsworth@illinois.edu)
Scott Walter, Professor of Library Administration and Associate University Librarian for Services, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (swalter@illinois.edu)

Organizers:

Ray Fouche, Assistant Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (rfouche@illinois.edu)
Clare Crowston, Associate Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (crowston@illinois.edu)
Mary Stuart, History, Philosophy and Newspaper Librarian, Professor of Library Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (m-stuart@illinois.edu)

Medieval Help Desk (English)

Medieval Help Desk (Norwegian with English Subtitles)

Medieval Help Desk image used with permission.

Updated on July 14, 2025 by Geoffrey Ross