The following announcement came in from Karin Armstrong at the University of Victoria.

Announcing the 2008 Digital Humanities Summer Institute

University of Victoria, May 26-30, 2008

http://www.dhsi.org

* Scholarships

We are pleased to announce that funding from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, and other partners, makes possible the
offering of a limited number of scholarship-subsidized spots in the 2008 Summer Institute. These will be awarded to scholars in the
digital humanities, both students and professionals. The application deadline is March 15th. Applicants will be informed of their success
before March 30th. The application form is available on line at: http://www.dhsi.org/home/scholarships.
Scholarships will be awarded first to those coming to the institute for the first time, then to returning participants.

* Additional ACH Travel Bursary

The Association for Computers and the Humanities (http://www.ach.org) is offering several bursaries to assist graduate students by defraying travel and lodging costs. You may apply for the this bursary at the same time as for Institute scholarships by indicating on the scholarship application form that you are a graduate student member of the ACH and would like to be considered for the ACH bursary.

From Tim Stowell, Dean of Humanities

Monday, January 14, 2008

Dear Colleagues:

I regret to inform you that Joseph Vaughan, the Director of UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities, has accepted the position of Chief Information Officer and Director of Computer Information Services at Harvey Mudd College, one of the Claremont Colleges, with a unique liberal arts focus that incorporates majors in mathematics, science and engineering.

Joseph’s affiliation with UCLA started in 1985 when he joined the Department of Philosophy as a graduate student. In 1994, Joseph’s affiliation shifted to a managerial role, and he held two successive managerial positions within Dodd Humanities. In 2001, Joseph took over the management of the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH), then called the Humanities Computing Facility. This unit was in disarray when Joseph took charge, and could at best provide basic computing support for the faculty and staff in the Division. Under Joseph’s strong leadership, the Center for Digital Humanities began to flourish. Not only did he ensure that basic infrastructure and support were provided in an effective manner ; he also oversaw a broadening of its mission, providing an extensive array of technological solutions in support of both instruction and research. Joseph has also been very successful in appointing skilled and highly motivated managers and staff members; CDH continues to draw its strength from this collective pool of talent.

In recent years, Joseph has played a key role in new initiatives in the faculty research arena, such as the digital humanities fellowship program (offered in collaboration with the UCLA Library). Joseph has also established partnerships across the campus, including the current
partnership between CDH and Academic Technology Services (ATS). More
generally, Joseph has positioned CDH as a major player in, and contributor to, campus-wide initiatives.

Beyond these many professional contributions, Joseph has always brought an approachable and friendly demeanor, active intellect and positive energy to his position. While I am very sad to see Joseph leave UCLA, I am very grateful to him for what he has accomplished in transforming CDH into the premier center that it is today. On a personal level, I am also very happy for Joseph as he takes on this new challenge. I am sure you will join me in wishing him all the best.

Joseph’s last day is February 15th. I am currently working with Assistant Dean Reem Hanna-Harwell on an interim plan for the CDH directorship. We will need to consult with the CDH managers and various faculty that have been heavily engaged in Center activities.

I will provide an update in the coming weeks, once more information is available.

Sincerely,

Tim Stowell
Dean of Humanities

From the Humanist listserv:

Monday Dec 17, 2005

Academic Commons today released its December 2007 special issue
devoted to CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE & THE LIBERAL ARTS
(www.academiccommons.org/).
Edited by David L. Green (Principal at Knowledge Culture), the issue
is dedicated to the memory of Roy Rosenzweig (1950-2007), an
extraordinary historian who inspired a generation of fellow
historians and others working at the intersection of the humanities
and new technologies (http://thanksroy.org/).

Table of Contents: http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/announcement/table-of-contents

*Introduction*
- David L. Green, “A Cyberinfrastructure for Us All.”

*Humanities Cyberinfrastructure*
- Gary Wells, “The (Uncommon) Challenge of the Cultural
Commonwealth” (Review)
- Kevin Guthrie, “Beyond the ACLS Report: An Interview with John
Unsworth.”

The Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Ireland has announced the appointment of Dr. Susan Schreibman as Director of the newly created Digital Humanities Observatory (DHO). Dr. Schreibman will join the Academy from the University of Maryland, where she is currently Assistant Dean and Head of Digital Collections and Research.

The DHO is a new entity, created to coordinate Digital Humanities initiatives throughout Ireland.

See http://www.dho.ie/index.html

Dean Stowell announced a search for a faculty member in Digital Humanities:

From: “Stowell, Tim” <TStowell@college.ucla.edu>
To: chairs.humnet@lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Digital Humanities Search
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:22:50 -0700

Dear Colleagues:

I have authorized an open-rank ladder faculty search this year in the field
of Digital Humanities. UCLA already has one of the most vibrant intellectual
communities of scholars engaging in innovative research and teaching in this
area, and one of our new Mellon programs is helping to foster ties among
this new community of scholars, together with those working in media
studies; http://www.digitalhumanities.ucla.edu/ for further information.
This open-rank search will allow us to strengthen our faculty base and
further increase our visibility in this area.

Given that digital and media studies span the full spectrum of fields in the
humanities, no home department has been designated for this search. If the
search results in a viable candidate, the home department(s) will need to be
determined based on the academic background of the successful candidate. For
this reason, and in order to cast the widest web possible, the search
advertisement has been published in a variety of listings and journals
across the humanities disciplines, in addition to the Chronicle and the main
digital humanities postings.

The text of the job advertisement is appended below, at the end of this
message. The application deadline is November 20, 2007. Please feel free to
forward the text of the ad to faculty members of your department and to
colleagues at other universities in your respective fields.

I have appointed an interdisciplinary search committee, chaired by Todd
Presner, Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Chair of the CDH
Faculty Advisory Committee. Other members of the committee are Ali Behdad
(English/Comparative Literature), Steven Nelson (Art History), Joseph
Vaughan (Center for Digital Humanities), Willeke Wendrich (Near Eastern
Languages & Cultures) and Maite de Zubiaurre (Spanish & Portuguese).

The search committee is charged initially with recommending to me a short
list of candidates. Once the short list has been determined, the search
committee will be expanded to incorporate the relevant department chairs as
necessary, so that the likely home departments are included in the process
early on, and in a fully consultative manner. After the candidates have
visited the campus early in the Winter quarter, the search committee will
make a final recommendation to me regarding the appointment of a particular
candidate. This appointment will have to be made within one (or more) of our
existing departments, and will therefore have to be approved in a formal
vote by the faculty of the department(s) in question.

If you have further questions about this search, please don’t hesitate to
speak to me or consult with Todd Presner (presner@humnet.ucla.edu).

Tim Stowell
Dean of Humanities
==================

UCLA College – Division of Humanities – Digital Humanities

The University of California, Los Angeles, invites applications for an
open-rank faculty position in Digital Humanities beginning July 1, 2008.
Specializations may include, but are not limited to: new media and
cultural/literary studies, computational sciences and culture, globalization
and media, visual studies, GIS and cultural mapping, advanced visualization,
Internet culture, and media theory. The successful candidate will have a
demonstrated ability to work across disciplines on broad-based humanities
projects that build bridges between humanists and technologists through
interdisciplinary collaboration. Applicants should demonstrate a strong
commitment and innovative approach to teaching and research. Administrative
experience working with technology staff and funding agencies is desirable.
The successful candidate will be appointed in one or more academic
departments. He/she will work closely with interdisciplinary centers,
including the Center for Digital Humanities, and is expected to assume a
central role in UCLA’s vibrant digital humanities community. Please note
that UCLA is conducting two additional searches in the field of Digital
Humanities, as follows: A search by the Department of English in the area of
New Media and a search for a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital
Humanities. For more information, please visit:
http://www.digitalhumanities.ucla.edu
<http://www.digitalhumanities.ucla.edu/>

A Ph.D. is required by July 2008. To apply, please send an application
letter, CV, three letters of recommendation, and representative research
publications by November 20, 2007, to:

Chair of Digital Humanities Search Committee
2300 Murphy Hall, Box 951438
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1438

Position subject to final budgetary approval. UCLA is an Affirmative
Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are especially
encouraged to apply.

This message came over from the Library.

From: Farb,Sharon

Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007, 12:13pm

The UCLA library is interested in gathering input from UCLA faculty and graduate students working with undergraduates regarding two databases aimed at interdisciplinary undergraduate uses. Please share this announcement with any faculty or graduate students you think may be interested. All comments welcome. Deadline is October 31, 2007.

————————

The databases are:

Academic Search Premier
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than eight thousand arts and humanities, social sciences, and life and physical sciences journals; offers access to full-text articles in more than 4,400 journals

Academic Search Complete

Indexes and abstracts articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese; full-text available for more than 5,300 journals; coverage spans all disciplines and area studies

Academic OneFile
Indexes and abstracts articles in more than eight thousand journals in the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, theology, and literature; includes NPR, CNN, and CBC transcripts and podcasts and the full text of The New York Times from 1995 to the present

Learn more at http://www2.library.ucla.edu/electronicresources.html

There are already five roundtable discussions lined up for 2007-2008, with more in the works.

The roundtables are informal gatherings at which we discuss topics related to digital humanities. We often start out discussing one topic and end up on a completely different one, but the discussions are always lively and engaging.

In November, we will host a visit from Virginia Kuhn (USC School of Cinematic Arts) who will discuss “the academy’s resistance to the digital, using her own dissertation as a limit case.” Dr. Kuhn was spotlighted in a Chronicle of Higher Education article in 2006 Digital Dissertation Dust-up. Also in November, John Lynch (graduate student in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA) will lead a discussion of web based bibliography tools.

In March, Professor Marcus Kracht (UCLA Dept of Linguistics) will lead a discussion of issues and challenges in developing software to test linguistic theories.

In April John Unsworth (Graduate School of Information and Library Science, University of Illinois) will visit. And Susan Lewak (graduate student in English, UCLA) and Shish Akat (from the Rhythm and Hues company) will lead a discussion of Wikis in the educational environment as well as the changing nature of authorship.

For more events, details of meeting times and to RSVP see the CDH Events Page.

Last April, Prof. Tim Tangherlini (Scandinavian Section) gave a fascinating talk on his use of a Tablet PC in the classroom. Annelie Rugg at CDH had purchased a Lenovo tablet PC for loan to instructors that want to try it out. Since the idea had originally come from Tim, he quickly said he wanted to try it in his classes.

Among the things that Tim discovered: the Tablet PC is excellent for grading papers. Tim asks his students to submit their work to Turnitin.com (available through my.ucla). When it comes back, he can open it on the tablet and proceed to write on the margins. Not enough space in the margin? Just zoom in and write more! The students can zoom in to read the comments when they get their papers back. Say something you see later is not relevant? Just erase it. Want to draw a line from one part of the paper to another? Just use the drawing tools. When you’ve finished, the whole thing can be saved to pdf and sent off to the student.

Tangherlini’s powerpoint presentation is here: navigating-the-tablet.ppt

If you are a UCLA Humanities instructor and would like to test a Tablet PC, contact Annelie Rugg (annelie@humnet.ucla.edu)

	The Professor	The Tablet

I asked Tim some follow up questions in email. Here’s what he wrote:

Q. What would you say to a colleague who was considering using a Tablet PC?

The tablet PC has come a long way from the glitchy and unreliable Newton’s of yore. Even but a scant 2 years ago, the tablet was a cumbersome piece of hardware–it generated a massive amount of heat, and one had to “train” the software to recognize your handwriting. In some models, the stylus was tethered to the machine. Ugh.
But now they are light, small (8.5 x 11), there is no handwriting training, and they work remarkably well. The clamshell models with reversible screen are far more versatile than the tablet only models, but I suspect it is a matter of preference. I’m not sure you’d want it as your only machine, unless you (a) don’t mind having fairly elaborate docking stations and (b) don’t do anything that requires high processor speed or lots of memory (ie you wouldn’t want to edit video or do GIS stuff on this thing). It is an excellent classroom presentation platform, a fabulous grading platform, and a very good travel computer.

Q. What did you find most useful about the Lenovo?
The ability to grade using handwriting on electronic papers.

Q. What did you think needs to be improved?
Battery time and foreign language handwriting recognition.

Q. What’s your overall impression of this technology?
This is a keeper–I strongly recommend departments to buy 2 or so for “check-out” to faculty members so they can play, learn and innovate with
this platform.

Dean Stowell announced the Digital Humanities Fellows for 2007-2008 on August 22:

Dear Colleagues,

The Division of Humanities, in collaboration with the UCLA Library, is pleased to announce Digital Humanities Fellows for 2007-2008. Last year, in collaboration with the UCLA Library, we announced the creation of a number of fellowships intended to foster scholarship in Digital Humanities. This year’s call for applications was open to UCLA ladder faculty, lecturers, graduate students, librarians and technology staff. The fellowships provide funds and potential release time for senior fellows and GSR salary support for junior fellows, as well as modest research support funds, technical support, shared office space, and assistance with extramural grant applications. Fellows will work closely with the faculty and staff of the Center for Digital Humanities (CDH), the UCLA Digital Humanities Incubator Group (UDHIG), and the UCLA Digital Library.

Proposals were welcomed for projects that might construct innovative databases or digital archives, develop metadata standards, produce
electronic editions of print works, create digital tools for research and teaching, undertake new media representations of data, or develop digital
mapping and geo-referencing tools. Proposals that question or reflect upon digital humanities were also encouraged.

This year’s call for applications again met with avid response from the campus community. I would like to extend my gratitude to all applicants for
giving the fellowship selection committee an outstanding pool of applications to work with. I am now pleased to announce, on behalf CDH, UDHIG, and with support from the UCLA Library, that four fellowships have been awarded for the 2007-08 academic year as follows below.

Senior Fellows:

Teresa Barnett, Head, Center for Oral History Research and Marta Brunner, Librarian for English and American Literature

Project Title: Putting Los Angeles Social Movements History on the Map: Automated Tagging of Oral History Transcripts

Maite Zubiaurre, Assistant Professor, Spanish and Portuguese

Project Title: A Virtual Wunderkammer: Sexual Cultures in Early Twentieth-Century Spain.

Junior Fellows:

Andrew Miller, Asian Languages and Cultures
Project Title: Mapping Culture in the Shuijing zhu: Using GIS to Envision All Under Heaven

Loren Kajikawa, Musicology
Project Title: Technologies of Identity: A Web-Based Approach to Analyzing Hip-Hop Music

All fellows will be showcasing their results at the conclusion of the fellowship period in a campus-wide digital humanities event, so stay tuned
for information on this.

I would like to thank the members of the 2007-08 fellowship selection committee as chaired by Dr Kim Jansma for all their hard work. I would also like to thank the UCLA Library for partnering with the Humanities in this endeavor.

I look forward to the continuation of this fellowship program into the future and hope that you will join me in congratulating the fellowship
recipients.

Sincerely,

Tim

Tim Stowell
Dean of Humanities

Stanford Humanities Center announced Digital Humanities Fellowships for 2008-2009 this morning.

The Digital Humanities fellowship online application deadline is October 15, 2007.

Applicants normally will have received their PhD in or before September 2005 to be eligible for 2008-2009 fellowships. Fellows are awarded stipends of up to $60,000. In addition, a housing and moving allowance of up to $15,000 is offered, dependent upon need.

For the online application and more information, please see their website:

http://shc.stanford.edu/fellowships/digital_hum.htm