This fall’s Digital Dialogues are now available with brief descriptions on our MITH Podcasting page. Topics covered this fall include videogame preservation, teaching in Second Life, data mining for metaphors in eighteenth century literature, data sets and an “abundant humanities library”, how programming is taught, open source teaching and scholarship, and a close look at Ebook devices.

We have a couple more episodes before wrapping up this season’s series on November 17th. If you are unable to attend the live event, the podcast file will be available within a day after the talk. Download the Fall 2009 Speakers Schedule to view a complete list of speakers and topics.

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Wednesday, November 11, 3:30-4:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

“From the First Year Through Tenure: New Pathways for Humanities in a Digital Age” by GREG CRANE

Classical studies offers one particular, but potentially powerful, window onto possibilities for the humanities. A growing, international body of classicists are dedicated not simply to creating digital tools but to reimagining the field against the opportunities and challenges of the digital world in which we already live. On the one hand, we are beginning to see new possibilities for research that were not feasible with the tools of print culture. At the same time, and perhaps even more importantly, we are seeing a reorganization of who can participate and what they can contribute. We can see the possibility of a truly global field emerging, with implications far beyond the traditional bounds of
classical studies.

GREG CRANE is currently a Professor of Classics, as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Perseus Project at Tufts University. He has written two books on Thucydides; The Blinded Eye & The Ancient Simplicity, and is currently conducting preliminary research for a planned book on Cicero. He is particularly interested in the extent to which broadcast media such as the World Wide Web not only enhance the work of professional researchers and students in formal degree programs but create new audiences outside academia for cultural materials. His current research focuses on “computational humanities” and how this new field can help to democratize information without compromising intellectual rigor.

Coming up @ MITH 11/17: Jennifer Fleeger (Catholic), “Archiving America: The Vitaphone, the DVD, and Warner Bros. (re)store Jazz History”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogue schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks are free and open to the public!

Contact: Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-8927)

Applications for MITH’s Spring 2010 Winnemore Digital Humanities Dissertation Fellowship are now being accepted.

Intended for students whose dissertations engage the intersections between new media and the traditional concerns of the Arts and Humanities, the Winnemore Fellowship will provide a stipend of $9,570, plus full benefits and tuition remission up to five credits.

Nominees will be evaluated on three main criteria: (1) The potential contribution of the dissertation to the Digital Humanities; (2) The quality of the student’s work; (3) The likelihood of the student successfully completing the dissertation.

Applicants will be asked to submit an application form; a 500-1000 word abstract written for a general audience; a statement of work completed to date, work remaining, and expected completion date; a curriculum vitae; and two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from the student’s dissertation director. The application form can be found here: http://mith.umd.edu/research/WinnemoreApp2010.pdf

Students who wish to apply for the fellowship should submit a copy of the application form and the required attachments to Neil Fraistat, Director of MITH, McKeldin Library B0131, Campus.

Students who have funding that is related to their dissertation research or another substantial fellowship should not apply.

Applications for Spring 2009 are due at MITH by noon, Monday, December 7, 2009. The recipient will be announced in mid-December 2009.

Please address any questions to Neil Fraistat, Director of MITH (fraistat at umd dot edu).

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, November 3, 12:30-1:45
MITH Conference Room, Mckeldin Library B0135

“The Great Ebook Throwdown” with Ben Bederson, Nick Chen, and Matt Kirschenbaum

Ebooks are suddenly everywhere again. Kindle, Nook, iPhone . . . after 2000 years, the codex is getting an upgrade. But what kind of electronic books and electronic reading devices do we really want? Are we trying to improve on the book, or create something new? Something different? Are there some universal design principles we can agree on? And what about the bigger picture: can electronic gadgetry reverse the national decline in reading dramatically documented by agencies such as the NEA? This roundtable discussion led by Ben Bederson, Nick Chen, and Matt Kirschenbaum will feature as many electronic reading and electronic book devices as we can lay our hands on, including some prototypes being developed here at the University of Maryland. We’ll hold them up, pass them around, turn them on, talk some trash, and, in the process, maybe gain just a little bit of insight into what we all want from our electronic book readers. Attendees are encouraged to bring along electronic book devices of their own.

Benjamin B. Bederson is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and the previous director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies and iSchool at the University of Maryland. His research is on mobile device interfaces, information visualization, interaction strategies, digital libraries, and accessibility issues such as voting system usability. He is also co-founder and Chief Scientist of Zumobi, a startup offering a mobile content platform based on that research.

Nicholas Chen is a doctoral candidate in the department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland and is affiliated with the Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at UMD. He is advised by Professor Francois Guimbretiere in the Cornell University Information Science Department. His research is on electronic reading devices, pen-based user interfaces, and interactions for supporting simultaneous use of multiple devices. Previously, he performed the first-ever evaluation of a dual-display electronic reading device.

Matthew G. Kirschenbaum is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, Associate Director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), and Director of Digital Cultures and Creativity, a new “living/learning” program in the Honors College.

Comint up @ MITH 11/11: Greg Crane, “From the First Year Through Tenure: New Pathways for Humanities in a Digital Age”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogues schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks free and open to the public!

Contact: Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-8927)

MITH is very pleased and excited to welcome the launch of a new living/learning program, Digital Cultures and Creativity (DCC), to be housed within the University Honors College, sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities and co-sponsorsed by the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences (the Computer Science Department) and the College of Information Studies.

Designed for the 21st century student who was born into the world of windows and the web, Digital Cultures and Creativity (DCC) provides an innovative living and learning community that combines art, imagination and global citizenship with new media and new technologies. Depending on individual interest, students will pursue activities including digital music and video production, digital art, creative electronic writing, virtual worlds and the development of software and online communities. Associate Professor of English and MITH Associate Director Matthew Kirschenbaum has been named first Director of the program: “There’s a new generation of young people today–we sometimes call them ‘digital natives’–who have grown up creating and expressing themselves online,” Kirschenbaum says. “Up till now they didn’t have a home here on campus. Now they will.”

Kirschenbaum is joined by Associate Director Tanya Clement, who recently earned her Ph.D. from Maryland and is herself a rising star in the international digital humanities community. “I’m looking forward to continuing the tradition of making the University of Maryland an innovator in digital humanities teaching and learning,” says Clement. Neil Fraistat, Director of MITH, adds: “MITH is delighted to be partnering with the Department of Computer Science and the iSchool to bring this program into being. DCC will make palpable to first- and second-year honors students the intellectual excitement and energy characterizing the emergent field of digital humanities.”

DCC will welcome its first cohort of students next fall. Watch http://dcc.umd.edu for further news and developments, or follow us on Twitter as @umd_dcc.

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, October 27, 12:30-1:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

“The Open Source Professor: Teaching, Research, and Transparency” by MARK SAMPLE

What happens when the scholarship of teaching meets Web 2.0? Professor Sample argues the ideal result is the open source professor, a teacher and scholar who applies the tenets of the open source software community to his or her own professional life. This means sharing, conversation, collaboration, and reflection at every step in the teaching and research process, not just with the final product. Technology plays a key role in making open source professing possible, and Professor Sample will discuss the philosophical and practical implications of such a transparent approach to pedagogy and scholarship, as well as possible pitfalls for untenured faculty.

PROFESSOR MARK SAMPLE teaches and researches contemporary American literature and Digital Culture at George Mason University. His most recent publication, in Game Studies, explores the interplay between video games, the War on Terror, and the production of knowledge. Professor Sample can be found blogging at http://www.samplereality.com.

Coming up @ MITH 11/3: Ben Bederson, Nick Chen, & Matt Kirschenbaum, “The Great Ebook Throwdown”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogues Schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks are free and open to the public!

Contact Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-8927)

The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), College Park Art Scholars, Honors Humanities, and the Honors College are very pleased to present an evening with author and futurist . . .

B R U C E S T E R L I N G

“Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years”

Monday, October 26
7:00 pm
Van Munching 1524
University of Maryland, College Park

FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC

Bruce Sterling is an Austin-based science fiction writer and futurist, internationally recognized as an authority on digital culture and technology. His novels, including Involution Ocean, The Artificial Kid, Schismatrix, Islands in the Net, and Heavy Weather helped define the cyberpunk genre. With William Gibson, he co-authored the definitive steampunk yarn The Difference Engine. He is one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, editor of Mirrorshades, and co-editor of The Cyberpunk Anthology; currently he blogs and reports for WIRED.com. Other books: Shaping Things; Zeitgeist; Distraction; Holy Fire; The Hacker Crackdown; Tomorrow Now. Come join us for a face to face with one of cyberspace’s most resonant voices.

For inquiries or further information please contact Matthew Kirschenbaum, mgk at umd dot edu or 301-405-8505.

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, October 20, 12:30-1:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

“If/Then 101: Teaching Programming at Maryland” by DOUG RESIDE

How is programming taught at the University of Maryland? Are there
any substantive difference in the way faculty and staff in different
departments communicate the core ideas of the practice? This round
table discussion will gather members of the campus community from
different disciplines and colleges to publicly compare notes and
discover whether there are any surprising disciplinary differences or
similarities in programming pedagogy.

Doug Reside is Assistant Director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH). In addition to undergraduate degrees in English
and Computer Science from Truman State University, he holds a PhD in
English from the University of Kentucky and his dissertation,
completed in 2006, proposes a theory for textual criticism and editing
of musical theater texts and included an electronic edition of the
1998 musical Parade. Reside directs all programming work at MITH and
has taught three courses on programming for humanities students.

Coming up @ MITH 10/27: Mark Sample (George Mason), “The Open Source Professor: Teaching, Research, and Transparency”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogue schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks free and open to the public!

Contact Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-9827)

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, October 13, 12:30–1:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

“An Abundant Humanities Library” by SAYEED CHOUDHURY

One of the most exciting and potentially transformative aspects of digital humanities is an inflection from dealing with scarcity to dealing with abundance. Traditionally, humanities libraries have been defined by their emphasis on rare materials or special collections. What are the implications of having an abundant humanities library?

As a greater amount of these materials becomes available in digital format, there is growing evidence that humanists might adopt data-driven research or teaching methods that are typically common in the sciences. The multi-institutional “Digging into Data” request for proposals represents an example of this new frontier. The Roman de la Rose Digital Library led by the Johns Hopkins University represents a useful case study in this realm. Choudhury will discuss the implications of the Rose Digital Library for digital librarians and scholars and offer ideas about how humanists might consider developing and leveraging cyberinfrastructure across domains.

SAYEED CHOUDHURY is the Associate Dean for Library Digital Programs and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of Operations for the Institute of Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) based at Johns Hopkins. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins, a Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Senior Presidential Fellow with the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Coming up @ MITH 10/20: Doug Reside, “Teaching Programming at Maryland”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogue schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks free and open to the public!

Contact Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-8927)

A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, October 6, 12:30 – 1:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

“A Dictionary, A Database, A Desultory Reader: Metaphors for the Mind in Eighteenth-Century Literature” by Brad Pasanek

BRAD PASANEK is the Assistant Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature and Digital Humanities at the University of Virginia. Brad received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He recently published two Literary and Linguistic Computing works: “Meaning and Mining” & “Mining Millions of Metaphors.”

Coming up @ MITH 10/13: Sayeed Choudhury (Johns Hopkins), “An Abundant Humanities Library”

View MITH’s complete Digital Dialogues schedule here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2009.pdf

All talks are free and open to the public!

Contact: Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-8927)