Download - CHIP 2012 Conference 2012 Booklet
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction 3.
2. Moderator & Keynote Speakers 4.
3. Workshop Round I: Digitizing Sources 7.
4. Workshop Round II: Processing 9.
5. Workshop Round III: Transmission 11.
6. Closing Discussion: Enhanced Publications 13.
7. Program 15.
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INTRODUCTION
Let us stop and think for a minute about the fact that only twenty
years ago the personal computer was a rare sight in private homes.
Those who knew how to send an e-mail or install software were
considered ‘wiz kids’ or even ‘geeks’. Silly though this may sound
today, many scholars in the humanities are still reluctant to use the
computer for anything besides typing and using search engines. Only a
select few ‘wiz kids’ explore the myriad of possibilities the computer
and the digital world have to offer for their research. Be it the
digitization of paintings, the mining of large data sets, or the use of the
internet as medium for publication for a large public, the possibilities
are many – but perhaps not unlimited.
For the humanities to truly enter the twenty-first century, a
larger group of scholars need to find their way in the digital world. The
2012 CHIP Conference aims to encourage young scholars, as well as
those scholars who still feel reluctant towards digitization in the
humanities, to explore the possibilities of computers and the digital
world in humanities research. We cannot hope to provide a full account
of current developments in digital humanities. Rather, we hope to
make scholars reflect on the examples provided during the conference,
and to consider how they might be applied to their own research.
We trust that the conference will be inspiring and fruitful.
The organizing committee
Anneke Comello
Niek Janssen
Quintijn Mauer
Karlijn Slegers
Jori Verstegen
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MODERATOR & KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
The core program of the Chip 2012 Conference consists of four keynote
lectures and a plenary closing discussion. The conference will be
moderated by professor Sally Wyatt.
Moderator – Professor Sally Wyatt
Sally Wyatt is a professor of Digital Cultures in
Development at the Faculty of Arts and Social
Science of Maastricht University (The Netherlands).
She is program leader of the e-Humanities research
group of the Royal Netherlands Society for Arts and
Sciences. Professor Wyatt has published several articles on matters
such as social exclusion and gender in the digital world and the
information society, as well as the application of digital methods to
humanities research. As our moderator, professor Wyatt will provide
some opening and closing words, and will lead the plenary discussions.
First Keynote Speaker – Sarah E. Thomas, Ph.D.
Sarah E. Thomas is the current head of the Bodleian
Library at Oxford University. She has previously
held important positions as a librarian at, among
others, the Library of Congress and the libraries of
Harvard University, John Hopkins University, and
Cornell University. She is currently engaged with digitization processes,
e-resources and the digital library. Miss Thomas’ keynote lecture will
focus on her practical experience with embedding libraries in the
digital world.
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Second Keynote Speaker – Professor Rens bod
Rens Bod is a professor of Computational and Digital
Humanities at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He
recently published De vergeten wetenschappen: een
geschiedenis van de Humaniora (2010) on the
historical development of the field of the humanities
in relation to other fields of science. Bod’s keynote
lecture will concentrate on the interface between the humanities and
the natural sciences. Using examples from his own work, he will
elaborate on the possibilities of the new and exciting field of
Computational Humanities for innovative research in our field.
Third Keynote Speaker – Professor Susan Legêne
Susan Legêne is a professor of Political History at the
Vrije Univeristeit Amsterdam (VU). Until 2008, she
was head of the curatorial department of the
Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam and closely involved
with collection digitization policy. Legêne takes part
in the research project organized by the Agora and
The semantics of history programs on digital access
to heritage collections and its influence on historical consciousness. In
her lecture, she will speak about her NWO-CATCH research project on
the transmission of historical knowledge to a broader audience through
a digital platform.
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Fourth Keynote Speaker – Professor Robert Darnton
Professor Robert Darnton is the current director of
the Harvard University Library, as well as a world-
renowned cultural historician of 18th century France.
Moreover, he is considered a pioneer in the field of
the history of the book. Ten of his most important
essays are collected in his seminal 2009 The Case for
Books. Darnton is the founder of the Gutenberg-e program and writes a
lot about the implications of electronic publishing. In 2011, he was
awarded the National Humanities Medal for his determination to make
knowledge accessible to the public at large. In his keynote lecture,
Darnton will advocate the writing of ‘enhanced’ publications, divided
in five levels varying from the digitization of sources and the
publication of detailed scientific monographs to presentation of
shorter, popular publications.
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WORKSHOP ROUND I: DIGITIZING SOURCES
(8 November, Morning)
Due to ever advancing processes of digitization, more and more
scientific sources have become easily accessible for scholars in the
humanities. In two workshops, one about written, the other about
unwritten scientific sources, the advantages and disadvantages,
potential dangers and acceptance regarding these revolutions will be
discussed thoroughly.
09:00 – 09:45: Keynote lecture by Sarah E. Thomas
10:00 – 12:15: Workshops
GROUP I: WRITTEN SOURCES
In these exciting times of digitalization the library of Michigan State
University and Internet giant Google have formed a mammoth alliance
with a noble goal, i.e. to digitize the library’s entire printed book
collection. In doing so they enable researchers from all around the
globe to access large parts of this library. Large scale projects, like this
one, will always raise a great many of problems. In this workshop the
pressing questions on this topic will be at the centre of attention.
Researchers can submit papers on the following topics:
Chair: Nicole Scholtz
One of Michigan University’s researchers active in this program is
Nicole Scholtz, an expert in the field of Geospatial, Numeric and
Statistical data. Because of her expertise in this field she will lead this
workshop.
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GROUP II: UNWRITTEN SOURCES
Unwritten sources, such as archaeological finds, paintings, and other
kinds of non-textual material, are, unfortunately, highly susceptible to
decay. Preservation of such material is, if at all possible, a costly
affair. Can digitalization help us to preserve our precious material
culture, albeit in a virtual world, and if so, does that suffice? In what
ways should these unwritten sources be digitized? This workshop will
revolve around these difficult questions.
Chair: Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill is Master of Sidney Sussex College and Honorary
Professor of Roman Studies at Cambridge University. He has extensive
expertise in digitization through digitization projects of archeological
finds from Herculaneum and Pompeii.
12:30 – 13:15: Plenary discussion
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WORKSHOP ROUND II: PROCESSING
(8 November, Afternoon)
Current developments in the field of Computational Humanities
encompass two directions. The biggest subfield is aimed at gathering
sets of data and exploring tools to process and analyse these. What
consequences this has for novel research questions and methods in
humanities research is central to a second subfield. In this part of the
conference we will look at both, as well as possible interconnections
between the two.
14:15 – 15:00: Keynote lecture by prof. Susan Legêne
15:15 – 17:00: Workshops
GROUP I: PATTERNS AND DATABASES
An already most established way of implementing digitalization in
humanities research is creating large databases of transcribed written
sources. Yet these databases have to be ‘tackled’ as well. Besides
data-mining, there are many more approaches and tools in
development to select and analyze. Other scholars work on the
interconnection of different kinds of sources. In the CEDA_R project of
the e-Humanities program for example, census data are brought
together with other sources about the lives of individuals, communities
and nations. In this workshop, attention will be paid to such tools, in
particular the possibilities to bring different sub-disciplines of the
humanities together.
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Chair: Bob Shoemaker
Bob Shoemaker is a professor of 18th-century British History at the
University of Sheffield. He is one of the primary academics behind the
Old Bailey online archive and has a particular interest in the limitations
the project leaders in this project have identified, e.g. its lack of links
to other resources and its inability to use the data it does have.
GROUP II: ‘CYBER RESEARCH’
It is well-known that computers are capable of taking over calculation
processes from human researchers. The next step, however, is for
computers to take over processes of interpretation. The ??? project, for
example, is currently trying to create an application which is able to
automatically put sources into their historical context and draw
conclusions from them. This workshop will investigate the rethinking of
hermeneutics in a digital age: what are innovative ways to look at
interpretation of information assisted by computational techniques?
What are the possibilities of ‘digital hermeneutics’, and how can web
applications support these processes?
Chair: Joris van Zundert
Joris van Zundert is a researcher and developer in the field of
computational humanities at the Huygens Institute for the History of
the Netherlands. With a background in Dutch literature and linguistics,
he is currently involved in a project that explores the possibilities of
computational inferring and visualising the hypotheses dependency
structure underlying argumentation in historical interpretation.
17.45-18.30: Plenary session
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WORKSHOP ROUND III: TRANSMISSION
(9 November, Morning)
The digitalization of society has major implications for the academic
world. It brings along many opportunities as well as responsibilities. In
this part of the conference, we will discuss the ways in which
humanities scholars can – and perhaps even should - make use of digital
methods for sharing and transmitting their knowledge.
09:00 - 09:45: Keynote lecture by prof. Susan Legêne
10:00 - 12:15: Workshops
GROUP I: PUBLIC HUMANITIES
In 2009, the Dutch Committee on the National Plan for the Future of
the Humanities published a report called Sustainable Humanities.
According to the Committee, the humanities are under tremendous
pressure and should start investing more in their relation to society in
order to survive. Since our world is becoming more digital every day,
digitalization provides many opportunities for humanities scholars to
appeal to a larger public. Think, for example, of Facebook and Twitter,
which are able to reach billions of people all over the world. In this
workshop, we will explore the ways in which digitalization can
contribute to the popularization of humanities research.
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Chair: Phillip Vannini
Phillip Vannini is an associate professor at the School of Communication
& Culture at Royal Roads University, Colwood (CA). His thought-
provoking Popularizing Research: Engaging New Genres, Media, and
Audiences (2012), explores how scholars can use the internet for
popularizing their research.
GROUP II: ACADEMIC COOPERATION
Digitalization has opened up a world of possibilities for humanities
scholars. Projects such as Google Books and JSTOR, for instance, have
made research much easier through the large-scale digitalization of
books and articles. However, there are still many issues to be dealt
with, including copyright infringement. Academic cooperation may
solve a great deal of these issues. In the Netherlands, initiatives such
as Alfalab and The Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and
Social Sciences have already promoted academic teamwork by
spreading knowledge using digital methods. This workshop focuses on
the question if and how digitalisation can contribute to the cooperation
between humanities scholars.
Chair: Richard Price
While doing his research, Richard Price perceived the need for a
platform for academics to connect and share their research. After
finishing his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Oxford, where he was a Prize
Fellow, in 2007, he founded Academia.edu, an international digital
platform for academics, which currently has over 1.2 million members.
12.30-13.15: Plenary discussion
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CLOSING DISCUSSION: ENHANCED PUBLICATIONS
(9 November, Afternoon)
14:15 – 15:00: Keynote lecture by prof. Robert Darnton
15:15 – 15:55: Presentations by Generation Zed Contest winners
15:55 – 16:45: Plenary discussion with panel
We will close our conference by discussing so-called ‘enhanced
publications’ in the humanities, as proposed by professor Robert
Darnton. The desirability and achievability of these publications will be
subject of a discussion in which panel members as well as audience
members are encouraged to take part. We hope the workshops will
have provided insights which may prove useful in this discussion.
Two winners of the Generation Zed Contest, which we organized
leading up to CHIP 2012, will provide examples of enhanced
publications based on their own research.
Ad Poirters, MA
Ad Poiters is a Brilliant Assistant for Professor J. Oosterman. Poiters is
a former Research Master student of the Radboud University of
Nijmegen, from the field of literature and literary theory. He also took
part in the Brilliant Assistant Program as an assistant to professor Johan
Oosterman. He is working on a digital publication of his contextual
analysis of the books for the divine office in the Soeterbeeck
Collection.
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Sophie Reinders, MA
Sophie Reinders is a Ph.D. candidate at the Radboud University in
Nijmegen, in the field of historical literature and literary theory. In
2011 she finished the Research Master at the University of Amsterdam
(UvA). She is currently taking part in the project Sharing and Shaping
Culture: Women’s Alba as Social Objects, 1570-1610. She uses
Facebook as a model for the social interaction in these alba.
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PROGRAM
Day 1 (Thursday 8 November 2012)
8:00 - 8:30 Registration (Central Hall)
8:30 - 8:45 Opening and welcome by prof. Sally Wyatt (Room A)
SESSION I: DIGITIZING SOURCES
9:00 – 9:45 Keynote lecture by Sarah E. Thomas (Room A)
10:00 – 12:15 Workshop: Written
Sources (Room B)
Workshop: Unwritten
Sources (Room C)
12:30 – 13:15 Discussion of workshop results by chairs (Room A)
13:15 – 14:15
Lunch (Restaurant)
SESSION II: PROCESSING
14:15 – 15:00 Keynote lecture by prof. Rens Bod (Room A)
15:15 – 17:00 Workshop: Patterns &
Databases (Room B)
Workshop: Cyber
Research (Room C)
17:45 – 18:30 Discussion of workshop results by chairs (Room A)
19:00 – 22:30
Dinner & evening program
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Day 2 (Friday 9 November 2012)
8:45 – 9:00 Opening & welcome by prof. Sally Wyatt
SESSION III: TRANSMISSION
9:00 – 9:45 Keynote lecture by prof. Susan Legêne (Room A)
10:00 – 12:15 Workshop: Public
Humanities (Room B)
Workshop: Academic
Cooperation (Room C)
12:30 – 13:15 Discussion of workshop results by chairs (Room A)
13:15 – 14:15
Lunch (Restaurant)
SESSION IV: DIGITAL EXTEND PUBLICATIONS
14:15 – 15:00 Keynote lecture by prof. Robert Darnton (Room A)
15:15 – 15:35 Presentation of case by Ad Poirters
15:35 – 15:55 Presentation of case by Sophie Reinders
15:55 – 16:45 Plenary discussion with panel
16:45 – 17:00 Closing words by prof. Sally Wyatt
17:00 – 18:30
Social drinks
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The 2012 CHIP Conference is made possible by
- The Royal Netherlands Society for Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
- The KNAW Research Program e-Humanities
- The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
- in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS)
- The Royal Dutch Library (KB) in The Hague
- The Radboud University (RU) in Nijmegen