Introduction
In 2017-18, the DH@MSU community began the process of formalizing a set of relationships among the many long-standing digital humanities programs, centers, labs, and projects at Michigan State University. This process included bringing together a group of core and affiliated faculty and writing a new set of bylaws to structure our work together. That work is grounded in a shared commitment to a digital humanities that is globally oriented, community engaged, collaborative, and above all rooted in the possibility of social transformation through critical attention to and use of technology.
In 2018-19, we put the principles represented in our bylaws to work. In order to ensure the greatest possible transparency and to support a growing sense of DH@MSU as a community, we are happy to present the following report on our goals and accomplishments during this academic year.
We look forward to working with all of the members of the DH@MSU community, and all of the communities that have a stake in our collective work, in establishing new goals and creating new possibilities for transformative work in the year ahead.
– Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Director of Digital Humanities
Table of Contents
Strategic Planning
During 2018-19, the DH@MSU Advisory Committee began a strategic planning document.
The key goal established within the strategic plan involves community building, and in particular creating a culture of participation within DH@MSU. We hope to build an ethos that encourages regular attendance at community events, participation in and support of community members’ projects, and a general spirit of collaboration and care. The Advisory committee is continuing to work on some specific initiatives to support this goal, including developing a draft document exploring the community’s values and norms, drawn from documents such as the Collaborators’ Bill of Rights, which we’ll share for comment in the fall.
Community
In Spring 2018, DH@MSU formed a Core Faculty, and in Spring 2019, we began the process of regularly adding members to the Core Faculty as well as to the Affiliated Faculty. Welcome new members!
Kate Birdsall
WRAC
Christina Boyles
WRAC
Julian Chambliss
English
Eric Hood
WRAC
Andy Petersen
Libraries
Scott Schopieray
College of Arts & Letters
Burt Bargerstock
University Outreach & Engagment
Jeff Kuure
WRAC
Marilyn Wulfekhuler
Computer Science
Faculty Awards and Grants
The faculty, specialists, librarians, staff, and students from the DH@MSU community accomplished many things during the 2018-19 year. By no means a comprehensive list, here are a few awards and grants received to serve as examples of the work going on in the community.
American Religious Sounds Project Awarded $750,000 Luce Foundation Grant & Launches Website
Enslaved Project Hosted Conference
Tone Perfect Project Received Award
Sherlockian Project Moves to WIDE
Generous Thinking Book Published & Fitzpatrick Profiled on Podcast
Chambliss and Collaborators Won Awards for 2 Podcasts
Events and Outreach Activities
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Colloquium Series
Launched a new colloquium series to share faculty and students’ current research and projects with the community.
Fall 2018: Daniel Fandino & Erica Holt and Kate Birdsall (Sept. 19); Jon Keune and Alexandra Hidalgo (Oct. 17)
Spring 2019: Julian Chambliss and Stephanie Mahnke (Feb. 28); Valentina Denzel and Eric Rodriguez (Apr. 17)
Newsletter
Launched a regular newsletter to share upcoming events and announcements. The newsletter has 192 subscribers and saw an average open rate of 45%.
Additions to the newsletter are welcome by emailing dh@msu.edu.
Co-Sponsored Events
Co-Sponsored several events on campus, including:
Linguistic Jobs in the Tech Industry – Talk by Patrick Kelley, on November 15
The Hallowed Grounds: Race, Slavery, and Memory – Lecture by Hilary N. Green, University of Alabama, on February 12
Women in Data Science Symposium on April 12
End of Semester Parties
Beginning in Fall 2018 and continuing in Spring 2019, we began end-of-semester celebrations, with food and a chance to mingle, as well as the opportunity to hear about research and presentations given over the course of the semester by colleagues around MSU relating to DH. These events were attended by around 30 people each semester.
Save the Date: THATCamp MSU!
August 22, 9am-5pm, Digital Scholarship Lab
This day-long unconference is an opportunity for members of the DH@MSU community (old and new) to gather, learn from each other, and make connections to carry forward into the academic year.
Symposium
Global DH Symposium
The 4th annual Global DH Symposium was held on March 21-22 and included around 100 people in person with an additional 20 people consistently joining in via the livestream. Keynote speakers included Victor Temprano and Samantha Martin-Ferris from the Native Land project, and Maira E. Álvarez and Sylvia Fernández from the Separados/Torn Apart and Borderlands Archives Cartography projects. The Symposium included speakers from around the US, Canada, Nigeria, Tanzania, Russia, India (virtually), Pakistan (virtually), and Finland (virtually), with many of the speakers supported by travel bursaries.
Save the Date for the 5th Symposium on March 26-27, 2020!
Distinguished Lecture
N. Katherine Hayles
“Do Computers Participate in Meaning-Making?”
In Fall 2018, DH@MSU began an annual Distinguished Lecture series, with Kate Hayles as the inaugural speaker. Nearly 50 people made their way through a snowstorm to attend the talk.
Research
Seed Grant Funded Projects – Summer 2018
See the tiles below for the projects and links to the reports reflecting on the project and sharing its status at the end of the funding period.
DH@MSU supports the research mission of the university, including that of faculty, staff, specialists, and students (both undergraduate and graduate). We were pleased to initiatiate at Seed Grant Funding initiative in 2018 and to continue it in 2019.
Seed Grant Funded Projects – Summer 2019
Campus as Laboratory: An Oral History of MSU’s Campus Archaeology Program – Alice Lynn McMichael & Autumn Painter
Collapse and Rebirth – Martha Olcott
Visualizing German-Jewish Intellectual Life in the Twentieth Century – Matthew Handelman
The Weeping Season
Level 101: A Video Game About Video Games
Theme & word analysis in the contemporary corrido
Bhakti Virtual Archive (BHAVA)
Digital & Community Publishing Collective
The Longhua Civilian Assembly Center: 1943 to 1945
Summer Training Programs
In 2019, DH@MSU is supporting 7 faculty and graduate students to attend summer training programs in digital humanities. This funding program was begun in 2015 and annually supports DH training for MSU faculty, staff, and students.
Help! I’m a Humanist! — Humanities Programming with PythonHelp! I’m a Humanist! — Humanities Programming with Python
Soohyun Cho
english
Digital Humanities + Latinx Studies: Doing Work that Matters Digital Humanities + Latinx Studies: Doing Work that Matters
Mary Ann Lugo
Romance & Classical Studies (Spanish)
The Work that Stories Do in the World: Digital Storytelling for Research, Education, and ChangeThe Work that Stories Do in the World: Digital Storytelling for Research, Education, and Change
Catherine Ryu
linguistigs & Languages (Japanese)
Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship at the College of Wooster
Taylor Mills
philosophy
Creative Coding for Absolute Beginners
Kate Birdsall
Writing, Rhetoric, & American Cultures
“Culture & Technology” European Summer University in Digital Humanities
Tianyi Kou
Linguistics & Languages (German)
“Culture & Technology” European Summer University in Digital Humanities
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