Institutional models for humanities computing. (Willard McCarty, King's College London, Matthew Kirschenbaum, University of Maryland)

	Document Contents Introduction Research, teaching and collegial service Research and teaching Teaching programmes Research and collegial support Research Research project infrastructure Teaching and support Specific disciplinary or pedagogical focus Technological research and support Technological resource and support Related programmes and forums Online resource directories Professional societies, national and international organizations Discussion groups Journals and series Bibliographies

Willard McCarty (King's College London)

Matthew Kirschenbaum (University of Maryland)

	As of April 2007 "Institutional models for humanities computing" (IMHC) has been superceded by a wiki-based listing of centres, societies, tools, discussion groups and publications, at http://digitalhumanities.pbwiki.com/. The newer resource can be edited by registered users and so is better able to reflect the current state of affairs.

Introduction

The following is a structured list of departments, centres, institutes and other institutional forms that variously instantiate humanities computing. It is an official publication of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing. From 2003 it is a yearly feature of Literary and Linguistic Computing (LLC, published by Oxford University Press) but will also be maintained online (at www.allc.org/imhc/) and updated as needs be.

For each entry a link is provided to the relevant site on the WWW and a brief description given. This list represents an ongoing attempt to derive a basic typology from a complex variety of activities and so to provide institutional models for the field. Despite the fact that national academic conventions vary quite widely and cultural differences make comparisons difficult if not hazardous, no attempt has been made here to account for them. The intention is not to define what is happening in the field world-wide, rather it is to provoke discussion leading either to consensus or at least to an improved understanding of the conditions under which computing humanists work. Constructive criticisms and clarifications are not merely welcome, they are to the point.

In discriminating one institutional centre from another, we have asked the following questions:

• Does the centre pursue research in humanities computing, and if so, is this research academic? Is it undertaken by the centre either as a whole or through projects conducted by some or all of its members, for whom such research is part of their job description, or is its direction determined by members of other departments?
• Does the centre offer its own courses or programmes? If so, are these academic, i.e. count towards a degree or other formally recognised certification, either in humanities computing or as a component of a joint degree? Do its members supervise or co-supervise thesis projects at the MA or PhD level?
• Does it provide support for members of academic departments and students? If so, is this support specifically collegial, i.e. given by one colleague to another, ranging from occasional consulting to full-scale collaboration at the level of co-investigator?
• Does it make academic appointments or share them with one or more other departments?
• Does it participate in institution-wide decision-making on issues related to IT in teaching and research?

No judgement is expressed or implied as to the worth of the centres under consideration; rather our attempt here is to provide some measure of their participation in the fundamental activities of institutionalised scholarship.

Our listings are arranged relative to the disciplinary perspectives of humanities computing as these have traditionally been understood. One practical consequence of this is that we have sometimes chosen to subordinate an organization of centre's institutional status or structural identity to its topical focus; a case in point would be the listing for the Alliance for Computers and Writing, where an emphasis on teaching and instruction seemed more important to us in our contexts than the ACW's status as an organization per se.

Beyond humanities computing proper, the scope of these listings is, of course, potentially vast. We have been necessarily subjective and selective in choosing additional areas of emphasis. For example, new media arts and design are fairly heavily represented; fields such as instructional technology and distance-learning are not. Centres which support computing activities without disciplinary distinction, mixing the humanities with other areas of application indifferently, are excluded altogether. We are aware of such shortcomings in the coverage we present.

For a discussion of exclusively European centres with links, see Tito Orlandi et al., 'European studies on formal methods in the humanities', in Koenraad de Smedt et al., Computing in Humanities Education: A European Perspective (Bergen: aco*hum, 1999).

Corrections, additions and suggestions most welcome, to Willard McCarty (willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk). Items marked as new are new since the last printed version of the listing.

Research, teaching and collegial service

Units listed here conduct research and offer academic courses and programmes in the field; they also provide collegial support for and collaboration with members of other academic departments. Some members of these units hold academic appointments either in or primarily associated with humanities computing.

Alfa Informatica http://odur.let.rug.nl/alfa/ Groningen University of Notre Dame Netherlands The study of language, history and culture from a computational perspective, integrating theoretical, experimental and practical aspects of this study; very strong emphasis on computational linguistics.

Centre for Computing in the Humanities http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/ London King's College London United Kingdom An academic department and research centre in the School of Humanities that offers undergraduate minor and MA programmes, promotes the appropriate application of computing in humanities research and provides collegial support to its sister departments.

Centre for Technology and the Arts http://www.cta.dmu.ac.uk/ Leicester De Montfort University United Kingdom Carries out multi-disciplinary research on the use of computer methods in the arts and humanities; creates specialized computer tools for researchers, including electronic publishing systems; teaches new computer-based methods and tools, with research degree work at the MPhil and PhD level; engages in collaborative research and publishing projects nationally and internationally.

Centro Interdipartimentale Servizi Automazione Discipline Umanistiche http://rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it/ Rome Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" Italy Serves the departments of the Faculty of 'Lettere e Filosofia'; it aims to develop computer-assisted research projects and software-application courses for the staff of the Faculty; to provide access to the networks and help with formatting and printing; and to support the Centre's academic course in applied computing.

Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/ Glasgow University of Glasgow United Kingdom Offers an academic programme in humanities computing at introductory, honours and postgraduate levels, and organises a summer school on digitisation for heritage professionals; operates departmentally-based computer teaching classrooms and laboratories of the Faculties of Arts and Divinity; supports collaborative research projects and manages its own research programme.

Humanities Media and Computing http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~hmc/ Hamilton, Ontario McMaster University Canada Offers academic courses in humanities computing and a Multimedia@McMaster: Combined Honours Programme in Multimedia; provides support for administrative, research and instructional computing within the Faculty of Humanities; introduces and encourages initiatives for instructional and research computing; represents the Faculty of Humanities on university and external committees.

Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) and the Media Studies @ Virginia http://www.iath.virginia.edu/ Charlottesville University of Virginia United States IATH appoints academic Fellows, who are provided with consulting, technical support, applications programming and networked publishing facilities; cultivates partnerships with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations and others interested in the intersection of computers and cultural heritage. The MA in Digital Humanities offered by Media Studies (currently on hold) covers topics in design, description of problems in terms of algorithms and data structures, and recovery of tacit knowledge for computational implementation.

Matrix: the Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online http://www.matrix.msu.edu/ East Lansing Michigan State United States "Devoted to the application of new technologies in humanities and social science teaching and research. the Center creates and maintains online resources, provides training in computing and new teaching technologies, and creates forums for the exchange of ideas and expertise in new teaching technologies." It offers a Humanities Computing Certificate to those who complete its programme; postgraduate students may also take the course for credit.

Pallas (Humanities Computing) http://pallas.ex.ac.uk/pallas/index.html Exeter University of Exeter United Kingdom Operates as an academic department providing major and minor academic programmes in humanities computing at introductory, honours and postgraduate levels; the programme includes a BA in Information Technology; operates departmentally-based computer teaching classrooms; supports collaborative research projects and manages its own research programme in video conferencing and digitisation.

Seksjon for humanistisk informatikk http://www.huminf.uib.no/ Bergen Universitetet i Bergen Norway A small research and teaching unit specialising in digital culture (media, history, aesthetics, philosophy), learning tools and environments, and machine translation; three tenured professors, two research fellows; BA and PhD programmes, an MA currently being planned.

Research and teaching

These offer academic courses and colloquia, conduct research and publish. Some members hold academic appointments either in or closely associated with humanities computing.

Arbeitsstelle Computerphilologie http://www.c-phil.uni-hamburg.de/Main/WebHome Hamburg Universität Hamburg Germany Conducts research in 'computer philology' with strong emphasis on narratology, holds seminars and courses in collaboration with other departments of the university and offers a certificate in the subject.

Cultures Anglophone et Technologies de l'Information http://www.cati.paris4.sorbonne.fr/ Paris Sorbonne France Conducts computer-assisted research in the humanities, specifically the history of representation with a focus on urban life; conducts courses and colloquia; publishes proceedings, research results, multimedia products (CD-ROM Georgian Cities, Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2000); puts online research and leaning resources on its website; is project leader of a national consortium for training students in humanities computing skills and search strategies (Campus Numérique 2001, "Réseaux.doc", 2001).

Historich-Kulturwissenschaftliche Informationsverarbeitung http://www.hki.uni-koeln.de/ Cologne Universität Köln Germany Offers a degree programme providing teaching at all levels from undergraduate courses to PhD supervision; very strong emphasis on computer science. A new degree course offering a diploma in Medieninformatik (computer science for new media) starts winter 2002 / 2003. The HKI is involved in research projects with strong emphasis on software engineering; current projects include the Codices Electronici Ecclesiae Coloniensis and Prometheus, a digital picture archive.

Teaching programmes

Teaching programmes that offer a humanities computing option or specialisation; to be distinguished from non-major courses, also known as 'computer science for poets'.

Computer Applications (CAPP) http://www.nd.edu/~capp/ Notre Dame, Indiana University of Notre Dame United States A two-year 'supplementary major' (within a four-year degree programme) that "strives to combine the diverse background of Arts and Letters with an understanding of how information technology can affect the way we live and the way we earn our living"; required courses in programming language (2), statistics (1), computer ethics (1) and application problems (4).

Computer Science / Studies http://www.trentu.ca/csp/ Peterborough, Ontario Trent University Canada An interdisciplinary programme combining course offerings in computer science, information and administrative systems, as well as digital culture and ideas; aims to encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative work, design and creative expression; offers a variety of single-major and joint-major options available within both the four-year honours programme and the three-year general degree.

Corso di laurea in Informatica umanistica http://infouma.di.unipi.it/ Pisa Università di Pisa Italy An interdisciplinary three-year undergraduate academic programme resulting from the collaboration of the Faculty of Letters and the Department of Computer Science. It includes a complete degree in the humanities together with the related information-processing technologies (basic computing and telematics, databases, information retrieval, computational linguistics, data analysis, website design, computer graphics, multimedia production, digital libraries, e-learning technologies).

Diplôme d'études spécialisées en documentation et sciences de l'information (DESSTIN) http://www.ulb.ac.be/philo/infodoc/enseignement.html#des Brussels Université Libre de Bruxelles Belgium Département des Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication; the diploma "comprend trois orientation principales, à savoir 'sciences et métiers du livre', 'archivistique et sciences documentaires' et 'informatique appliquée aux études de philosophie et lettres'."

Humanities Computing http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/baai/gsl/syll.htm Leiden University of Leiden Netherlands Faculty of Arts and Humanities; offers courses in computing in language and literature and in history and art history.

Humanities Information Technology http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/ug-prospectus-2005/courses/humanities-information-technology.cfm London London Metropolitan University United Kingdom An undergraduate academic programme offering joint honours or minor honours options. Level 1 consists of a broad introduction to the main issues and debates about the impact of information technology, complemented by the development of a range of practical and technical skills; levels 2 and 3 cover specialised topics and themes chiefly in the areas of computer science, cognitive science and cultural studies.

Informatics Certificate http://www.grendl.rch.uky.edu/informatics/ Lexington, Kentucky University of Kentucky United States Graduate certificate programme administered by a multidisciplinary committee of computer scientists and scholars in both the humanities and the sciences. Objective is to train graduate and professional-degree students in the uses of computational and information-processing technology in their own fields. Specializations include humanities, linguistics, biology and health care.

Information Technology http://itecweb.math.yorku.ca/ Toronto, Ontario York University Canada Faculty of Arts; housed in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The programme aims to provide students with a sound education concerning modern computer technology and its uses, impacts and effects in our society. The unique multi-disciplinary core of the programme combines the applied aspects of computer systems with the historical, social and ethical contexts of computing and information-processing.

Master of Arts in Humanities Computing http://huco.ualberta.ca/ Edmonton, Alberta University of Alberta Canada A two-year Master of Arts degree in Humanities Computing. The programme integrates computational methods and theories with research and teaching in the humanities.

Research and collegial support

These conduct research and provide collegial support but do not offer academic courses or programmes. Some members hold academic appointments in or closely associated with humanities computing.

Die Abteilung Literarische und Dokumentarische Datenverarbeitung http://www.zdv.uni-mainz.de/ Tübingen Universität Tübingen Germany Zentrums für Datenverarbeitung; an academic department within the university computing centre concerned primarily with textual computing; supports the Tübinger System von Textverarbeitungs-Programmen (TUSTEP); since 1973 has held the Kolloquium über die Anwendung der Elecktronischen Datenverarbeitung in den Geisteswissenschaften.

Centre Informatique de Philosophie et Lettres http://www.ulg.ac.be/cipl/ Liège Université de Liège Belgium "Son objectif général est de «promouvoir et coordonner l'utilisation de l'informatique au sein de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres»."

Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) http://www.mith.umd.edu/ University of Maryland United States Aims to generate and foster the development of projects in applied computing, to communicate new technological approaches both within and outside the university and to provide resources for technologically-based scholarship and instruction; appoints resident fellows.

Wired Humanities Project http://whp.uoregon.edu/index.html Eugene, Oregon University of Oregon United States Is a locus for developing digital practice in humanities research and teaching. It provides to the university's humanities faculty a set of services, including basic user support, website design services and development of digital research applications. The project is also currently proposing a humanities computing certificate programme for undergraduate and graduate students.

Research

These conduct research and disseminate the results but do not offer courses or support. Members hold academic appointments in or closely associated with humanities computing.

Avdeling for kultur, språk og informasjonsteknologi (Department of Culture, Language and Information Technology - Aksis) http://www.aksis.uib.no/ Bergen Universitetet i Bergen Norway A research umbrella organization containing the Research Group for Text Technology (text encoding and editorial philology, of which the Wittgenstein Archive and participation in the Text Encoding Initiative are most significant), directed by Daniel Apollon; the Research Group for Language Technology (computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, terminology and lexicography, and participation in ICAME), directed by Gjert Kristoffersen; the Centre for Cultural Research, directed by Siri Meyer; and InterMedia Bergen, directed by Barbara Wasson. Replaced the HIT Centre (Centre for Humanities Information Technologies) at the University of Bergen.

Centre de recherche Hubert de Phalèse http://www.cavi.univ-paris3.fr/phalese/ Paris Université Paris 3 Sorbonne-Nouvelle France "L'équipe se donne comme objectif de développer les études littéraires assistées par ordinateur par l'information, la formation, la vielle sur les nouveaux outils de recherche."

Centre de traitement automatique du langue (CENTAL) http://cental.fltr.ucl.ac.be/ Louvain-la-Neuve Université catholique de Louvain Belgium "Le CENTAL est un centre d'informatique rattaché à la Faculté de philosophie et lettres et spécialisé dans l'étude du traitement nformatique des langues, une discipline qui s'est fait récemment connaître du grand public au travers d'applications commerciales à succès telles que la correction orthographique automatique, la reconnaissance de la parole, la traduction automatique, la recherche d'information etc". Formerly CETEDOC.

Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing (CLLC) http://www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/cllc/ Newcastle, New South Wales University of Newcastle Australia "Established to continue the development and application of statistical and computing tools for the analysis of (literary) texts."

Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale http://www.ilc.cnr.it/indexflash.html Pisa Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche Italy Conducts interdisciplinary, theoretical and applied research activities in the field of linguistic data processing.

Laboratoire d'Analyse Statistique des Langues Anciennes http://www.ulg.ac.be/cipl/lsl.htm Liège Université de Liège Belgium Develops databases of texts in Latin and Greek, software for analysis of ancient and modern languages, publishes concordances and other lexical reference works and the journal Revue. Informatique et Statistiques dans les Sciences Humaines (RISSH).

LAEL: Applied Linguistics Postgraduate Programme http://lael.pucsp.br/ São Paulo Pontifícia Catholic University of São Paulo Brazil Develops research projects uisng electronic corpora of English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Perseus Digital Library http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ Medford, Massachusetts Tufts University United States Conducts research on producing, structuring and analyzing humanistic information; its public digital library testbed contains texts, images and research databases ranging from Archaic Greece to the nineteenth-century United States.

SpecLab http://eotpaci.clas.virginia.edu/speclab/ University of Virginia United States IATH; "organized to promote experimental and exploratory research in Digital Humanities... By definition, SpecLab projects are interdisciplinary and innovative, often undertaken with uncertain outcomes for the sake of expanding the methods and assumptions of Digital Humanities."

Research project infrastructure

Umbrella infrastructures that provide a focus for computing-related research projects conducted by memebrs of other departments but that do not engage in their own research.

Humanities Research Institute http://www.shef.ac.uk/hri/ Sheffield University of Sheffield United Kingdom A consortium of technology-related research projects from within the Faculty of Arts, with an independent steering group dedicatd to driving, maintaining and overseeing the development of the Institute.

Research in Computing for the Humanities http://www.rch.uky.edu/ Lexington, Kentucky University of Kentucky United States A "collaboratory" of computer scientists and humanities scholars investigating humanities research problems that provide intriguing challenges for computer science, and developing new applications of computer technology to research in the humanities; sponsors a lecture series in conjunction with the University of Kentucky Center for Computational Sciences.

Teaching and support

Units that offer academic programmes and offer support but that do not themselves conduct research in humanities computing. Some of their members hold academic appointments, not necessarily in humanities computing.

Humanities Research Center http://humanities.byu.edu/hrc/department.html Provo, Utah Brigham Young University United States Provides computer support, network support, training, scanning, language testing and the Computers and the Humanities Program, which offers courses on the use of computer technology in humanities disciplines, with two intersecting minor programmes; jointly supported by the Department of Linguistics and the Humanities Research Center.

Specific disciplinary or pedagogical focus

These are devoted to a specific discipline or teaching activity, whether within a particular department or shared among a small group of departments. Some members hold academic appointments.

Teaching

Bereich Historische Fachinformatik http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/ Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany A department with several scholars, focuses on informatics in history, lists course that may substitute for regular history department offerings.

Computerlinguistik und Technologie http://coli.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/ Bielefeld Universität Bielefeld Germany Facultät für Linguistik und Literaturwissenschaft, offers programmes in the following two areas. Computerlinguistik is a concentration within the regular programme of Linguistics, which comprises three tracks: (1) Language, cognition and activity, (2) Language and digital media, (3) Spoken language. Textttechnologie is a minor programme that may be combined with any other major subject in the Faculty.

Concentration in Computers and English Studies http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/index.html Austin, Texas University of Texas United States Department of English; seeks to develop and sustain a dialogue between print-based culture and the emergent culture(s) of electronic information; students develop both theoretical and practical understanding of print and electronic textuality, expertise in applying contemporary technology to more traditional problems in rhetoric or literary scholarship and teaching, and have the opportunity to explore new modes of research and instruction, continually assessing the impact of the technologies they use upon the construction of their objects of study and finally, of the field of inquiry itself.

Teaching and research

Institut für Multimedia und Datenverarbeitung in den Geisteswissenschaften http://www.uni-rostock.de/fakult/philfak/imd/ Rostock Universität Rostock Germany Philosophische Fakultät; research projects in cartography, hypertextual information systems, statistics and quantitative methods; courses in visualisation, media theory, application of multimedia to historical studies.

Research and research support

Ancient World Mapping Center http://www.unc.edu/awmc/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina University of North Carolina United States Exists to promote cartography and geographic information science as essential disciplines within the field of ancient studies.

Australian Scholarly Editions Centre http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/ASEC/ Canberra University of New South Wales Australia Australian Defence Force Academy; a research centre with involvement in the development of electronic scholarly editions and associated technologies.

Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities http://www.ccarh.org/ Stanford, California Stanford University United States Is engaged in the development of large databases of musical and textual materials for applications in research, teaching and performance.

Center for Electronic Projects in American Culture Studies (CEPACS) http://www.georgetown.edu/tamlit/info/cepacs.html Washington DC Georgetown University United States Founded in 1994 to coordinate and develop a range of electronic projects related to interdisciplinary studies in the culture and history of the United States. CEPACS supports a range of projects affiliated with the American Studies Program and English Department at Georgetown University.

Center for History and New Media http://chnm.gmu.edu/ Fairfax, Virginia George Mason University United States Produces historical works in new media, tests the effectiveness of these products in the classroom and reflects critically on the promises and pitfalls of new media in historical practice.

Center for Literary Computing http://www.as.wvu.edu:8000/clc// Morgantown, West Virginia Eberley College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University United States A research lab and instructional support centre in the Department of English, providing a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment to support research and instruction.

Center for New Media http://www.culturalpolicy.org/commons/directorydetail.cfm?ID=6690 Baltimore, Maryland Maryland Institute College of Art United States "The Center for New Media at MICA is developing and coordinating partnerships with arts organizations, educational institutions, and industry to initiate collaborative opportunities in a complex interdisciplinary field. The Center for New Media serves as a bridge between the arts and its technology and educational partners by showcasing the research and media experimentation at MICA across the disciplines."

Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/caae/ Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Carnegie Mellon University United States Pursues a distinctive research in applied ethics and ethics education. Its mission is to help recover ethics from academic abstraction by researching and presenting ethical issues in practical settings, but with appropriate interdisciplinary perspectives and theoretical bearings. The Center has explored abortion, conflict resolution, euthanasia, forgery, counterfeiting and other ethical problems through multimedia technologies.

Computerunterstütze Interpretation von Texten http://egora.uni-muenster.de/fb2/aktuelles.shtml Münster Universität Münster Germany A project in the theological faculty focused on New Testament studies.

Cultural VR Lab http://www.cvrlab.org/ Los Angeles University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) United States Creates highly accurate 3D computer models of culturally significant sites around the world. Since 1998, the Lab has been focusing on its pilot project, ancient Rome. Models have been made of buildings on the north and south side of the Roman Forum and also of the Early Christian Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Feminist Humanities Project http://fhp.uoregon.edu/ Eugene, Oregon University of Oregon United States Is building, testing and modelling methods for creating a comprehensive digital materials collection of primary texts and images for research on women and gender in history with an initial focus on a) women and gender in ancient Mesoamerica (the Nahuatl culture) and b) medicine and childbirth in medieval Europe. It is also assisting faculty in developing digital teaching units (DTUs) on a wide range of topics related to women and gender.

Media Center for Art History http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ New York University of Columbia United States Considers the application of imaging and information technologies for research, teaching and publishing in art histor and particularly the innovative analysis of architecture and the constructed environment.

Virginia Center for Digital History http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/ Charlottesville, Virginia University of Virginia United States An outgrowth of the popular Valley of the Shadow American Civil War project. Goal is to develop high-quality, well-researched and reliable history materials for the World Wide Web and deliver them to schools, colleges, libraries, historical societies and the general public.

Technological research and support

Units that provide technological support to research and teaching taking place in or governed by members of academic departments; they also engage in research of a technological nature independently, in concert with academic departments, by contract with external organisations or are funded to develop resources on a national level.

Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/teachtech/about-ccat.html Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania United States Provides advice and information in support of humanities research and distribution of its electronic products and byproducts; historically, the main foci of CCAT have included creation (e.g. scanning) and electronic publication (e.g. via gopher) of relevant materials, including some specialised software.

Center for Digital Humanities http://www.cdh.ucla.edu/ Los Angeles University of California at Los Angeles United States Seeks to advance the teaching, research and public service mission of the Humanities Division by the use of computing technology and new media; assists academic projects by locating personnel and funding, discovering partners both inside and outside the university, and managing the projects over time; facilitates use of the Web for teaching.