I-CHASS Collaboration Recipient of Digging into Data Challenge Award

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:21:12 -0600

The Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (I-CHASS) is pleased to announce that Digging into Image Data to Answer Authorship Related Questions has been an awarded funding through the Digging Into Data (DID) Challenge, as posted at www.diggingintodata.org The DID Challenge seeks to promote innovative humanities and social science research that relies on the analysis of large-scale datasets and is an initiative jointly sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, and the United Kingdom’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

Digging into Image Data to Answer Authorship Related Questions is an international collaboration between researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) funded by NSF, Michigan State University (MSU) funded by NEH, and the University of Sheffield funded by JISC. The effort is supported by key participants from the Alliance for American Quilts.

Led at I-CHASS by Dr. Peter Bajcsy, Associate Director for Data Analytics and Pattern Recognition and a Research Scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the project uses advanced computational techniques to explore the authorship of three different datasets of visual works—15th century manuscripts, 17th and 18th century maps, and 19th and 20th century quilts—and to answer such questions as how visual and production styles reflect regional tastes or historical moments, how traumatic historical events manifest in cultural production, and how artifacts reflect and influence relationships between cultural groups.

The UIUC project’s co-Principal Investigators are Anne D. Hedeman of the University of Illinois, and I-CHASS Executive Director Kevin Franklin. The collaborating sites are led by Dr. Dean Rehberger of Michigan State University, and Dr. Peter Ainsworth of the University of Sheffield.

HASTAC 2010 Applications Now Being Accepted

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:01:00 -0600

NOTE THAT THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON JANUARY 4, 2010!

HASTAC is delighted to announce that submissions for HASTAC 2010: Grand Challenges and Global Innovations Conference are now being accepted online at http://nucri.nu.edu/hastac/ until MIDNIGHT on January 4, 2010.

Held April 15-17, 2010 and hosted by the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science at the University of Illinois, HASTAC 2010: Grand Challenges and Global Innovations will be a free, entirely virtual event held in a multiplicity of digital spaces instigated from sites across the globe.

This years’ event will focus on grand challenges and global innovations in the form of technologies, research, teaching, and inquiry that can be leveraged across personal, physical, geographical, institutional, disciplinary, and organizational boundaries. HASTAC 2010 seeks to ask: what are the influence(s) of virtual spaces that can transcend boundaries to impact global innovations? How will the next generation of digital technologies alter personal, physical, geographical, institutional, disciplinary, and organizational boundaries? What are the grand challenges in humanities, arts, and sciences that will shape the next generation of global innovation?

Submission guidelines for the GENERAL CONFERENCE:

Individually:
Individual Participants will be required to submit the following information: 1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation; 2) curriculum vita/resume; 3) a one-page abstract of the work they would like to present that must discuss its relationship to the conference theme; 3) a brief explanation of the technology they would like to use for the conference that clearly specifies their experience with that technology and a discussion of any support that may be required for their presentation;

Panel/Group Presentations:
Panel/Group Participants will be required to submit the following information: 1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation for all participants; 2) curriculum vita/resume for all participants; 3) a one-page abstract of the work they would like to present that must discuss its relationship to the conference theme; 4) identification of the panel/group organizer who will be required to facilitate the panel/group involvement; 5) a brief explanation of the technology they would like to use for the conference that clearly specifies their experience with that technology and a discussion of any support that may be required for their presentation;

Electronic submissions will be accepted from WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009 through MIDNIGHT on MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010. Upon closing of the submission window, all submissions will be reviewed by the domain committees and invitations to participate will be issued (no later than JANUARY 29, 2010). Criteria for acceptance are: 1) the “innovative” nature of the proposal; 2) the proposal’s relevancy to global issues in technological inquiry; 3) the proposal’s argument in relation to a grand challenge; 4) the qualifications of the presenter(s)

Upon acceptance to the conference, presenters will be provided with clear guidelines regarding the technological support provided by the conference and production standards related to submitting their content. Accepted presenters should be prepared to assume financial and technological liability for their presentation and to be available for consultation in the weeks prior. While HASTAC 2010 will not subsidize individual or group presentations, HASTAC 2010 would be delighted to aid presenters in securing funding from their local institutions via a letter of support.

Key dates:
Abstract submissions due: Jan. 4, 2010
Notification of participants: Jan. 29, 2010
Conference: April 15-17, 2010

In the spirit of including digital innovators from across the globe, HASTAC 2010 will feature keynote events hosted at research centers from across the globe during the conference. Confirmed “virtual hub” participants include:
• Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (GAUG, Germany)
• King’s College London (KCL, UK)
• Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC, Brazil)
• The Advanced Digital Sciences Center, Fusionopolis (Singapore)
• El Centro Nacional de Alta Tecnología (CeNAT, Costa Rica)
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA, USA)
• Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC, USA)
• The Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University (CCT, USA)
• The Center for Computational Sciences University of Kentucky (CCS, USA)
• The National University Community Research Institute (NUCRI, USA)
• John Hope Franklin Center, Duke University (JHFC, USA)
• The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC, USA)
• The Institute for Multimedia Literacy, University of Southern California (IML, USA)
• The University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI, USA)
• The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH, USA).

To foster innovation in research, HASTAC 2010 will feature special sessions on:

• Young scholars where undergraduate and graduate students can present works in progress and receive support and feedback from the HASTAC community.
• Disciplinary pedagogy where participants can explore the meaning of “global innovation” with the teaching of digital humanities, arts, and sciences.

Points of Contact
Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science National Center for Supercomputing Applications University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1205 W. Clark St., MC-257
Urbana, Illinois 61820
guiliano@illinois.edu with HASTAC 2010 in the Subject Line

More information will be made available at http://ichass.illinois.edu/hastac2010