Digital Humanities Commons^™

Using Amazon Mechanical Turk To Transcribe Historical Handwritten Documents, Andrew Lang, Joshua Rio-Ross

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

The developing “information age” is continually unraveling new ways of discovering, presenting and sharing information. Most new academic material is digitally formatted upon its creation and is thus easy to find and query. However, there remains a good deal of material from times prior to the “information age” that has yet to be converted to digital form. Much of this material can be found in library collections—whether academic, public or private—and thus remains available only to a limited number of locals or willing-and-able sojourners. Using OCR technology, most typeset documents can be digitized and made available online; and there are …

The September 11 Digital Archive, Stephen Brier, Joshua Brown

Publications and Research

This article focuses on the creation and subsequent development of the September 11 Digital Archive (www.911digitalarchive.org), currently one of the largest digital repositories of historical materials on the September 11 attacks. The article reflects on archival and methodological questions and on issues raised by the efforts of staff members at the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University and at the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning (ASHP) at the City University of New York Graduate Center to preserve and present via the Internet digital resources related to the epochal events of …

What Is Digital Humanities And…, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum

SWITCH

This article explores the evolving identity and role of Digital Humanities, especially within English departments. The author reflects on the history and terminology of the field and addresses how DH is a response to the growing tensions that are shaping academia.

The Art Of Tammy Mike Laufer, Maayan Glaser-Koren

SWITCH

This article explores the hybrid digital artwork of Tammy Mike Laufer, whose pieces incorporate video art and digital painting references from various art movements. Her art challenges viewers to increase their awareness about the nature of art and its social relevance.

The Art Of Sharon Paz, Dörte Ilsabé Denneman

SWITCH

This article describes Sharon Paz’s performances, theatrical installations, and video works, which combine themes of war, entertainment, and everyday life.

Artists & Virtual Environment, Oberon Onmura

SWITCH

This article examines how artists in 3D virtual environments develop “native” art practices that utilize the medium’s unique tools and materials. The author distinguishes between physical-world art adapted for virtual display and art created specifically for these spaces.

Odyssey Art And Performance Simulator, Lizsolo Mathilde

SWITCH

This article describes Odyssey, a virtual art and performance space in Second Life, and its role in fostering mixed-reality works that merge physical and virtual experiences.

Born-Digital Literature, What Is It?, Pollyanna Macchiano

SWITCH

This article explores the concept of born-digital literature, described as an artifact designed specifically for digital platforms, which cannot be separated from its medium. It introduces ideas about digital fiction, including how it differs from traditional print and why its interactive nature leads to new ways of reading and interpreting.

On Building, Steve Ramsay

SWITCH

In this reflection, the author revisits a controversial statement he made about the nature of Digital Humanities.

The Rhetoric Of Digital Humanities, Alex Reid

SWITCH

This article explores how the term Digital Humanities has evolved and how that evolution reflects deeper rhetorical choices. While DH and "humanities computing" were once used interchangeably, the author argues that the shift in language may have been deliberate to appeal to broader audiences.

Second Life Artists Grow Up And Move Out, Julia Vale

SWITCH

This article explores the migration of Second Life artists to the Craft virtual world, driven by desires for creative freedom, ownership rights, and a close-knit community.

The Justice League Unlimited, Zenmondo Wormser

SWITCH

This article explains the mission and operations of the Justice League Unlimited (JLU), a volunteer group in Second Life dedicated to peacekeeping, education, and charity. Acting as a neighborhood watch, JLU members patrol high-risk areas, identify and report violations of the platform’s Terms of Service and Community Standards, and sometimes resolve issues through direct communication.

Virtual Worlds And The Collapse Of Metaphor, John Lester

SWITCH

This article explores how virtual worlds merge humanity’s ancient desire for tools and frameworks with the possibilities of new media. The author examines how immersive digital environments allow us to perceive and experience them as real, and how, as technology advances, the boundary between virtual and physical worlds will blur.

Incorporating Text Encoding Initiative Projects In Technical Services, Richard Wisneski

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

Presentation on workflows and best practices in performing text encoding work in an academic library technical services department

The Millennial Rumor: Understanding Millennial College Students' Characteristics, Digital Media Technology Usage, And Assumptions At The University Of Denver, Christina M. Murray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated student and faculty attitudes toward use of Digital Media Technology (DMT) at the University of Denver. The purpose was to understand how and why students and faculty used DMT on campus. Uses and gratifications theory (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974) was used as the theoretical model to interpret and understand Millennial college students' DMT use, Langer and Knefelcamp's (2008) College student technology arc was used as a conceptual model. Two survey instruments were designed: one for faculty and one for students to collect data on DMT use and attitudes toward use, satisfaction, skill, and learning at …

Porting Transmedia Storytelling To Journalism, Kevin Timothy Moloney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the methods of transmedia storytelling emerging in the entertainment industry might be used in a journalism context. Journalism is facing many crises, not the least of which is a loss of readership and perceived relevance to its public. Presented with an ever-expanding array of media with which to interact, the public is more difficult to attract to a socially relevant issue or a politically important story. Faced with similar issues, the entertainment industry has developed a means to engage with fans in a way that draws them across multiple media platforms, better captures their imagination and …

Tei Texts That Play Nicely: Lessons From The Monk Project, Brian Pytlik Zillig

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Text curation, like most human endeavors, requires tools. A technique developed for the MONK Project, schema harvesting, provides a useful platform for facilitating the digital conversion and curation of text corpora. The author describes Abbot, an XSLT-based application that has had success in converting various Text Creation Partnership collections, and others, during and after MONK.

The Best Job In The World: Documentary Editor, Beth Luey

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Graduates of the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents deserve congratulations, not only because they have learned a great deal but also because being a documentary editor is the best job in the world. I can speak of this with some authority. Although I am a 1981 graduate of the Institute, I officially became a documentary editor only after retiring from university teaching, which was my second career. My first was as a university press and textbook editor. Those were all good jobs, but documentary editing is the best. Here is why.

Editing Harriet Beecher Stowe’S Uncle Tom’S Cabin And The Fluid Text Of Race, Wesley Raabe

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

I suspect that many scholars begin to edit a work by accident: I begin with the anecdote of how I became an accidental editor of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in academic year 2002. I had read not a single work by Harriet Beecher Stowe when I was admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia. During my first semester, I was often at Alderman Library’s Special Collections floor to subject a copy of Delariviér Manley’s Memoirs of Europe (1710) to bibliographical analysis. I was reading Stowe’s work in another course, was already in Alderman for the Manley work, and …

Documentary Editing: Journal Of The Association For Documentary Editing, Volume 32: 2011

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Articles

• Editing Sophia Peabody Hawthorne’s Travel Writing and the Conundrum of Copies, Patricia Dunlavy Valenti
• On Editing Late-Nineteenth-Century Author Interviews, Gary Scharnhorst
• “A Broad, Generous Stream of Love and Bounty”: The Concord Sewing Circle and the Holley School for Freedmen, Mary Lamb Shelden
• What’s in a Name? Cultural Onomastics and Other Scary Things about the Lincolns and Their Contemporaries, James M. Cornelius
• Issues and Challenges of Moving and Maintaining The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Ryan P. Semmes and John F. Marszalek
• The Best Job in the World: Documentary Editor, Beth Luey
• Preserving the Alliance: The Artful Diplomacy of Benjamin …

Willa Cather’S Many-Colored Medusa Of Art: Review Of Youth And The Bright Medusa Willa Cather. Historical Essay And Explanatory Notes By Mark J. Madigan. Textual Essay And Editing By Frederick M. Link, Charles W. Mignon, Judith Boss, And Kari A. Ronning., Nancee Reeves

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

The latest edition to the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition series, Youth and the Bright Medusa, is a monument to Cather’s own standards of excellence. The thick paper stock is warm and creamy—the kind of paper that feels smooth and comforting to fingers well used to thumbing the cheap texts that are so common today. The type is large and dark, and the wide margins showcase the text while filling the consummate note-taker’s heart with joy. As the series general editors, Susan J. Rosowski and Guy J. Reynolds, point out in the preface, “[g]iven Cather’s explicitly stated intentions for her works, …

Contributors

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Contributors to Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing, Volume 32: 2011

In Memoriam-Jo Ann Boydston (1924–2011), Larry A. Hickman

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Jo Ann Boydston enjoyed a distinguished career as general editor of the Collected Works of John Dewey and director of the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Born in Poteau, Oklahoma, of Choctaw Indian heritage, she graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma State University in 1944. She received an M.A. from Oklahoma State in 1947, a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1950, and honorary doctorates from Indiana University (1994) and Southern Illinois University (2004).

Recent Editions, W. Bland Whitley

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

This annual bibliography of documentary editions recently published in the fields of American and British history, literature, and culture is generally restricted to scholarly first editions of English-language works. In addition to the bibliographical references, Internet addresses are provided for the editorial project or the publisher.

From The Canonical To The Non-Canonical: Editing, The Walt Whitman Archive, And Nineteenth-Century Newspaper Poetry, Elizabeth M. Lorang

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

This paper draws on my experiences at the Walt Whitman Archive as I begin thinking about my own digital editing project that will treat nineteenth century newspaper poetry. Until recently, I have imagined my project as a fairly straightforward digital documentary edition of newspaper poems, one in which a selection of newspaper poems would comprise the primary texts for editorial treatment. The edition also would accommodate the surrounding text of the newspapers in some capacity, whether with page images or within a critical apparatus. As I have become more familiar with the texts I want to recover, edit, and present—the …

Julian P. Boyd Award Presented To John P. Kaminski, Barbara Oberg

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

The Julian P. Boyd Award is the highest award presented by the ADE. It was established in 1980 through the contribution of an anonymous donor. The award commemorates Boyd’s commitment to excellence and the breadth of his scholarly interests. First presented in 1981, the Boyd Award is now given every three years to a senior scholar in honor of a distinguished contribution to the study of American history and culture.

Documentary Editing: Journal Of The Association For Documentary Editing, Volume 32: 2011-Front Matter

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Front matter: Officers, Publication Committee, Editorial Staff, Table of Contents

Issues And Challenges Of Moving And Maintaining The Papers Of Ulysses S. Grant, Ryan P. Semmes, John F. Marszalek

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

In December 2008 two large moving vans arrived at the Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State University, Starkville, containing over ninety filing cabinets and hundreds of boxes of materials belonging to The Ulysses S. Grant Association (USGA), formerly housed at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). These materials represented over forty-six years of work by the late John Y. Simon and The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant project.

On Editing Late-Nineteenth-Century Author Interviews, Gary Scharnhorst

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

Contrary to the assertions of the marketing department of the Paris Review, the celebrity interview was not invented in 1953. In fact, the first interviews with prominent authors began to appear in American newspapers in the early 1870s. No interviews with Edgar Allan Poe, Henry David Thoreau, or Nathaniel Hawthorne, each of whom died before or during the Civil War, are known to exist. Charles Dickens sat for no interviews during any of his U.S. speaking tours, including the final one in 1867–1868. The first known interview with Mark Twain appeared in 1871, and the second was not published until …

Rethinking Digital Editing Practices To Better Address Non-Canonical Texts, Amanda A Gailey

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

This article stems from my recent work on Race and Children’s Literature of the Gilded Age (RCLGA),1 a digital archive that aims to provide a heavily annotated resource for scholars and students of literature, history, African American studies, visual communication, and education to examine how adults wanted children to think about race during the era of Jim Crow. I edit the archive with Gerald Early, Professor of Modern letters, English, African studies, and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and D. B. Dowd, Professor of Communication Design and American Culture Studies, also at Washington University. When complete, …