In July 2013, the Folger Institute will offer “Early Modern Digital Agendas” under the direction of Jonathan Hope, Professor of Literary Linguistics at the University of Strathclyde. It is an NEH-funded, three-week institute that will explore the robust set of digital tools with period-specific challenges and limitations that early modern literary scholars of English now have at hand. “Early Modern Digital Agendas” will create a forum in which twenty faculty, information staffers, and advanced graduate student participants can historicize, theorize, and critically evaluate current and future digital approaches to early modern literary studies—from Early English Books Online-Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP) to advanced corpus linguistics, semantic searching, and visualization theory—with discussion growing out of, and feeding back into, their own projects (current and envisaged). With the guidance of expert visiting faculty, attention will be paid to the ways new technologies are shaping the very nature of early modern research and the means by which scholars interpret texts, teach their students, and present their findings to other scholars.
This institute is supported by an Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Office of Digital Humanities. A three-minute, “lightning-talk” video introduction of the project was made at the ODH Project Directors meeting.
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We have received a number of inquiries asking whether this institute is appropriate for scholars of early modern France. While this one is designed for those working in the English language tradition, we will certainly look for future opportunities to bring together those interested in French and other vernaculars.
Dear Professor Williams,
I would also be very eager to hear of a version of this institute for early modern Italy. Or better yet, a version not tied to one national language tradition. I’m working on a collaborative and multidisciplinary project involving Italian but have been studying many non-Italian projects and learning a lot. I’ll stay tuned. Good luck with your institute!
Deanna
Thanks, Deanna. I wonder if the RBS offering on Digitizing the Historical Record would be useful for your work?
Please send suggestions for other digitally inflected programs involving transnational early modern topics!
I agree with Deanna. I’m working on a project involving ephemeral print and song in several European languages and am very aware of the major differences in levels of digitisation between different language traditions. Any information you receive on programs or projects on transnational topics – and those programs located in other countries besides the US – would be really helpful.
Thanks for the link to the RBS course too. And good luck with this institute, sounds great.
Una
I’ll have to solicit suggestions for non-English ephemera and song, but I wanted to be sure you know about the Bodleian Ballads project: http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/. Perhaps its project leaders would have good suggestions for transnational approaches and resources.
I can’t say I know of a training project, but the Medici Archive Project has been ongoing for some time now. You may want to visit: http://www.medici.org. It’s director, Alessio Assonitis, will be giving a brief talk here at the Folger on Tuesday, 26 Feb., at lunch-time in the Board Room.
Thanks Owen and Carol,
I am familiar with the Bodleian project, and the integration work with EBBA and the Roud Index is very exciting. And of course there’s great work going on at St Andrew’s: http://www.ustc.ac.uk/
I haven’t engaged with the Medici project much, but only because I’m skeptical as to how much ‘lowbrow’ material they would have being a courtly archive (I work on cheap, ‘popular’ print). But perhaps you could ask the director about that at his talk?
Dear Una,
Will do! Great question.
Carol
Thanks to all who submitted applications for the 2013 Institute, Early Modern Digital Agendas. Decisions will be returned on 5 April 2013.
Applicants should note that decisions were sent this afternoon. Please contact the Institute (institute@folger.edu) if you didn’t receive yours.
I worked at the Institute in 2007-8 on Latin, Polish, French, and (some) English sources, and agree with the comments above, that an interdisciplinary early modern version, “not tied to one national language tradition,” would be exciting. My main project is an interactive mapping initiative, late 15th/early 16th century, of East Central Europe. It is so beneficial to find these beacons of light out there that can help guide solo work, or sort one through to build collaboratively. Wishing the Early Modern Digital Agendas much success!
Virginia