CIRCA:Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities
From CIRCA
Contents |
History
- Founded in 1999
- Funded by a major Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
- A collaborative effort between University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities, Libraries, and Office of Information Technology
Overview
- MITH is a physical and electronic home to a wide variety of digital humanities projects and events
- Internationally recognized and distinguished by the cultural diversity it promotes and embodies through projects such as The Visual Accent & Dialect Archive
- Operates as a meeting place and think tank for the digital humanities
- Promotes, provides, and encourages innovative research surrounding text mining, data analysis, and visualization techniques
- Focused on the genesis, structure, and preservation of electronic literature, digital games, and virtual worlds
- Offers free access to a variety of media such as podcasts, on-line videos, slide shows, and scholarly talks that discuss current issues within humanities computing
- Archives and showcases projects that span various fields and are interdisciplinary by nature
Purpose
In an interview with Kim Collins from Emory University, Neil Fraistat, the director of MITH states that the center's focus is on the research and development of:
- digital archives - historical and literary among others
- performing arts - theatre, music, and dance
- cyberinfrastructure - manipulation and storage of large volumes of data
- tool building - development of tools used to automate a variety of programming tasks
- Digital Cultures and Creativity (DCC) Curriculum - new program of study being offered at the University of Maryland
Audience
MITH offers a diverse set of projects that are sure to interest a broad range of audiences. Digital humanists, scholars, educators, technologists, and intellectuals will find a host of projects worth investigating. What follows are links to just a few of the projects currently associated with the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities.
Literary Projects:
Archival Projects:
Performing Arts Projects:
Be sure to explore the MITH site for other current and archived projects.
Significance
The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities is significant in that it provides a successful model or template for other Digital Humanities Centers to follow. MITH's longevity and growth over the years show its usefulness within the Humanities Computing community. Mith also offers resident fellowships and opportunities for those individuals interested in furthering their studies. It is a proverbial "meeting of the minds" and an essential community for the digital humanities.
