centerNet and DHCommons (http://www.dhcommons.org) are pleased to announce that DHCommons has become a sponsored initiative of centerNet.  DHCommons and centerNet reached this agreement after six months of discussions, led by Ryan Cordell and Quinn Dombrowski for DHCommons and Neil Fraistat representing centerNet.

DHCommons is an online hub focused on matching digital humanities projects seeking assistance with scholars interested in project collaboration. It thus responds to a pressing and demonstrable need for a project-collaborator matching service that will allow scholars interested in DH to enter the field by joining an existing project as well as make existing projects more sustainable by drawing in new, well-matched participants. DHCommons helps break down the siloization of an emerging field by connecting collaborators across institutions, a particularly acute need for solo practitioners and those without access to a digital humanities center. Working with centerNet, DHCommons will strive also to reach solo digital humanists in countries or regions without robust digital humanities infrastructure, helping them find communities of potential collaborators to further their work. DHCommons began in a session on interinstitutional collaboration at THATCamp Chicago in October of 2010. Session participants Ryan Cordell (St. Norbert College), Quinn Dombrowski (University of Chicago), and Christopher Dickman (St. Louis University) began developing the hub soon thereafter with the support of the Texas A&M Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture (http://idhmc.tamu.edu/) and the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (http://www.nitle.org/). The DHCommons Advisory Board includes Rebecca Davis (NITLE), Christopher Dickman (St. Louis University), Quinn Dombrowski (University of Chicago), Laura Mandell (IDHMC), Katherine Rowe (Bryn Mawr College), and Lisa Spiro (NITLE).

The partnership between centerNet and DHCommons promises to be mutually beneficial while helping to create and solidify the emerging infrastructure for digital scholarship in the humanities. As a centerNet initiative, DHCommons will help lower the cost of entry into digital scholarship and bridge gaps between large humanities centers and solo practitioners around the world. DHCommons will complement the mission of other centerNet initiatives, such as arts-humanities.net, aimed at supporting collaboration in the digital humanities. Through DHCommons, centerNet will foster increased collaboration among digital humanities centers and—most importantly—between centers and those previously outside of the center network.

Todd Presner, Project Director; Diane Favro and Chris Johanson, Project co-Directors, were awarded a 2011-12 NEH grant for a Summer Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities. The three-week institute will be hosted by the University of California, Los Angeles to explore how geospatial technologies like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used for teaching, research, and publishing in the humanities.

For a full listing of project awards visit - http://www.neh.gov/ODH/ODHUpdate/tabid/108/EntryId/164/Announcing-32-New-Start-Up-Grant-Awards-July-2011.aspx

This program is designed to fund the implementation of innovative digital-humanities projects that have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field. Such projects might enhance our understanding of central problems in the humanities, raise new questions in the humanities, or develop new digital applications and approaches for use in the humanities. The program can support innovative digital-humanities projects that address multiple audiences, including scholars, teachers, librarians, and the public. Applications from recipients of NEH’s Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants are welcome. Awards are expected to be in the region of $100k to $325k

Website: http://www.neh.gov/ODH/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=9Qc1l5gLcHw%3d&tabid=108

Deadline: 01/24/2012

Strategic Research Initiatives will provide support in preparing proposals. Please contact Erna Aridzanyan or Jill Sweitzer for the same.

Jill Sweitzer
Strategic Research Initiatives
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

Mr. Yoh Kawano and HyperCities are mentioned on a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Mr. Kawano has been working tirelessly with Japanese relief efforts and also played a central role developing the “HyperCities Now” twitter mapping/archiving project. (4/4/11)

Click here to read the article.