Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities spans disciplines and types of projects, with projects ranging through numerous platforms and fields: digitization of archival materials so that they can be more easily accessed outside of museums or libraries; cultural analytics; 3D mapping of archeological sites; educational technology applications; digital film studies; digital game studies; and gamification of learning. 

The Denbo Center for Humanities & the Arts is pleased to have made a considerable investment in promoting and financially supporting emerging digital humanities and digital gaming programs at the University of Tennessee Knoxville–from a Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities to an Interdisciplinary Program for undergraduates through the College of Arts and Sciences to support for individual training and conferences for faculty and graduate students. 

Attendance at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute

The Denbo Center offers up to 6 faculty and graduate students working in arts and humanities departments the opportunity to attend the annual Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), in partnership with UT Libraries. 

The Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) is an annual digital scholarship training institute that is organized for its community by the Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur les humanités numériques (CRIHN) and takes place at the Université de Montréal campus. DHSI was previously run by the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab at the University of Victoria. Every summer, DHSI brings together faculty, staff, and students from the arts, humanities, library, and archives communities as well as independent scholars. It provides a community-based environment for discussing and learning about new technologies and how they influence teaching, research, creation, and preservation in different disciplines. Participants share ideas and methods as well as develop expertise in advanced technologies during this time of intensive coursework, seminars, and lectures. Described by one participant as an event that “combines the best aspects of a skills workshop, international conference, and summer camp,” DHSI prides itself on its friendly, informal, and collegial atmosphere.  

Each year, the Denbo Center financially supports a membership to DHSI that allows up to 6 UT faculty and/or graduate students working in humanities and arts fields to attend DHSI in a seminar of their choosing and also offers a stipend to cover travel and lodging. Participants are selected through a competition run by Drs. Hilary Havens and Joshua Ortiz Baco.    

For more information, contact Dr. Hilary Havens at [email protected]  

Speakers Series and Research Seminar Support

The Denbo Center includes 1-2 DH speakers each year within its Distinguished Lecture Series. This series has brought notable DH researchers to campus, such as Marisa Parham, Paul Jaskot, Michael Witmore, Vinton Cerf, Julian C. Chambliss, Elisa Beshero-Bondar, Jeffrey Cohen, Lauren Klein, and Lauren Tilton. The Denbo Center also has given generous support to the Digital Gaming Research Seminar, allowing that seminar to build out activities with Volan gaming at UT, corporate entities, and other units on campus. 

We also coordinate DH activities on and off the UT campus. The DCHA currently sponsors the Digital Games research seminar, which regularly runs workshops, seminars, and DH-related talks for UT faculty and graduate students. Our 2019 Distinguished Lecture Series featured a joint talk by Vinton G. Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google, and Michael Witmore, Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Cerf and Witmore gave talks at ORNL and also with Jack Dongarra’s Computing Group at UT. Cerf talks with Witmore and DCHA Director Amy Elias about the relation between the computing sciences and the humanities in the YouTube video above.