Fortnightly Roundup [November 22, 2021]

[Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina]

DHC-NC Fortnightly Roundup

Community Calendar

 

2022 DHC-NC Institute: Save the Date!

The 2022 Institute will be held April 21-22 and hosted by UNC-Charlotte. More details to follow soon...

Coffee & Viz: Collatz Conjecture

Wednesday, December 1, 2021
12:00pm to 5:00pm

Where: Visualization Studio, D. H. Hill Jr. Library
Event Description: Visit the Visualization Studio during Exam Wellness Week to relax and reflect on the Collatz conjecture through an immersive audio and visual experience.

The Collatz conjecture is a mathematical speculation that is said to be unsolvable. Introduced by Lothar Collatz in 1937, it is also known as the “3n + 1 problem.”

The conjecture states:

Start from any positive integer, n.

If n is even divide by 2, if n is odd multiply by 3 and add 1.

Continuing this sequence will always end in 1, regardless of which positive integer is chosen initially.

The conjecture is considered “dangerous” because it is notorious for absorbing massive amounts of time from both amateur and professional mathematicians alike, seeking to find a proof. Although it has not been proven, it has been confirmed by computer for all starting values up to 268 ≈ 2.95×1020.

This immersive visualization was created by Trevor Thornton, an applications developer in the Libraries’ Digital Library Initiatives department. In addition to making up interesting things to do in our visualization spaces, he also builds and maintains systems to support Special Collections.

This program is free and open to the public. There is no set duration. Drop in anytime between 12pm - 5pm and stay for as long as you want.

Digital Aesthetics: Critique, Creativity and Selfhood in Computational Culture (KCL/UNC joint series speaker events)

"Quitting Digital Culture: Rethinking Agency in a Beyond-Choice Ontology", Dr. Zeena Feldman

Date/Time: Tuesday, December 2, 10-11.30am ET/ 3-4.30pm GMT

Sign-up: https://forms.gle/NqUU9igLtfCZGWvW7

If, Then: Working Group on Computational Poetics, Technology, and Aesthetics

Mark your calendars! We’ve got some great stuff lined up this semester.

If, Then:

• December: Brandee Easter and Sukanya Anjea having a conversation on weird/esoteric programming languages, Dec. 3, 2021 @ 10AM Eastern

Planning?

• We’re looking ahead to the spring semester and are thinking about planning a two-day virtual symposium, with a slate of workshops, roundtables, conversations, and a keynote. Would this be something you’re interested in attending? Get in touch with Carly and LYB with ideas/suggestions! (csch...@live.unc.edu and lillian...@umb.edu) 

Data Science: Visualized

When: Friday, December 3, 9:00-11:00 am
Where: NC State University, D. H. Hill Library, Visualization Studio

Students from James Harr’s Data Visualization course (DSC 495-005) will be showcasing their final projects (digital posters). Three separate sessions of students/posters will be featured during the event:

• Session 1: 9:00-9:30
• Session 2: 9:45-10:15
• Session 3: 10:30-11:00

This event is free and open to the public. Drop in anytime and stay for as long as you want. 

For information on the Data Science Academy and our course offerings, visit https://datascienceacademy.ncsu.edu/

The Virtual St Paul's Cathedral Project

The Virtual St Paul's Cathedral Project is now online and ready for use. The Virtual St Paul's Cathedral Project enables the user to explore a digital model of pre-Fire St Paul's Cathedral and the surrounding Churchyard in London before it was all destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. The website also enables the user to experience two full days of worship inside the Cathedral -- Easter Sunday 1624 and an ordinary day in November of 1625 -- with music by 16th and early 17th century English composers performed by choir and organ. The Virtual Cathedral Project was created by PI's John Wall, David Hill, and Yun Jing, all of NC State University and was funded by a digital humanities grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For the Project's website, go here: https://vpcathedral.chass.ncsu.edu/

For NC State's news release about the completion of the Project, go here: https://news.ncsu.edu/2021/10/recreating-17th-century-london/

CFPs & Other Postings

Position Available for Project Manager for On the Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Resistance
The University Libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is seeking a project manager for the On the Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Resistance (OTB) project. The project has created a text corpus of NC General Statutes from 1866-1967 and identified laws likely to be Jim Crow laws using machine learning and a training set of laws classified by experts as either Jim Crow or not Jim Crow. The Jim Crow laws identified by the project are available as a plain text corpus and can be searched from the OTB website. The project website lists and contextualizes the Jim Crow laws and provides educational resources. A GitHub repository provides documented scripts generated by the project team. This project is part of the Reckoning Initiative at the University Libraries, and reflects our commitment to use equity, inclusion, and social justice as a lens for all our work. To read more about the project, visit the website: https://onthebooks.lib.unc.edu/.

The next phase of the project will expand the project to two additional states and facilitate the use of OTB products in research and teaching. To expand the project, funds will be regranted to teams from two partner states. The partner states will create corpora for their own states and use the OTB training set to identify Jim Crow laws. To facilitate the use of the OTB products in research and teaching, three graduate student research fellows, two or more faculty research fellows, and three teaching fellows will be awarded funds to use OTB products (including the website, corpora, training set, algorithm, and workflows). Research fellows will use products from OTB in a research project. Teaching Fellows will create an education module using OTB products that will be taught to undergraduate or graduate courses.

The Project Manager will serve as the main program contact for the project and will plan and organize work.

For details, see the position posting: https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/216117

*Please note the application deadline is 11/23/2021!*

Lecturer in Digital and Data Studies, 3-year appointment, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Binghamton University

Harpur College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University seeks to appoint a lecturer to teach in the newly-approved Digital and Data Studies program. The program aims to provide liberal arts students with an immersion into digital literacy and data-inflected thinking, in addition to hands-on experiences with computational tools. This new program seeks to be accessible to students across Harpur College, at an entry level and in any major in the arts and sciences, regardless of their professional aspirations. More information on the program can be found here: https://www.binghamton.edu/harpur/undergraduate/digital-data.html

The program is committed to promoting socially and culturally responsible approaches to technology and an awareness of the impact of data-driven decisions and algorithmic processes, particularly on communities that are already marginalized. The college has set ambitious targets for increasing opportunities for historically underrepresented faculty members among its ranks and recognizes the importance of faculty diversity in advancing the goals of this new program. Applicants who are committed to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion as fundamental cornerstones of a public education and have experience working with diverse student populations are strongly encouraged to apply.

The lecturer will be responsible for teaching two of the required courses for the new minor, Data & Society and Digital Inquiry & Practice, in addition to electives in their domain of study, for a total of four courses per year. The lecturer will also serve as the Coordinator for the Digital and Data Studies minor, with the responsibility of administering the new program, recruiting and advising new minors, and promoting the program's offerings across campus. The lecturer will be appointed to one of the college's departments, as appropriate to their field of study and experience. This is a three-year appointment, with the possibility of renewal.

The lecturer should hold a PhD or another terminal degree in any discipline in the arts, humanities, social sciences, or sciences, and have experience in teaching computational methods, digital humanities, critical data studies, and/or digital scholarship in a liberal arts context. 

To apply, submit a letter of application describing research interests and teaching experience, in addition to a CV, and the names and contact information for three references. Applications received by December 10, 2021 will receive full consideration. The position starts on September 1, 2022, although an earlier start date would be possible. https://binghamton.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=139021&CNTRNO=0&TSTMP=1636112859608

The State University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

Call for Speakers, Data Physicalization, NCSU, Spring 2022

The Data Science Academy at NC State University is offering a one-credit course on data physicalization (description below) on Mondays, 3:00-3:50. If you are interested in speaking to the class about your data physicalization-related research -- either in-person or on Zoom -- please let me know. Thank you! - Jamie (jbh...@ncsu.edu)

"A data physicalization (or simply physicalization) is a physical artifact whose materiality encodes data. Data physicalization engages its audience and communicates data using tangible data representations.  This course covers topics such as visualization aesthetics, the data-object, data sculptures, critical making, and wearable/art technology. Students will analyze current examples of data physicalization, discuss visualization in the context of cultural and historical practice, and evaluate scholarship that recognizes intersections among physicalization, record-keeping, and data literacy. (DSC 495-008; Instructor: Dr. James Harr)"

For information on the Data Science Academy and our course offerings, visit https://datascienceacademy.ncsu.edu/

CFP: DH2022: Responding to Asian Diversity: https://dh2022.adho.org/cfp/en

Deadline for proposal submissions: December 1, 5:59 a.m. EST. 

Submit a proposal here.

CFP: Global Digital Humanities Symposium: https://msuglobaldh.org/

Deadline for proposal submissions: December 1, 11:59 p.m. EST. 

Submit a proposal here.

If you would like to share upcoming virtual events, CFPs, or other news, please forward the information to dhcol...@gmail.com.