Author: Cheryl

Call for Book Proposals: Palgrave Studies in Queer Literary, Visual and Material Cultures

NEW SERIES
Call for Proposals
Palgrave Studies in Queer Literary, Visual and Material Cultures

https://link.springer.com/series/17238

Series Editors

  • Michel Bronski, Professor of the Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University, USA
  • Dominic Janes, Professor of Modern History, Keele University, UK
  • Kate Thomas, K. Lawrence Stapleton Professor of Literatures in English, Bryn Mawr College, USA

Brief Description 

Palgrave Studies in Queer Literary, Visual and Material Cultures tests, contests and expands the boundaries of queer studies in global and transnational contexts and across historical periods. The series engages a wide range of cultural production including literature, graphic narrative, film, performance, architecture, art, virtual design, interior and furniture design, and landscape design. We welcome titles that bring “queer” cultures and sexualities into conversation with related areas of enquiry, especially critical race theory, trans studies, disability studies, feminist theory, eco-criticism, post-colonial theory, and Marxist theory. The series is dedicated to cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and intersectional work across many forms of difference and diversity.

Although the series will focus on Anglophone works we invite research that crosses over from other disciplines and cultural contexts. For example, a book on late Victorian British queer male writers might discuss the influence of the French decadent writers of that period, as well as other aspects of European literary production. Or, again, work that explores British visual and textual cultures from India might usefully contextualise them in relation to subcontinental practices and understandings of sexuality and art.

The editors welcome new book proposals for monographs (70,000-100,000 words) and edited collections (80,000-125,000 words).

If you’re interested in submitting a proposal, please contact the Executive Editor for Literature at Palgrave Macmillan, Molly Beck (molly.beck@palgrave.com). 

Contact Information

Executive Editor for Literature at Palgrave Macmillan, Molly Beck (molly.beck@palgrave.com). 

Contact Email

molly.beck@palgrave.com

URL

https://link.springer.com/series/17238

Call for Contributions: Information Technology and Libraries Journal, New Column

Information Technology and Libraries Journal (ITAL) is seeking authors for a new column titled “ITAL &”.

The “ITAL &” column is a non-peer-reviewed, featured column that focuses on ways in which the library’s role continues to expand and develop in the information technology landscape. The emphasis will be on emerging ideas and issues, with a particular aim to recruit new-to-the-profession columnists.

Some examples of possible topics include:

AI: How will the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning change various aspects of librarianship and different types of libraries? How are library professionals working with or fighting against artificial intelligence? Are libraries using generative AI in marketing materials or using large language models to streamline workflows? What cybersecurity implications arise?

General technology review: Looking back at the ten-year range, what are the major changes or improvements in library technologies that have occurred since 2014? What are the current and emerging technologies that enable telecommuting, cloud computing, and hybrid learning in libraries? What are the potential scenarios and implications of library technologies in the next five and ten years, and what are the best practices and strategies to prepare for them? This column could provide a platform to discuss and envision prospective library technologies.

Other topics of interest could include, but are not limited to: disability and accessibility, cybersecurity and privacy, the open movement / open pedagogy, linked data and metadata, digital humanities / digital praxis, digitization efforts, programming and workshops, the overlap between library technology and other library departments (acquisitions, readers advisory, information literacy and instruction, scholarly communications), or other emerging technologies and their implications for library work.

This column is intended to be practitioner-focused, and we will happily entertain submissions from folks who have expertise in libraries and technology but who may not work in a traditional “library” environment or role. We are also happy to work with first-time authors and folks based outside of North America, though columns need to be submitted in English.

Since this is a non-peer-reviewed column, there is also an opportunity to engage in new ways or different formats, so creative submissions will also be considered. (Examples: comics, zines, videos, autoethnography, case studies, white papers, policy documents, interviews, reports, or other things commonly referred to as “grey literature.”) If you would like your column to be in a format that differs from a standard editorial essay, please explain in your proposal.

Those who are interested in being an author for this column should submit a brief proposal / abstract that outlines the topic to be covered. Proposals should be no more than 250 words. Please submit your proposals to this Google Form no later than June 30, 2024.

Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by July 8, 2024, with the submission deadline for our quarterly issues on the first of February, May, August, and November. Completed column submissions should be roughly 1500-2000 words.

Please contact column editor Shanna Hollich (shollich@gmail.com) with any questions.

CFP: Treinta y tres (Latinx Oral Histories)

The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies at Northern Illinois University invites you to submit proposals for its sixth annual interdisciplinary conference, Treinta y tres, to be held on November 21-22, 2024. This year’s theme is “Latinx Oral Histories: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the NIU Latinx Oral History Project.” 

The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies began collecting oral history materials in 2014 to document, disseminate, and promote better understanding of the lives and experiences of Latinxs in the Midwest. The NIU Latinx Oral History Project was founded as an undergraduate student research engagement project with students conducting interviews and generating transcripts as part of a course assignment, summer research opportunity, and/or independent research project. Today, the project holds more than 300 oral history interviews in audio and video formats. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently awarded the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, in the amount of approximately $350,000, to support the full digitization of sound/video and text files in the collection. In collaboration with the NIU Libraries, this groundbreaking project will culminate in a large collection of free-use, online materials documenting Latinx experiences and history in the Midwest. 

To commemorate the significant contributions of the NIU Latinx Oral History Project, we are interested in individual and panel proposals that discuss memory, the practice of oral history, and the importance of oral histories in documenting Latinxs experiences. We also welcome proposals that explore the use of oral histories in the classroom and those that examine the broader impacts and political implications of oral histories outside of academic spaces. We aim for discussions that acknowledge the strengths and difficulties associated with conducting, preserving, and accessing Latinx oral histories.

We invite proposals from faculty, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students as well as alumni who previously worked as researchers involved with the NIU Latinx Oral History Project. The deadline to submit proposals (150-300 words) for papers, panels, performances, or workshops is September 16, 2024. Proposals should include a title, brief abstract, and contact information for each participant. Please also indicate if you prefer a virtual or in-person session. We will do our best to accommodate preferences, but flexibility on modality will be appreciated. 

To submit a proposal, please email: latinostudies@niu.edu

For any questions, please email: Dr. Christina D. Abreu (cabreu@niu.edu) 

Contact Information

Krystyna Kamka

Northern Illinois University

DeKalb, IL 60115

Contact Email

LatinoStudies@niu.edu

URL

https://www.niu.edu/clas/latino-studies/index.shtml

CFP: Journal of Digital History

Teaching Digital History: a CfP
(see full call)

For its first Open Ended Issue, the Journal of Digital History will explore how we teach digital history and how we think about the pedagogy of digital history. We are particularly interested in questions of how we can integrate digital history into the traditional curriculum, the best practices for teaching it, how we would like to teach it in regions of the world where such a practice is nascent, and how to further solidify the scholarship of teaching and learning as a sub-discipline. Teaching Digital History is a practice in constant motion, based on an unstable set of pedagogical toolkits, that is multifaceted as digital history itself is multifaceted.

Following the innovative practices of the Journal of Digital History, submitted articles will be multilayered. Though articles can start from different points of view – teaching practices, pedagogical theory – contributions will develop three layers:

  • the narrative layer – that will expose your main arguments;
  • the hermeneutics layer – that will explain the (computing or pedagogical) tools that allow to put your arguments into practice, and their critical reviews;
  • the data layer – that can be, for this open issue, made of different things: surveys, interviews, curriculum(s), teaching modules.

The Open Ended Issue’s editorial team will welcome articles on many subjects, that include but are not limited to:

  • teaching Digital History as a topic;
  • teaching DH-related tools (GIS, development languages, text processing, topic modeling tools) as methods to study history;
  • pedagogical tools/theories/practices: confrontation with new tools and paradigms, peer group projects, hand’s on courses, (interdisciplinary) team teaching scenarios, development of digital self learning tools, engagement, digital storytelling, etc;
  • how does the implementation of digital tools and digitization change the way we teach history?
  • failures and hindrances in the teaching of Digital history;
  • digital history text-book related articles (not the text-book itself, but a discussion on its scope, on how it should be written, on which skills should be taught, etc);
  • History of teaching Digital History.

If you have any questions or want to discuss a proposal, please contact the special issue editors at jdh.admin@uni.lu.

How to submit

As this is an open-ended issue, submitting an article can be done any time. To submit an abstract please go to the dedicated page.

CFP: 2025 NCPH Annual Meeting

SOLIDARITY | SOLIDARITÉ (PDF) 

NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PUBLIC HISTORY ANNUAL MEETING
MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC, CANADA | MARCH 26-29, 2025
PROPOSAL DEADLINE: JULY 15, 2024 

Solidarity (from the French solidarité) is a word for shared responsibilities and mutual obligations. It conveys a sense of interconnectedness with our world and interdependence upon each other. Long present in France’s code civile, to be in solidarity is to assume shared debts and claim shared successes, so that when we rise, we rise together.

As 21st century public historians, we work through multiple lenses, share diverse stories, and often interpret and make relatable to the public complex histories that sometimes counter long-held ‘truths.’ As a result, our work beckons for unity, togetherness, and collective purpose to support achieving common ground across the field and “put history to work in the world.”

The 2025 NCPH Annual Meeting will center around the theme Solidarity. Pondering the question—What does Solidarity mean in the field of public history?—leads us to consider what we collectively value in the field and how we progress together as public history workers. Amplifying voices, building connections, unifying our audiences, advocating for and revealing authentic histories, fostering and promoting safe spaces, and mirroring these values internally within our organizations are a few examples of how we realize Solidarity across the field.

While submissions on all topics are welcome, in exploring Solidarity, the Joint 2025 Program and Local Arrangements Committee co-chairs particularly encourage you to consider a few of the examples below:

  • Sessions related to public history labor and public historians as workers, including efforts to improve compensation and working conditions in the field and in our institutions;
  • Sessions which model collaboration between public historians and relevant stakeholders, especially community members and grassroots organizers;
  • Sessions which demonstrate solidarity between public historians and activist movements or protests;
  • Sessions which display international cooperation and collaboration across borders;
  • Sessions which explicitly consider our shared responsibilities as public historians: to each other, to the communities we serve, to the pasts, people, and places we interpret, and to the world we live in;
  • Sessions which ask us to evaluate the past work of public history to consider the shared debts we must pay;
  • Sessions which consider public history work as a projet de société—in Québec, a societal project.

PRESENTATION FORMATS MAY INCLUDE:

ROUNDTABLE (90 mins): Roundtables are typically about half presentation and half discussion among presenters and the audience. Presenters should bring targeted questions to pose to others at the table in order to learn from and with each other.
STRUCTURED CONVERSATION (90 mins): These facilitated, participant-driven discussions are designed to prioritize audience dialogue and may contain little or no formal presentation component.
TRADITIONAL PANEL (90 mins): At least three presenters, a chair, and optional commentator. While this is the most traditional format, we still highly discourage the reading of papers.
COMMUNITY VIEWPOINTS (90 mins): A showcase that features a variety of stakeholder and collaborator perspectives across stages of the project’s development, with a particular focus on community participants and grassroots collaborators.
INDIVIDUAL (~30 mins): While individual proposals are welcome, individual presentations will either be shorter than a full session or will be combined with similar proposals to make a full session. These should be presentations of your work and, like all other sessions, not a reading of a paper.
WORKING GROUP (2 hrs): Facilitators and up to 12 discussants grapple with a shared concern. Before and during the meeting, working groups articulate a purpose they are working toward or a problem they are actively trying to solve and aim to create an end product. Proposals are submitted by facilitators, who will seek discussants after acceptance. Note that this format is submitted via a special form.
WORKSHOP (4 or 8 hrs): A half- or full-day workshop is a more intensive and skills-based deep-dive into a topic that includes concrete practical tools and lessons for a smaller group of attendees (recommended 15- 30 people). Note that this format is submitted via a special form.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

OPTIONAL EARLY TOPIC PROPOSALS: Consider submitting an optional early topic proposal by June 15, 2024 to gather suggestions on your topic, seek collaborators or co-presenters, and get feedback from the 2025 Program Committee and members of the NCPH community. Respondents will contact the original submitter directly with their ideas or offers, and the submitter may choose to select additional participants, refine the proposal, and complete a full proposal form online by the July deadline.

FINAL PROPOSALS: Submit your fully formed session, working group, or workshop proposal online by July 15, 2024 via the forms in the dropdown menu at right. (Please note that working group and workshop proposal forms are separate from the main session proposal form. Individual presentations–not papers–can be proposed through the session proposal form.)

When filling out your proposal, please let us know if your session will be in English or in French, as we are planning for a track of sessions in French with simultaneous translation.

While individuals are not prohibited from presenting in consecutive years at the meeting, session proposals that include new voices will receive preference. Additionally, participants may be presenting members of only one session, but may also be discussants in Working Groups or serve as chair/facilitator on a second session.

QUESTIONS? PLEASE EMAIL PROGRAM MANAGER MEGHAN HILLMAN AT MEGHILLM@IU.EDU. THE CALL FOR POSTERS AND CALL FOR WORKING GROUP DISCUSSANTS WILL COME IN SUMMER 2024.

SOLIDARITY | SOLIDARITÉ (PDF EN FRANÇAIS)

RÉUNION ANNUELLE DU CONSEIL NATIONAL DE L’HISTOIRE PUBLIQUE À MONTRÉAL, CANADA
26 AU 29 MARS 2025

Solidarity (du français solidarité) est un terme qui désigne les responsabilités partagées et les obligations mutuelles. Il transmet un sentiment d’interconnexion avec notre monde et d’interdépendance les uns avec les autres. Longtemps présent dans le code civil de la France, être solidaire est d’assumer des dettes communes et de revendiquer des succès communs, de sorte que lorsque nous nous élevons, nous le faisons ensemble.

En tant qu’historiens publics du 21e siècle, nous travaillons sous des angles multiples, partageons des histoires diverses, interprétons et vulgarisons des histoires complexes qui vont parfois à l’encontre de « vérités » de longue date. En conséquence, notre travail appelle à un sens de l’objectif collectif pour soutenir la recherche d’un terrain d’entente dans le domaine et « mettre l’histoire au travail dans le monde ».

La réunion annuelle du CNHP de 2025 sera centrée sur le thème de la solidarité. Penser à ce que signifie Solidarité dans le domaine de l’histoire publique, nous amène à considérer ce que nous valorisons collectivement dans le domaine et comment nous progressons ensemble en tant que travailleurs pour l’histoire publique. Faire entendre les voix, créer des liens, unifier nos publics, défendre et révéler des histoires authentiques, favoriser et promouvoir des espaces sûrs et refléter ces valeurs en interne au sein de nos organisations sont quelques exemples de la manière dont nous réalisons notre mission en solidarité dans le domaine.

Bien que les soumissions sur tous les sujets soient les bienvenues, dans l’exploration de la solidarité, les coprésidents du Comité conjoint du programme 2025 et des arrangements locaux vous encouragent particulièrement à considérer quelques-uns des exemples ci-dessous:

  • Sessions liées au travail d’histoire publique et aux historiens publics en tant que travailleurs, y compris les efforts pour améliorer la rémunération et les conditions de travail sur le terrain et dans nos institutions;
  • Sessions qui modélisent la collaboration entre les historiens publics et les parties prenantes concernées, en particulier les membres de la communauté et les organisateurs locaux;
  • Sessions qui font preuve de solidarité entre les historiens publics et les mouvements ou manifestations militants;
  • Sessions qui démontrent de la coopération et de la collaboration internationale au-delà des frontières;
  • Sessions qui considèrent explicitement nos responsabilités partagées en tant qu’historiens publics: les uns envers les autres, envers les communautés que nous servons, envers le passé, les personnes et les lieux que nous interprétons, et envers le monde dans lequel nous vivons;
  • Sessions qui nous amènent à évaluer le travail passé et présent de l’histoire publique pour considérer les dettes partagées que nous devons payer;
  • Sessions qui considèrent le travail d’histoire publique comme un projet de société, ainsi nommé au Québec.

LES TYPES DE PRÉSENTATION PEUVENT ÊTRE :

TABLE RONDE (90 minutes) : les tables rondes sont généralement composées d’une moitié de présentation et d’une moitié de discussion entre les présentateurs et le public. Les présentateurs doivent apporter des questions ciblées à poser aux autres participants afin d’apprendre les uns des autres.

CONVERSATION STRUCTURÉE (90 minutes) : ces discussions facilitées et dirigées par les participants sont conçues pour donner la priorité au dialogue avec le public et peuvent ne contenir que peu ou pas de composante de présentation formelle.

PANEL TRADITIONNEL (90 minutes) : au moins trois présentateurs, un animateur et un commentateur optionnel. Bien qu’il s’agisse du format le plus traditionnel, nous décourageons toujours fortement la lecture de documents.

Points de VUE de la COMMUNAUTÉ (90 minutes) : une vitrine qui présente une variété de points de vue des parties prenantes et des collaborateurs à travers les étapes du développement du projet, avec un accent particulier sur les participants de la communauté et les collaborateurs locaux.

INDIVIDUEL (~30 minutes) : Bien que les propositions individuelles soient les bienvenues, elles seront soit plus courtes qu’une session complète, soit combinées avec des propositions similaires pour former une session complète. Il devrait s’agir de présentations de votre travail et, comme toutes les autres sessions, pas d’une lecture d’un document.

GROUPE DE TRAVAIL (2 heures) : les animateurs et jusqu’à 12 participants se penchent sur une question commune. Avant et pendant la réunion, les groupes de travail définissent un objectif qu’ils poursuivent ou un problème qu’ils tentent activement de résoudre et visent à créer un résultat final. Les propositions sont soumises par les animateurs, qui rechercheront des participants après validation.

ATELIER (4 ou 8 heures) : Un atelier d’une demi-journée ou d’une journée est une immersion plus intensive et axée sur les compétences dans un domaine, qui comprend des outils pratiques concrets et des leçons pour un groupe plus restreint de participants (de 15 à 30 personnes).

DIRECTIVES POUR LES SOUMISSIONS DE PROPOSITIONS

PROPOSITIONS DE SUJETS PRÉLIMINAIRES FALCULTATIVE : envisagez de soumettre une proposition de sujet préliminaire facultative d’ici le 15 juin 2024 pour recueillir des suggestions sur votre sujet, rechercher des collaborateurs ou des coprésentateurs et obtenir des commentaires du Comité du programme 2025 et des membres de la communauté CNHP. Les répondants contacteront directement l’auteur de la proposition initiale pour lui faire part de leurs idées ou de leurs offres, et l’auteur de la proposition pourra choisir de sélectionner d’autres participants, d’affiner la proposition et de remplir un formulaire de proposition complet en ligne avant la date limite du mois de juillet.

PROPOSITIONS FINALES : soumettez votre proposition complète de session, de groupe de travail ou d’atelier en ligne d’ici le 15 juillet 2024 via https://ncph.org/conference/2025-annual-meeting/cfps/. (Veuillez noter que les formulaires de proposition de groupe de travail et d’atelier sont distincts du formulaire de proposition de session principale.)

Lorsque vous remplissez votre proposition, veuillez nous indiquer si votre session sera en anglais ou en français, car nous prévoyons une série de sessions en français avec traduction simultanée.

Bien qu’il ne soit pas interdit aux individus de présenter une session plusieurs années de suite, les propositions de sessions qui incluent de nouvelles personnes seront privilégiées. En outre, les participants peuvent être membres présentateurs d’une seule session, mais peuvent également être participants aux discussions dans les groupes de travail ou être présentateur/facilitateur lors d’une autre session.

DES QUESTIONS? VEUILLEZ ENVOYER UN COURRIEL À LA RESPONSABLE DU PROGRAMME, MEGHAN HILLMAN, À MEGHILLM@IU.EDU. L‘APPEL POUR LES PRÉSENTATIONS ET L’APPEL POUR LES PARTICIPANTS AUX DISCUSSIONS DES GROUPES DE TRAVAIL SERONT LANCÉS AU PRINTEMPS 2024.

SUBMISSION FORMS

Submit an optional early topic proposal by June 15 for feedback: https://ncph.org/conference/2025-annual-meeting/cfps/topic-proposal-form/
Submit a session proposal (including individual presentations) by July 15, 2024: https://ncph.org/conference/2025-annual-meeting/cfps/session-proposal-form/
Submit a working group proposal by July 15, 2024: https://ncph.org/conference/2025-annual-meeting/cfps/working-group-proposal-form/
Submit a workshop proposal by July 15, 2024: https://ncph.org/conference/2025-annual-meeting/cfps/workshop-proposal-form/

Call for Nominations: Arline Custer Memorial Award

Arline Custer Memorial Award, presented by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference

DEADLINE:  July 31, 2024

The Arline Custer Memorial Award is presented by the MARAC Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee.  This award honors the memory of Arline Custer (1909-1975), MARAC member and editor of the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections.

Eligibility

The Arline Custer Memorial Award recognizes the best books and articles written or compiled by individuals and institutions in the MARAC region – the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

Works under consideration include, but are not limited to: monographs, popular narratives, reference works and exhibition catalogs using archival sources.

Individuals or institutions may submit up to two works published between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

Evaluation

Works must be relevant to the general public as well as the archival community. They also should be original and well researched using available sources. In addition, they should be clearly presented, well written and organized. Visual materials, if used, should be appropriate to the text.

Compiled works or works with multiple authors-such as edited volumes, co-authored works, or journals-will be reviewed in their entirety. Portions of a multiple-author work that do not meet award requirements may impact the submission’s final scoring.

Preference will be given to works by archivists.

Award

Up to three awards may be given, with a maximum value of $200.00 for books and $100.00 for articles. The 2024 award(s) may be announced at the fall 2024 MARAC business meeting or shared with MARAC members via another means.

Electronic Submission Instructions

Electronic submissions are preferred. Please send a PDF of the entirety of the work along with a PDF of a letter of nomination to the Senior Co-Chair of the Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee:

Elise DeAndrea

Archivist

SUNY Upstate Medical University

Email: deandree@upstate.edu

Physical Submission Instructions

Please send two physical copies of each submission with a letter of nomination to the Senior Co-Chair of the Arline Custer Memorial Award Committee. Please email the Sr. Co-Chair to request the mailing address.

Email: deandree@upstate.edu 

Entries must be received by July 31, 2024

For additional information about this award and a list of previous award winners, see the Arline Custer Memorial Award site: http://www.marac.info/arline-custer-memorial-award

CFP: Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) Events

The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) is currently inviting proposals for events that will take place between September 2024 and January 2025. The deadline for applications is July 24, 2024. 

The BSA can offer financial and logistical support for a variety of events, including lectures, panel presentations, hands-on workshops, conference sessions, or other online or in-person events.  Examples of past and upcoming events can be found here. Please reach out to the Events Committee if you have questions about event formats, financial support, or topics.

In all BSA events, the material text – that is, handwritten, printed, or other textual or visual artifacts, broadly conceived – as historical evidence, and/or the theory and practice of descriptive, historical, and/or critical bibliography, should be a central concern to participants and organizers.

BSA requests a general overview of the content of sessions and a short bio for presenters as well as information about the budget, promotion, and general organization of the event. For full details about the application process, and to submit an application, please visit the following webpage: https://bibsocamer.org/events/funding-opportunities

For additional questions or queries, please contact events@bibsocamer.org.

CFP: Engaging with Big and Small Historical Data

The material that historical research – and humanities scholarship in general – is based on traditionally carries names like ‘archival’ or ‘primary sources’. The ongoing disciplinary movement towards digitization and datafication forces us to engage with our material in new ways: it becomes data. The aim of the volume Engaging with Big and Small Historical Data, under contract with Routledge as a part of their Engaging with… series, is to provide a guide for the scholarly community of historians to reflect on the consequences of these current developments. We invite historians and other scholars with an interest in this topic to contribute to the volume. 

The structure of the volume is based on the following question regarding the datafication of historical scholarship. We are specifically looking for scholars interested in contributing to the named chapters within each of these parts of the volume, although we are open to any other suggestions that fit the aims of this volume:

0. Defining Data. The growing abundance of data has long been celebrated under the guise of ‘big data’. The contributions that this volume will start with will together address the most important debates that underlie this rhetoric. They elaborate on the epistemological consequences of thinking in terms of big data, on the rhetoric of ‘newness’ of big data, and on questions of bias, power, and inequality that come with big data.

Available chapters:

  • Historicizing the data deluge
  • Data (and) inequality: power and ethics

1. Where are data to be found? Data is not always stored in the archives and libraries that we know how to work with. Preconditions for access to data are changing. Historians have to cope with paywalls, versioning, permissions, and formats. They have to learn about OCR, image recognition, and other techniques. Most of all, they are usually not in control of what material is or can be turned into data. This raises crucial questions about what material can be worked with as data in the first place, and what material is being left out, excluded, overseen, or forgotten.

Available chapters:

  • Digitization and the role of heritage institutions

2. How do we engage with data? Working with data impacts the epistemological preconditions of historical scholarship, if only because its methodologies usually originate from other fields of research. Does working with data necessitate a (new) quantitative turn in historical scholarship, or can it be integrated into hermeneutic traditions? How do current developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, which have a huge potential for historical research, impact traditional views on methodological reflection and source criticism?

Available chapters:

  • Becoming interdisciplinary
  • Data and open science: presenting scholarship in the digital age

3. What can we find in data? Tools and techniques for computational analyses of data are advancing with great speed, and historians and other scholars have been using them in a large variety of ways to study history. These techniques allow for new research questions, as well as new perspectives on familiar questions.

Available chapters:

  • Maps
  • Reconstructions

The title of this volume aims to capture the often intertwining trends that are hidden under these questions. It refers to the various dimensions of scholarship that come with digitization and born digital data. In addition, the juxtaposition of big and small also evokes two widely discussed approaches to using data in a humanities context – which are all but mutually exclusive. A more elaborate introduction to the volume’s aims and design can be found at http://tinyurl.com/BigandSmallData. 

The volume primarily aims to target the field of history. However, even if based on historical examples, the contributions to this volume are to have relevance for other fields of humanities research. After all, the historical data that is being digitized is used in a wide range of fields, from cultural studies to philosophy and from media studies to linguistics. Therefore, scholars from adjacent fields working with historical data are also warmly invited to contribute.

Contributions are ca. 7000 words long (excl. bibliography) and, ideally, relate to a combination of concepts, key terms/methodologies and case studies. Due date for the first draft of contributors’ chapters is Jan 1, 2025. Revised chapters are due in the Spring of 2025. Expected publication of the volume is the Fall of 2025.

Interested scholars are asked to send proposals of max. 300 words no later than July 1, 2024 to volume editor Pim Huijnen at p.huijnen@uu.nl, who you may also contact with any questions. 

Contact Information

Pim Huijnen, Utrecht University

Contact Email

p.huijnen@uu.nl

URL

http://tinyurl.com/BigandSmallData

New Issue: Collections

Collections- Volume: 20, Number: 2 (June 2024)
(subscription)

Focus Issue: Promoting Exhibit Access and Safety: Guest Editors’ Foreword
Jeffrey Hirsch, Cali Martin, Melissa Miller, and Samantha Snell

Promoting Exhibit Access and Safety (PEAS): Reflections on Conference Surveys
Jeff Hirsch, Pei Koay, Cali Martin, Melissa Miller, Robert Waller, and Amy Zavecz

The Molina Family Latino Gallery: A PEAS Case Study
Jenarae Bautista and Sarah Elston

Challenges Requiring New Thinking in Museum Security
Francis Demes, Jaime Juarez, and James H. Clark

The Problem of Compromise in Conservation and Exhibit Decision Making
Robert Waller and Jane Henderson

A Collaborative Conservation Perspective: Ensuring Preservation, Access, and Safety in Exhibits
Jennifer Herrmann and Dong Eun Kim

Defensible Collections: Designing a Safe Exhibit Space
Jeffrey Hirsch and Casey Gallagher

A Collaborative Approach to Hazardous & Contaminated Collections Conundrums
Holly Cusack-McVeigh, Mark Wilson, and Sarah M. Halter

The Wheel Is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis
Julianne Snider

Breaking Down Barriers: Adopting a Holistic Approach to Safety, Collections Management, and the Visitor Experience
Carrie Heflin

Accessibility and Exhibit Safety: The Importance of Sensory Maps
Emma Cieslik

Promoting Exhibit Access and Safety (PEAS): Listening and Learning Sessions
Sarah Elston, Ronald Eng, Kelsey Falquero, Jennifer Herrmann, Dong Eun Kim, Melissa Miller, Samantha Snell, Julianne Snider, Allaire Stritzinger, and Gina Whiteman

Seeking Associate Editor: Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (JCAS) is looking for a new volunteer Associate Editor! Associate Editors work with the JCAS Editorial Board to solicit, select, and develop content for the journal. Primary duties include:

  • Selection of peer reviewers for assigned submissions
  • Supervising the peer review process in consultation with the Managing Editor
  • Evaluating peer review reports
  • Making recommendations to the Managing Editor on the suitability of submissions for publication
  • Participation in programming at events
  • Soliciting submissions
  • Assisting in the development of content
  • Actively participating in the management of the journal

The term of service runs July 2024 – June 2027 with the opportunity to renew for another three-year term.

Applicants must submit a résumé or CV and a brief statement of interest to email.jcas@gmail.com by Friday, June 28.