Humanities Informatics Grants For 2004-2005

The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research has made five grants to support the Humanities Informatics (HI) initiative, in which the center is a partner with the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries and the Texas A&M University Libraries. The grants are funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

The following projects were selected:

A Digital Library of Spanish-language Expeditionary Texts from Texas

This project provides the raw material necessary to create a digital library of reliably edited manuscripts pertaining to early Texas history. It will include a searchable database of annotated Spanish-language texts and facsimile reproductions from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Contact Brian Imhoff, Department of Hispanic Studies, at bimhoff@tamu.edu.

19th Century Concord: A Historical and Literary Center Website

This website offers a multi-faceted picture of 19th-century Concord, Massachusetts, by presenting literary texts, architectural drawings, photographs, video, broadsides, physical artifacts, music, historical records, and period newspaper clippings. It will also provide an on-line repository for these documents. Contact: Amy E. Earhart, Department of English, at aearhart@tamu.edu and see http://www-english.tamu.edu/concord.

Enhanced Information Composition Through Semantic Clustering

This project aims at refining a tool that uses sampling and composition to represent information collections. The tool is a generative agent that collects and composes information samples automatically, based on a model of the user’s interests. Contact: Andruid Kerne, Department of Computer Science, at andruid@cs.tamu.edu.

The Picasso Project and the Development of Visual Cultures

This on-line digital library of the works of Pablo Ruiz Picasso combines textual commentary and visual images and allows users to create multiple non-linear arrangements of both by organizing the material to suit their own needs. Contact: Enrique Mallen, Department of Hispanic Studies, at e-mallen@tamu.edu and see http://www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso.

PaleoAmerican Artifact Digital Archive

This project will create a three-dimensional image archive of paleolithic artifacts and present on the web a virtual artifact database. This pioneering use of imaging technology has significant implications for the virtual preservation of otherwise endangered materials. Contact: Michael R. Waters, Department of Anthropology, at mwaters@tamu.edu.

Seed Grant Projects funded 2002 - 2004

"A Semantic Associative Model for Streaming Collage Browsing" (A. Kerne, Computer Science)

"Texas Images Project: An On-Line Repository of Pre-1900 Prints," (TAMU Libraries);PIs, Smith and Urbina

"Hum Dekhengey: A Digital Archive of Resources by and about South Asian Women" (J. Vaid, Psychology)

"The Virtual Texas Art Museum"(J. Baker, Architecture)

"The Texas A&M University Genre Evolution Project" (L. B. Cooke, Modern and Classical Languages)  

"On-Line Picasso Project" (E. Mallen, Modern and Classical Languages)

"The Concord Project" (A. Earhart, English)

HI Affiliated Projects

"Exploring the Design Space for Interactive Scholarly Communication," (Center for the Study of Digital Libraries)

"Enhancing Interactive Information Organization and Presentation for a Heterogeneous Display Environment," (Center for the Study of Digital Libraries)

"Visualizing a Recombinant Knowledge Space for the Purpose of Augmenting Creative Process," (Center for the Study of Digital Libraries)

"The Cervantes Project Digital Archive: Textual Iconography of Don Quixote (1605-2005)," (E. Urbina, R. Furuta and S. Smith)

"A Digital Archive of Cervantes ex libris" (in collaboration with the Center for Castilla-Mancha Studies, University of Castilla-La Mancha)

"Music in Cervantes and the Quijote, a digital repository and archive" (in collaboration with Professor Juan Jose Pastor, University of Castilla-La Mancha)

"Cervantes International Bibliography Online, a new electronic database" (Center for the Study of Digital Libraries)

"Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database" (H. Hall, Libraries)

World Shakespeare Bibliography - commercially published (J. Harner, English)

"Texas Images Project" (Smith and Urbina)

There are a number of publications based on these and other Humanities Informatics Initiatives. A list of these titles is provided.