Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities, Loyola University Chicago

Tanya Clement

May 11, 2011

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Founded 2010
Steve Jones, Co-Director

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Intellectually, the Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities (CTSDH) emerged out of the English Department’s area of excellence in textual studies and the appointment of Peter Shillingsburg as the first Martin J. Svaglic Chair in Textual Studies. It’s committed to exploring the links between textual-studies practices and theories and emerging work in digital humanities research and teaching. The Center’s work aims to reach beyond the disciplinary boundaries of the English or Computer Science departments, the two primary collaborating units. Textual studies encompasses any form of investigation of original documents–whether manuscript, print, or electronic–to establish the composition, revision, editing, printing, production, distribution, or reception of a work. So its activities include bibliography, textual criticism, scholarly editing, and book history in any field or historical period. In our own time, its focus necessarily includes digital texts and new media, and so leads directly into the set of emerging practices associated with digital humanities research, which often takes place in networked environments, involving collaborative teams drawn from different academic areas of specialization.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 The CTSDH is broadly multidisciplinary. Participating faculty researchers and members of its Advisory Board range across multiple disciplines in the humanities and other schools and divisions of the university, including University Libraries, the School of Communication, and in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Departments of Classical Studies, Computer Science, English, Fine and Performing Arts, History, and Theology. A new MA in Digital Humanities begins fall 2011, with a dual-track structure for students primarily from humanities backgrounds, on the one hand, and primarily from technical backgrounds, on the other hand.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Research already underway includes the production of scholarly editions, whether born-digital or print materials, the creation of new scholarly tools for editing, sharing, and analyzing texts, tools which ideally embrace open standards and are distributed under an appropriate free/open source model. It also includes the publication of books and articles on the theories and practices of textual studies and digital humanities research. By developing digital expertise for organizing and analyzing documentary materials, and working to develop methods for representing and publishing the results online, the Center supports a range of digital humanities projects.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Our focus is on archives, documents, and media that make up our shared cultural records and forms of expression, and on how we continue to reproduce and study them in the digital age. In this way the CTSDH is concerned with fundamental ethical questions surrounding the accuracy and preservation of and public access to recorded forms of knowledge in the information age. Its focus on innovation in humanities research includes diverse cultural materials–from medieval manuscripts, to renaissance plays, to modern literature, to new media and video games. As part of its outreach as well as its research agenda, the Center sponsors regular events–conferences, visiting lectures, and workshops.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 CTSDH is located in the library, but it is a separate interdisciplinary “unit” under the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, co-managed by English and Computer Science but not “in” either department. A new Master of Arts degree in Digital Humanities is coming online in Fall 2011.

0. ¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0
1. Co-Director (Computer Science Faculty)
   0. ¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0
   1. Graduate Research Assistant (Part-time, via Center faculty): Center-related research
2. Co-Director (English Faculty)
   Direct reports:
   0. ¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0
   1. Graduate Research Assistant (Part-time): Center-related research
3. Other:
   0. ¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0
   1. Faculty (non tenure-track, renewable 3-year contract, 100% in the Center)
   2. Research project teams including remote-location programmers etc. affiliated with the center.
   3. Receptionist/administrative assistant (Part-time)