Penn Humanities Forum Goes Digital

Penn Humanities Forum (PHF) has gone digital. Launching this September, The Digital Humanities Forum (DHF) will work to educate both scholarly and lay audiences on the ways in which computer technologies are reshaping the study and teaching of the humanities disciplines, a trend that is allowing for unprecedented communication between experts in myriad fields on a global scale. In addition, the DHF will work to foster a collaborative network of humanists and technology specialists to develop innovative digital research projects through grants.

These initiatives will be highlighted during a daylong symposium each semester that will include public lectures and discussion, followed by small-group workshops with leading researchers and administrators. The DHF will also host “Tools and Techniques” luncheons, where scholars describe and demonstrate some particular method of digital research.

“The DHF is basically a pilot program,” explains Jim English, John Welsh Centennial Professor of English and Director of the Penn Humanities Forum.  “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has provided us with funding for a two-year start up phase, during which our aim will be to build a community of faculty, librarians, museum researchers, and graduate students to spearhead digital humanities initiatives at Penn.  This is an exciting moment for humanities research, with lots of new tools suddenly being introduced across a wide range of fields.  I think Penn is a great environment for the kind of open-ended experimentation that DH entails.  We can expect our campus to be hosting some major digital research projects within a few years.”  

Since 1999, the PHF has sponsored seminars, lectures, film series, and live performances, bringing scholars together with artists, students, and the Philadelphia public to explore and extend humanistic knowledge. Visit the DHF web site at http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu/dhf/overview.shtml.