[Air-L] CFP - Handbook of Research Methods in Digital Humanities

[lewis levenberg]

Hi all,

Please consider submitting a proposal for this edited volume, or forwarding
to contacts who may be interested.

Digital Humanities is a contested field. With little agreement on exactly
what Digital Humanities means it has been deemed both the savior of the
humanities and, as recently claimed in the London Review of Books, a
“neoliberal tool” (Allington, et al, 2016) bent on destroying traditional
humanities departments. Yet, despite the disagreements and debates, we
believe that students need a guide to introduce them to the methods digital
humanitarians employ. This guide is designed to give students the capacity
to study, interpret and present a range of cultural material and practices;
develop practical and reflexive understandings of software and digital
devices; and explore ways to collaborate and contribute to scholarly
communities and public discourse.

Digital Humanities extends and rethinks aspects of Literature, History,
Philosophy and the languages and takes on critical aspects of fields such
as Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, African-American Studies and Global
Studies. It includes the development and application of archives,
databases, digital environments, software and hardware. It also
investigates and circulates cultural practices in new ways by applying
theories and methods from the humanities to understand technology. We
contend the best work in Digital Humanities takes on these critical
approaches to politics, society, culture and technology to ask the
important questions of our day.

The Handbook of Methods in the Digital Humanities intends to introduce
students to a range of digital research methods, locating each method
within critical humanities approaches, and providing guides and examples.
It is primarily intended for advanced undergraduate students in
interdisciplinary and humanities programs. There is potential utility for
Honors and Masters’ students or elective classes for majors in Computer
Science. In each chapter, experts will introduce a method with examples
from their own work and guides to help students formulate and produce their
own research. Researchers explain the key terms associated with their
method, discuss where the method came from, the ethical issues involved,
and why a researcher would or would not use the method. This is followed by
a step-by-step guide to the procedures involved in the method illustrated
by examples from their case study. Finally, contributors’ conclusions and
discussion questions are designed to help the reader consider their own
projects, think deeply about the research method and provide a guide for
further discussion. Potential submissions may choose to focus on:

   - Content analysis / textual data mining
   - Critical code studies
   - Visual analysis
   - Physical digital structures
   - Online interviews and ethnography
   - Network analysis
   - Political economy
   - Communications / media studies
   - Archives
   - Big data
   - Dark web / the illicit
   - Collaborative research
   - Presenting research
   - Information aesthetics
   - Procedural literacy

*Submissions*:
Please submit a 400 word abstract and a brief bio by October 1, 2016 to
David Rheams (drheams at masonlive.gmu.edu), Tai Neilson (
tneilson at masonlive.gmu.edu)  or Lewis Levenberg (llevenbe at gmu.edu).
Proposals should identify your method, describe your case study, and
position your work within critical approaches to Digital Humanities.
Chapter drafts will be due February 1, 2017. We are working with a
representative from the publisher Rowman and Littlefield International.

Informal inquiries are welcome!