I am pleased to pass on details of the call for papers of the excellentDRHA conference. Some of our colleagues at Intute are on the committee of DRHA. In the past we have also presented and run panels, (see other Intute blog posts tagged drha), at this international conference for Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts.
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PERFORMANCES
DRHA 2010 Conference: Sunday 5th September – Wednesday 8th September 2010 at Brunel University, West London. www.drha2010.org.uk
CONFERENCE THEME: Sensual Technologies: Collaborative Practices of Interdisciplinarity
The conference’s overall theme will be the exploration of the collaborative relationship between the body and sensual/sensing technologies across various disciplines. In this respect it will offer an interrogation of practices that are indebted to the innovative exchange between the sensual, visceral and new technologies.
At the same time, the aim is to look to new approaches offered by various emerging fields and practices that incorporate new and existing technologies. Specific examples of areas for discussion could include:
Delineation of new collaborative practices and the interchange of knowledge
Collaborative interdisciplinary practices of embodiment and technology
Integration/deployment of digital resources in new contexts
Connections and tensions that exist between the Arts, Humanities and Science
Notions of the ’solitary’ and the ‘collaborative’ across the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences
eScience in the Arts and Humanities
Use of digital resources in collaborative creative work, teaching, learning and scholarship
Open source and second generation Web infrastructure
Digital media in time and space
Music and technology: composition and performance
Dance and interactive technologies
Taking inspiration from SET: imaging, GPS and mobile technologies
Evaluating the experience among providers and users / performers and audiences
Interface Design and HCI
Performative Practices in SecondLife or other virtual platforms
New critical paradigms for the conference’s theme
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Richard Coyne – Professor of Architectural Computing at the University of Edinburgh.
Christopher Pressler: Director of Research and Learning Resources and Director of the Centre for Research Communications, University of Nottingham.
Thecla Schiphorst: Media Artist/Designer and Faculty Member in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology. Simon Fraser University , Vancouver, Canada.
STELARC, Chair in Performance Art at Brunel University and Senior Research, Fellow in the MARCS Labs at the University of Western Sydney.
The DRHA (Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts) conference is held annually at various academic venues throughout the UK. This year’s conference is hosted by Brunel University, West London. It will take place from Sunday 5th September to Wednesday 8th September 2010. It will be held across various innovative spaces, including the newly expanded Boiler House laboratory facilities, housed in the Antonin Artaud Building, and state of the art conference facilities plus high standard accommodation.
SUBMISSIONS:
We invite original papers, panels, installations, performances, workshop sessions and other events that address the conference theme, with particular attention to the ‘Sensual Technologies’ focus. We encourage proposals for innovative and non-traditional session formats.
DRHA 2010 will include a SecondLife roundtable/discussion event, led by performance artist Stelarc, which will enable international participants to present performative work via Second Life. For this event, we particular encourage submission of Machinima works that can be screened as part of this panel.
Short presentations, for example work-in-progress, are invited for poster presentations.
Anyone wishing to submit a performance or installation should visit http://www.drha2010.org.uk for information about the spaces and technical equipment and support available.
All proposals – whether papers, performance or other – should reflect the critical engagement at the heart of DRHA 2010.
The deadline for submissions will be 31 March 2010. has been to extended to 14th of April 2010.
Abstracts should be between 600 – 1000 words.
Letters of acceptance will be sent by 15th of May 2010, when the conference registration will be opened.
Things are already gearing up for the DRHA conference 2009, which is to be held in Belfast from the 6th to 9th September. DRHA (or Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts to give it its full title) is an Intute Arts and Humanities favourite for obvious professional reasons, but also due to its always-entertaining eclectic mix of the latest cutting-edge humanities projects and artistic performances (see blog entries passim).
DRHA 2009 is shaping up nicely. The theme of the conference is ‘Dynamic Networks of Knowledge and Practice: Contexts, Crises, Futures’, and the organisers (I must admit to being on the programme committee myself) are keen to attract a varied set of proposals, from young scholars and performers as well as old hands. The full details are available at http://www.dho.ie/drha2009. Do note that the deadline for submissions is the 31st March, and abstracts should include a reasonable amount of detail. In the interests of creativity the conference particularly encourages proposals for innovative and non-traditional session formats, so get thinking about how you (and your network if you have one) can get involved.
At the international DRHA 08 conference Steve Benford spoke about “Performing Mixed Reality: Staging and Studying Performances Online and On-the-streets”.
A roller coaster virgin takes part in the Blast Theory/Aerial Thrill Laboratory on the Oblivion ride, Alton Towers. NB the YouTube video linked to from this image contains some swearing
Last year we were able to blog about many DRHA07 presentations. This year I plan to blog separately about my own presentation “Visualising Archives: Opportunities to enhance teaching and research of First World War literature”, and some of the other presentations we viewed.
Why the title of this post? These were some of the subjects for bizarre but academic conversations held over a pint or an early morning coffee during the conference – all of which should be explained over the next few posts… except “Pineapples“.
A painting by Hendrik Danckerts from 1675 showing Charles II being given the first pineapple grown in England by his royal gardener, John Rose. Source: Wikimedia Commons
It would ease my mind greatly if anyone can point me towards an authoritative resource for the history of the pineapple? This follows a particularly diverting discussion of the pineapple as a sign of wealth in Britain, Pineapples in Pompeii, the origin of pineapples, and the toxic properties of the pineapple (Intute search for academic resources about the pineapple).
The Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts (DRHA) conference is always one of the highlights of the year for Intute. It presents a chance for us to find out about new ideas, trends, and projects and catch up with some of the leading lights in the field. This year, it’s going to be in Cambridge. The full conference programme, with a list of speakers and performers, is now up at: http://www.rsd.cam.ac.uk/drha08/programme.aspx. Registration is open until the 1st August, and the conference itself begins on the 14th September.
This year’s theme is “New Communities of Knowledge and Practice”, and the conference aims to “bring together an array of creators, users, distributors and custodians of digital resources in the arts and humanities to discuss the new forms of interaction enabled by ICT.”
Personally, I am particularly looking forward to hearing Alan Lui speak on the Monday morning. Not only is Alan’s academic background in English literature, like my own, but he was also the founder of one of the very first gateways to academic resources in the humanities – the invaluable Voice of the Shuttle. Fourteen years later the site is still going strong.
Our very own Alun Edwards will be discussing the opportunities that Web 2.0 offers to enhance teaching and research in First World War literature, accompanied by a poster. Delegates are strongly advised to seek him out and discover more about Oxford University’s digital archive of First World War Poetry and the Great War Archive before their official launch in November.
I will not, alas, be presenting a paper myself this year, but you should be able to find me hovering around an Intute poster stand somewhere in the conference venue, and I would be more than happy to listen to any feedback about the service, especially suggestions as to how we can do things better!
At the ‘Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts’ (DRHA07) conference earlier this year I met some performance artists from the US. Conversation with Jimmy and Beth Miklavcic was instense, intriguing, yet a little over the head of this ‘philistine’! The lasting impression I took away from the conversation about creative performance using video conference technologies was… actually we don’t put enough thought into our presentation when we communicate over the Access Grid or web-cam (Skype etc.)!
Use of the Access Grid will differ from institution to institution. Unless you are able to use a portable unit for the Access Grid your opportunity to change the lighting and background may be limited.
It is now possible for us to post (embed) videos from sites like YouTube, and music, and other multimedia in the Intute blog! (Flash player or other plugins may be required for some media).
A panel discussion at the opening of the recent Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts (DRHA07) conference at Dartington College of the Arts posed the question what happens after the end of the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS); is this the end of national support?
The Arts and Humanities Data Service is a national service with the primary role to preserve, curate, and provide access to the digital output of the humanities in the UK. The Service is also active in the enhancement and promotion of digital scholarship in the UK as well as internationally. After eleven years of service, the AHDS recently lost its funding from the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) and the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council). The Service will cease to exist in its present form in March of 2008.
