The guidelines for the DFG/NEH Bilateral Symposia and Workshops program are now available on the NEH website (the DFG version of the guidelines can be found here in PDF format).  The application deadline is October 29, 2009.  As always, feel free to contact us with questions, requests to read drafts (six weeks prior to deadline, please), or if you just want to chat about a project idea.

I'm very happy to say that the NEH has just announced 21 new awards from our Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants program.  These grants support innovative projects in the digital humanities. These awards are part of a larger group of 184 awards announced today by the NEH.  For a full state-by-state list of all the awards, please see today's press release.   Also, please note that the next deadline to apply for this program is October 6, 2009.  Please consult the guidelines for more information. Recently Announced Awards in the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant program: Alexandria Archive Institute -- San Francisco, CA The Open Modern Art Collection of Iraq: Web tools for Documenting, Sharing and Enriching Iraqi Artistic Expressions...

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With funding from the NEH program Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities, the University of Virginia's Scholars Lab is hosting a three-track Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship in November 2009 and May 2010. This Institute will bring scholars, cultural heritage professionals, and software developers together to support and develop geospatial projects and methods in the humanities. The institutes will support travel and lodging for 40 attendees as well as Institute faculty members. Dedicated funding is available for graduate students as well as faculty attendees.   Schedule:   Round 1 — November 15-18, 2009 — Charlottesville, VA   Track 1: Stewardship Library, museum, GIS and digital humanities center professionals Rich geospatial content and open, flexible access in support of humanities scholarship   Track 2: Software Web developers, designers, systems administrators, and information scientists Spatially enabling web projects and building service-oriented GIS infrastructure...

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With funding from the NEH program Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities, Brown University’s Women Writers Project is presenting a series of training seminars in text encoding using TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) markup.  The seminars are “…intended to provide a more in-depth look at specific encoding problems and topics for people who are already involved in a text encoding project or are in the process of planning one. Each event will include a mix of presentations, discussion, case studies using participants' projects, hands-on practice, and individual consultation.” The full seminar schedule is as follows: University of California, Santa Barbara Hosted by the English Broadside Ballad Archive and the Transliteracies Project September 14-16, 2009 This...

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The next Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant deadline is October 6, 2009.  If you are considering applying, I want to pass on some important advice.  Applicants often ask:  "To what audience should I address my proposal?"  The answer is: a general one.  Your application will be read by a variety of people including peer reviewers, NEH staff, and members of the NEH’s National Council on the Humanities.    Hence,  I wish to strongly emphasize the importance of writing your application in a clear fashion that can be understood by a non-technical audience.  We realize that your project may be technical in nature and that part of the application will have to address complex technology issues.  But particularly in your abstract and in the first portion of your narrative, it is very important that you write to a general audience that is familiar with the humanities, but may have no specific knowledge of technology or...

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I want to bring to your attention an excellent grant opportunity from the NEH's Division of Research.  The Fellowships at Digital Humanities Centers (FDHC) program supports collaborations between digital centers and individual scholars.  The program's four goals are to 1) support innovative collaboration on outstanding digital research projects; 2) expand digital literacy and expertise;  3) promote the work of digital humanities centers; and 4) encourage broad and open access to the humanities.   Each fellow must be "sponsored" by a center.  The center sends in the grant application.  The award provides funds for both a stipend for the fellow and a portion of the center's costs for hosting the fellow.   The intellectual cooperation between the scholar and the center may take many different forms and may involve humanities scholars of any level of digital expertise.  Fellows may work exclusively on their own projects in consultation with center staff; collaborate on projects with other scholars affiliated with...

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I'm happy to announce that Ithaka has just released Case Studies in Sustainability.  This study was funded in cooperation with the NEH along with the National Science Foundation and the JISC Strategic Content Alliance in the UK.   This study seeks to answer the question "how does a digital project continue once the grant has run out?"  Or, as Ithaka puts it, "Tens of millions of dollars, pounds, and euros are invested each year by government agencies and private foundations to develop and support digital resources in the not-for-profit sector. As budgets tighten, will these digital resources be able to survive and thrive?"   I believe that the case studies will be of great use to both applicants and to funders.  For each case study, Ithaka staff conducted extensive research, including interviews with project directors, funders, and users.  Each case study includes candid and in-depth discussions of how the project was able to obtain sustained revenue to ensure the project could continue to provide an important educational resource.  ...

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