University of Massachusetts, Boston

Project Director:  Joanne Riley

To Support:  The development and evaluation of a social networking platform for humanities practitioners in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Award Dates:  05/01/2008 - 12/31/2008

Outright Funds: $24,748.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: The Massachusetts Studies Project (MSP) aims to create an online social network specifically for those who are involved in local studies in Massachusetts.  This first, Level I phase of the project will allow us to assess a promising open source development platform called "Ning," which offers powerful new tools for building customized social networks.  Building a test network on Ning, and planning and prototyping the code to add functionality tailored to humanities practitioners, will position us to take the next steps in building a full-fledged, model social network to meet the collaborative needs of educators, scholars, librarians, and local studies practitioners.

Project Website: http://MAStudies.ning.com/

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

CUNY Research Foundation, Brooklyn College

Project Director:  H. Arthur Bankoff

To Support:  Digital laser scanning and three-dimensional quantification, as well as the creation of digitally-generated models, of ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets.

Award Dates:  04/01/2007 - 09/30/2008

Outright Funds: $29,850.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: The Brooklyn College Archaeological Research Center and the Brooklyn College Digital Morphology Laboratory are applying for funding from the NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants Program to investigate the feasibility of using laser scanning and 3D quantification and analysis of the cuneiform signs on a series of ancient Near Eastern tablets as a pilot study (1) to determine whether specific "hands" can be identified ; (2) to investigate whether the same technology and research design can be used to match unconnected tablet fragments and to determine whether or not they are parts of the same text; (3) to reconstruct and compare the seals on the tablets and, (4) to reproduce exact larger-scale replicas of tablets and seals in epoxy resin for study and exhibit.

Project Website: [none]

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

University of Virginia

Project Director:  Bill Ferster and Scot French

To Support:  Development of an interactive web-based tool to integrate primary documents, dynamic maps, and related information in the study of history, with the prototype to be focused on Thomas Jefferson's trip to England in 1786.

Award Dates:  03/01/2008 - 02/28/2009

Outright Funds: $49,827.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: The Jefferson's Travels Project is a joint undertaking of the Virginia Center for Digital History and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to develop a highly interactive web-based tool that uses Thomas Jefferson's travels as initial content. A specially constructed interactive browser (the HistoryBrowser) provides for fast and easy navigation along the time and place dimensions. The HistoryBrowser encourages primary source documents to speak more directly to the audience by providing visualizations of the relationships, chronologies, and causal events. They will often contain word-based narrative, in written or oral forms to help connect the resources, but the browser allows for a new form of storytelling, using guided visualizations. These visualizations use new methods of interpreting and presenting historic inquiry, such as animation over time, charts, maps, data, and interactive timelines to graphically show the relationships between multiple kinds of information.

Project Website: http://jeffersonstravels.org/

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

University of California, Riverside

Project Director:  Justin McDaniel

To Support:  Two planning conferences, one in Riverside, California, the other in Bangkok, Thailand, to lay the foundations for the interactive mapping of Asian Buddhist monastic centers in Thailand and the creation of a digital resource using state of the arts tools, including GIS, 3-D virtual realtiy, text transcriptions, and sound and video recordings.

Award Dates:  07/01/2007 - 06/30/2008

Outright Funds: $30,000.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: The Thai Digital Monastery Project seeks to begin creating a digital interactive virtual library for enthusiasts, students, and scholars interested in exploring a selection of the over 30,000 monasteries in Thailand. Working closely with the Thai royal family, monastic ecclesia, and Mahamakut University the PI, Justin McDaniel and his collaborators will explore the application of new open-source technologies to create an integrated digital research environment in which participants can walk through three dimensional and 360 degree immersive spaces.  In order to build this digital environment that will serve a wide range of learning communities, a one year in depth feasibility initiative is needed which will test technology in the field, recruit a talented long-term staff, and design a electronic platform for a planned multi-year project.

Project Website: http://www.tdm.ucr.edu/

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [yes]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

University of California, Berkeley

Project Director:  Michael Buckland

To Support:  Development of a testbed of Irish studies materials and three open-source tools, broadly applicable to text-based collections, to serve as an Internet age "reference section" and to enable students, scholars, and librarians to establish scholarly context from digital collections.

Award Dates:  10/01/2007 - 09/30/2009

Outright Funds: $349,996.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: Students, editors, researchers, and the public are necessarily concerned with the context and relationships of names and topics found when reading texts. What other documents relate this topic? Where and when did this happen? What else was going on around that time and place? Who were the people and institutions mentioned? How were they related? What else did they do? This project will develop three tools: A Context Finder will find information in reference works about names, words, or phrases found when reading; a Context Builder will annotate texts with the source of information for the next reader; and reference works will be enriched by Context Provider to show where the names or topics were mentioned in texts. An international collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, and the Queen's University, Belfast will develop these tools for texts relating to Ireland.

Project Website: http://ecai.org/neh2007/

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.