Announcing New ODH Awards (April 2024)

The Office of Digital Humanities is pleased to announce 19 awards through the Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities program.

These projects are part of a larger slate of 238 awards announced by NEH.  From an investigation of the impact of Arecibo Observatory on its surrounding communities to a history of life-support technologies to multiple projects devoted to the AI’s impact on society, the second round of the Dangers and Opportunities of Technologies grants demonstrate the broad range of topics that the program supports. Congratulations to all the award recipients on these exciting projects!

Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities

Individual

Primary Institution: Arizona State University

Project Director: Kathleen Vogel

Project Title: AI and the Future of U.S. Intelligence

Project Description: Research and writing of a scholarly monograph and related articles on the social implications of use of artificial intelligence by the U.S. national security community.

Primary Institution: Baldwin Wallace University

Project Director: James Garrison

Project Title: The Subject Project: Human Visibility, Vulnerability, and Diversity in the Data Age

Project Description: Research toward a book manuscript investigating how human consciousness and behavior are mediated by an increased awareness of being a source of data.

Primary Institution: Claremont McKenna College

Project Director: Jordan Branch

Project Title: Virtual Territories: War and the State in a Digital Age

Project Description: Research and writing of a scholarly monograph on the intersections of information technology, warfare, and state sovereignty with a focus on war planning, drone warfare, and digital mapping. 

Primary Institution: Emory University

Project Director: Jinsook Kim

Project Title: Sticky Activism: Online Misogyny and Feminist Activism in South Korea

Project Description: Writing a book that analyzes how women and marginalized groups in South Korea have fought back against online harassment on globalized digital platforms. 

Primary Institution: George Mason University

Project Director: Zachary M. Schrag

Project Title: Rail Against Sprawl: A History of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project

Project Description: Development of a scholarly monograph on the history of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. 

Primary Institution: Montclair State University

Project Director: Charlotte Lucy Kent

Project Title: Arts, Agency, and Automation: A Global Cultural Affair

Project Description: Multidisciplinary research and field interviews with internationally recognized artists resulting in academic articles and preparation of a book manuscript on the concept of agency as it relates to generative AI artistic production. 

Primary Institution: New School

Project Director: Peter Asaro

Project Title: AI-powered Influence, Deception and Manipulation

Project Description: Research for a book investigating the potential for manipulation and deception using artificial intelligence systems.

Primary Institution: Purdue University

Project Director: Courtney Wittekind

Project Title: Influencing the Revolution: Social Media and Digital Fundraising in the United States and Myanmar

Project Description: Research examining the complexities of digital fundraising efforts on commercial social media platforms by diasporic communities seeking to support democratic resistance in Myanmar.

Primary Institution: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Project Director: Raquel Velho

Project Title: The Lifecycles of the Arecibo Observatory: Understanding the Social, Cultural, and Political Contexts of Research Facility Host Sites

Project Description: Research and analysis of the history and development of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the multifaceted impacts on local residents and communities.  

Primary Institution: University of Oregon

Project Director: Arafaat A. Valiani

Project Title: Geneticizing Health Disparities? Health Equity for Racialized Communities and the Promise of Precision Medicine in Canada

Project Description: Ethnographic research culminating in several scholarly articles and a monograph investigating whether precision medicine helps prevent or reproduce health disparities.

Primary Institution: University of Wisconsin, Madison

Project Director: Christine Dianne Wenc

Project Title: How Life Support Technology Changed American Death

Project Description: Research and writing of a work of public scholarship, a monograph on the history of life-support technology and its impact on American culture.

Primary Institution: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

Project Director: Adam Diller

Project Title: Project 02: Twenty Years of Google in The Dalles, Oregon

Project Description: Research and writing of a scholarly monograph and associated public events on the history of Google’s first data center in The Dalles, Oregon.

Collaborative

Primary Institution: Bucknell University

Project Directors: Vanessa Massaro, Darakhshan Mir, Nathan Ryan

Project Title: (Re)locating Trauma: Mapping the Dangers of Carceral Algorithms through Stories of Incarceration

Project Description: Research and analysis of the impact of algorithmic decision-making tools on the lives of incarcerated people within and outside of Pennsylvania’s state corrections system.  

Primary Institution: California State University, Dominguez Hills

Project Directors: Cristina Stephany, Mike Karlin, Alohilani Okamura (University of Hawai‘i, Manoa)

Project Title: Constructing the "I" in Artificial Intelligence: Perceptions of Teaching with Chat GPT in Relation to Cultural Identity

Project Description: An ethnographic study of beginning teachers in Los Angeles and Hawai‘i and their understanding of ChatGPT’s influence on teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. 

Primary Institution: New York University

Project Directors: Edward Byungkwon Kang, Juana Becerra Sandoval

Project Title: Machine Listening in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Project Description: Planning and conducting interdisciplinary case studies and a public-facing speaker series examining the historical, social, economic, political, and epistemic impact of machine listening systems in preparation of a special issue in an academic journal and conference tutorial session.   

Primary Institution: University of Connecticut

Project Directors: Anna Mae Duane, Stephen Dyson

Project Title: Bringing the Past to the Future: Slavery and Artificial Intelligence on the Battleground of Popular Culture

Project Description: Development of a podcast series and scholarly book chapters analyzing how persistent narratives of slavery and servitude have influenced popular understanding of artificial intelligence and humans’ ethical engagement with emerging technologies.

Primary Institution: University of Georgia

Project Directors: Pablo Lapegna, Johana Kunin

Project Title: Prosperity, Plants, and Pesticides: The Dangers and Opportunities of Agricultural Biotechnology

Project Description: Research for a book manuscript exploring how the use of agricultural biotechnology impacts both local economies and health outcomes.

Primary Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Project Directors: Julia Ticona, Caitlin Petre (Rutgers University)

Project Title: Imagining AI in organized labor: Struggles over the Value of Cultural Work

Project Description: A humanistic analysis and development of journal publications on the ways those working in creative industries engage with generative artificial intelligence technology and its potential impact on arts and culture.

Primary Institution: University of Wyoming

Project Directors: Matthew Henry, Theodora Dryer (New York University)

Project Title: Water Justice and Technology

Project Description: Further development of a web publication and edited volume of scholarship and criticism on the cultural and historical impacts of technology on water stewardship.