Updated Guidelines for Digital Humanities Implementation Grants

As ODH program officer Jason Rhody discussed back in July, we've been working recently to streamline our grant program guidelines to make them both simpler and more expansive. While earlier this year we revised our Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants guidelines, we have now applied many of these changes to the Implementation Grants program as well. In particular, we have condensed the list of activities that may be pursued through this program, which now includes:

• the implementation of computationally-based methods or techniques for humanities research;

• the pursuit of scholarship that examines the history, criticism, and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society or explores the philosophical or practical implications and impact of digital humanities in specific fields or disciplines;

• or the revitalization and/or recovery of existing digital projects that promise to contribute substantively to humanities scholarship or the teaching or public knowledge of the humanities. 

​These changes do not represent a major shift in terms of what this program aims to fund; rather, each bullet serves as an umbrella that covers the wide range of projects that have always been welcome to apply to the Implementation Grants program. The third bullet, which calls for revitalizing and/or recovering existing digital projects, synthesizes detailed language from last year's guidelines that can now be reviewed in the Frequently Asked Questions document.

A few other changes to keep in mind:

• A number of NEH programs, including the Digital Humanities Implementation Grants program, have incorporated an encouragement for projects that study, document, or create digital representations of lost or imperiled cultural heritage materials. You can find more information here.
• Statements of Innovation and Humanities Significance are no longer included in the application.
• The project abstract limit has been shortened from one page to one paragraph.

As always, ODH staff are available to answer questions and to read application drafts, so please contact us at odh@neh.gov.