Second International Conference 

21-25 September 2021

Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Hosted by the Siberian Federal University

Call for Papers

CFP: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish

I. General Information

The European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH) invites submission of proposals for its 2nd International Conference EADH2021, 21-25 September 2021, Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. 

The conference was originally scheduled for 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it had to be postponed. Given the uncertain developments we plan, right from the start, to have a hybrid conference. Should circumstances make it necessary the conference will go entirely virtual.  

Conference website: https://eadh2020.org/ (later https://eadh2020-2021.org/)

Submissions and presentations will be accepted in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.

Submit a Proposal via ConfTool: https://www.conftool.com/eadh2020-2021/ 

Deadline for Submissions: 23:59 GMT on 10 January 2021 

Reviewing phase: 18 January - 28 February 2021

Notification of Acceptances: 29 March 2021

Final DH Convalidator versions of accepted proposals: 03 May 2021 

Scheduled Conference Dates

Pre-Conference Workshops: 21-22 September 2021

Conference: 22-24 September 2021

Excursions: 25 September 2021

Theme of the Conference: “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Data”

The core subject of scholarly inquiry has always been cataloging and curating the inherited cultural knowledge, as well as contextualising it in a given time and place. With the exploding number of research objects and their unprecedented availability from anywhere on the globe, scholars face a significant challenge when making sense of them on a suddenly very different scale, resorting to quantitative and computational methods and in doing so eventually following science, business, and industry. 

Not only the sheer volume of the data, but also their diversity are challenging the usual computational and quantitative approaches that call for interoperability and aggregation to work properly -- be it the inherent diversity of the global cultural heritage, the diversity of epistemological approaches, the diversity of social agendas that often permeate scholarly interpretations, or the omnipresent multilingualism.

Furthermore, as the ongoing pandemic shows, the means of data gathering, data modelling, data analysis, data contextualisation, data representation, data visualisation and communicating these to the public are, especially in a time of crisis, in particular need of being scrutinised critically from humanities and social science perspectives. 

In practice, the complex multidisciplinarity of DH often renders institutional and political decisions difficult, such as the positioning of chairs / departments at Universities or the standards of an optimum DH curriculum. It can paralyse efforts to straighten out the usual underestimation of common DH outputs (databases, software) by national research evaluation schemes and to have dedicated grant proposal calls rather than to balance on the periphery of either the traditional humanities or computer science.

All these challenges, intellectual and mundane alike, have brought about an exciting range of practices at all levels: institutional, national, or applicable within a given language community or a particular project consortium. Let us celebrate this diversity of topics to inspire each other at the EADH2021 conference in Krasnoyarsk!

Keynote Speakers of the Conference

Confirmed keynote speakers are: 

• Willard McCarty, Professor Emeritus, King's College London, Adjunct Professor, Western Sydney University

• Diana Roig-Sanz, ERC Starting Grant holder and Ramón y Cajal senior research fellow, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)

II. Proposals

Proposals that speak to the theme of the conference are especially encouraged, but any other theme pertaining to Digital Humanities is welcome. Possible topics include:

• 3D imaging, modelling and digital reconstruction / restoration of historical heritage

• Computational textual studies, including quantitative stylistics and philology, stylometry, authorship attribution, big data, text mining, etc.

• Computer applications in literary, linguistic, cultural, archaeological, and historical studies, including electronic literature, public humanities and interdisciplinary aspects of modern scholarship

• Computer simulation / modelling of historical dynamics, information design and computer analysis of big historical micro data sets

• Corpora, corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and their contribution to Digital Humanities

• Critical infrastructure studies, media archaeology, eco-criticism, etc., as they intersect with the digital humanities

• Critical approaches to data gathering, data modelling, data analysis, data contextualisation, data visualisation, and data communication to the public in a time of crisis

• Data structuring, querying and visualization

• Digital arts, architecture, music, film, theatre, new media, digital games, and related areas

• Digital cultural studies, hacker culture, networked communities, digital divides, digital activism, open / libre networks and software, etc.

• Digital humanities pedagogy, and digital humanities in (public) education and academic curricula

• Digital Social Network Analysis (SNA) in historical, bibliometric, scientometric, sociolinguistic, geographical, textual and other studies

• Humanities research enabled through digital media, artificial intelligence, data mining, computer vision and machine learning

• Technologies such as 3D printing, physical computing, single-board computers, wearable devices, haptic technologies, applied to humanities research

• Social, institutional, global, gender, multilingual, and multicultural aspects of digital humanities including digital feminisms, digital indigenous studies, digital cultural and ethnic studies, digital black studies, digital queer studies

• Theoretical, epistemological, historical, or related aspects and interpretations of digital humanities practice and theory

• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies for the Digital Humanities

• Web-Mapping, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Visualization of Geospatial Data

Types of Proposals

Presentations may include the following types:

• Posters (abstract minimum 500 – maximum 750 words)

• Short papers (abstract minimum 750 – maximum 1000 words)

• Long papers (abstract minimum 1200 – maximum 1500 words)

• Multiple paper panels (500-word abstracts + 500-word overview)

• Pre-conference workshops and tutorials (proposal minimum 750 – maximum 1200 words)

All proposals should include relevant citations to sources in the appropriate literature. Additionally, proposals that concentrate on a particular tool or digital resource should cite traditional as well as computer-based approaches to the problem. While footnotes are included in the word count, citations are not to be included in the word count.

When preparing proposals, proposers should ask themselves whether their proposal, if accepted, could, if necessary, be presented or given virtually.

a. Poster Presentations

Poster proposals may present work on any relevant topic, or offer project tools or software demonstrations in any stage of development. Poster presentations are intended to be interactive with the opportunity to exchange ideas one-on-one with attendees. Posters are subject to the same rigorous peer review as other presentation types, and submissions in this category are strongly encouraged.

b. Short Papers

Short paper proposals are intended to be dynamic 10-minute presentations appropriate for reporting on experiments or works in progress or for describing tools or software in development. Short paper sessions seek to open dialogues among scholars working on related topics.

c. Long Papers

Proposals for long papers should deal with substantial or completed research; report the development of significant new methodologies or digital resources; and present rigorous theoretical, speculative, or critical discussions. Individual papers will be allocated 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions. Proposals relating to the development of new computing methodologies or digital resources should indicate how the methods are applied to research and/or teaching in the humanities and what their impact has been in formulating and addressing research questions. They should also include critical assessments of their application in the humanities as well as of the computing methodologies used.

d. Multiple Paper Panels

Panels should focus on a single theme and be coherent in presenting a substantial body of research or a research question. Panel submissions which do not meet this criterion and which could function as individual papers will not normally be accepted. A panel should be conceived as a 90-minute session of normally four speakers.

e. Pre-Conference Workshops

Workshops are normally either half-day or full-day intensive introductions to specific techniques, software packages or theoretical approaches with a small number of participants. Participants in pre-conference workshops will be expected to register for the full conference and may be required to pay a small additional fee. Workshop proposals should provide the following information:

• Title and brief description of the content or topic and its relevance to the digital humanities community.

• Intended length and format of the workshop (minimum half-day; maximum one-and-a-half days);

• Full contact information for all tutorial instructors or workshop leaders, including a one-paragraph statement summarizing their research interests and areas of expertise;

• Description of target audience and expected number of participants (based, if possible, on past experience); and

• Special requirements for technical support.

• Proposed budget (workshops are expected to be self-financing); and if the workshop is to have its own call for participation, a deadline and date for notification of acceptances, and a list of individuals who have agreed to be part of the workshop’s Programme Committee.

Proposers should explicitly consider how they would teach their workshop in a hybrid or fully online conference setting.

Evaluation of Proposals

All formats are subject to peer review. The format selected should match the goals of the proposed submission. No difference in scholarly quality and rigorousness is intended between the formats.

EADH2021 will be using double-blind peer review. To facilitate this process, please remove all identifying information from your proposal submission including author name and affiliation.

Submissions will be evaluated based on:

• Overall organization and clarity of proposed submission (20%)

• Explicit engagement with relevant scholarship, with references and justifications displaying knowledge of the current state of appropriate fields (20%)

• Clear theoretical, methodological, or pedagogical framework and explicit statement of purpose (20%)

• Applicability, significance, and value of the theoretical, methodological, and / or practical contribution to the digital humanities generally (20%)

• General recommendation (20%)

The committee will not normally accept more than a total of two submissions from one primary author or co-author. If more than two submissions considered for acceptance include the name of an individual presenter or co-presenter, then during the final review phase the chairs of the program committee will contact that participant and ask them which submission(s) they will withdraw to avoid exceeding that limit. 

To facilitate the production of the conference book of abstracts, authors of accepted papers will be asked to submit final approved versions of their abstracts via the DHConvalidator, available through ConfTool, which creates not only a TEI text base of conference abstracts for further processing, but also a html version of the abstract which can be made available in the website. More information will appear on the website of the conference.

The conference book of abstracts will not only be sent to the British Library which keeps a Conference index, but will also be archived in EADH’s open access Zenodo Community where a DOI is automatically assigned to it.

III. Bursaries for Early-Career Researchers (ECRs)

EADH is offering up to 12 travel bursaries of € 400 each to Early-Career Researchers (ECRs), like graduate or PhD students, postdoc or similar, who are presenting at the EADH2021 Conference. It is expected that with the prospect of a hybrid or fully virtual conference the focus of these bursaries will change. Any change will be announced on the website of the conference and via social media.

Proposals by applicants for a bursary will be subject to the same peer-reviewing process as all other conference proposals. Only those applicants whose proposal has been accepted in the initial review stage will be considered for the final selection of bursary winners. 

If you want to apply for an EADH bursary, please tick the relevant box. You will then be asked to submit also a short CV and an application letter (max 1000 words) that should clearly state your motivations for taking part in the conference and your personal background. Any information about your situation, that might help with the decision, is welcome. For more information see the conference website.

IV. Conference Languages and Multilingualism

EADH in its activities fosters multilingualism because it is the first visible level of multiculturalism - that is the appreciation and recognition that our studies are informed and enriched by the cultures which feed them and that in all this language is an essential component. Thus, the approach we want to promote is that of the dialogue of cultures and languages, not that of giving to any single culture / language a status of preferred one.

In practical terms, EADH in its 2021 conference accepts abstracts and presentations in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian. Please choose one of these languages when you submit your proposal.

All presenters are strongly encouraged to prepare their presentation for the conference in two languages. For inclusivity reasons one of these languages should be English. Both language versions must be good, top level slides which allow to fully follow the flow of the thoughts and arguments developed in the talk. Presenters may either give their talk in one language and present slides in the second language, or present the slides in the language of the talk and make the second version of their slides available on the conference website or via a handout.

Any other practical actions promoting multilingualism and multiculturality (including whispering translation, twitter translation, shared google doc, etc.) are in principle welcome and supported.

Presenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Global Outlook::Digital Humanities’ Translation Toolkit to prepare for a multilingual conference. This includes guidelines and best practices for multilingual slides / posters / handouts and ad-hoc community translation:  http://go-dh.github.io/translation-toolkit/conferences/

Similarly, participants are strongly encouraged to make themselves aware of current recommendations for accessibility of presentations and multimedia-based materials. Please review the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Initiative Guidelines on Presentation Accessibility: https://www.w3.org/WAI/training/accessible

V. Questions

Questions related to this CfP should be directed to eadh2020-2021pc@uni-leipzig.de, subject line: CfP.

VI. EADH Conference Code of Conduct

EADH as a member of ADHO is committed to creating a safe, respectful, and collegial conference environment for the benefit of everyone who attends and for the advancement of research and scholarship. The ADHO Digital Humanities conference Code of Conduct is available at:

http://adho.org/administration/conference-coordinating-program-committee/adho-conference-code-conduct.

All EADH2021 participants should observe and uphold it.

VII. Information about the Conference Venue

EADH2021 is hosted in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, a city of one million people located next to one of the largest world rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean. Siberian Federal University belongs to a group of twenty Russian universities involved in the Russian Academic Excellence Project aimed to modernise the Russian higher education. With 26,000 students and over 3,000 faculty members, it has experienced recent infrastructural changes which resulted in new buildings, recreational parks and other facilities. Siberian Federal University staged two major national Digital Humanities conferences in 2015 and 2017. This resulted in establishing the Russian Association for Digital Humanities which became the Associate Organisation of the European Association for Digital Humanities in 2018. 

For travel, accommodation, visa requirements as well as for excursions, see the conference website.

VIII. International Programme Committee

Chair: Elisabeth Burr, University of Leipzig, DHd    
Vice-Chair: Leonid Borodkin, Moscow State University, DH Russia

Members:

Monica Berti, University of Leipzig, DHd    
Anastasia Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, DH Russia    
Silvie Cinkova, Charles University, Prague, CzADH    
Frédéric Clavert, University of Luxembourg, Humanistica    
Frank Fischer, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, DHd    
Michal Frankl, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CzADH    
Øyvind Eide, University of Cologne, direct EADH    
Inna Kizhner, Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, DH Russia    
Tiziana Mancinelli, University of Venice, AIUCD    
Costanza Navarretta, University of Copenhagen, DHN    
Christian-Emil Smith Ore, University of Oslo, DHN    
Nuria Rodríguez Ortega, University of Málaga, HDH    
Anna-Maria Sichani, University of Sussex, direct EADH    
Melissa Terras, University of Edinburgh, direct EADH    
Francesca Tomasi, University of Bologna, AIUCD    
Rada Varga, University of Cluj-Napoca, direct EADH    
Joris van Zundert, Huygens Institute for the History of The Netherlands, Amsterdam, DHBenelux 

 

CONTACT Website: https://eadh2020-2021.org/ Email: info@eadh2020-2021.org