There was a lot of talk of Digital Humanities at the MLA last week; as Hugh pointed out, though, there seems to be only one explicitly digital panel at our subject meeting, the APA/AIA in Anaheim. However, it should be a good one, and I’d encourage anyone with digital or collaborative interests to make sure and attend. The below is taken from the APA programme, annotated by me:
SECTION 28
Digital Research and Developments in Collaborative Work in Classics
FRIDAY January 8, 11:15 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. Elite Ballroom 3
Gabriel Bodard and Alex Lee, OrganizersThe papers in this panel concern themselves with the implications of digital editing on the research process. ‘Editing’ in this context includes the collection, research, sharing, and preparation for publication of textual, historical, or archaeological material. The digital work, which is often seen as a tool en route to creating an online publication, also transforms the editor’s research—both in terms of the speed and the sequence with which we can perform certain tasks, and of the different and new sorts of questions that the data throws up
for us to consider.1. Valentina Asciutti & Stuart Dunn, King’s College London
Mapping Evidence for Roman Regionalism and Regional Literacy in Roman Britain from the Inscribed and Illustrated Objects (20 mins.)
*Read by Sebastian Heath*2. Gabriel Bodard & Irene Polinskaya, King’s College London
A Digital Edition of IOSPE: Collaboration and Interoperability Enabled by e-Science Methods (20 mins.)
*Read by Tom Elliott*3. Alex Lee, University of Chicago
Scholarly Editing in the Digital Age: the Archimedes Palimpsest as a Case Study (20 mins.)
Although two of the three papers will be read by someone other than their authors, the readers are themselves experts in closely related areas, and Alex, Tom and Sebastian (and other expert attendees, to be announced) will be conducting a round table discussion on the subject of digital research and collaboration for the remaining time of the session.
A quick note from the APA/AIA meeting in Anaheim. The panel has been very interesting and the speakers have presented many fascinating projects and issues.
I have found particularly interesting the paper on a new digital edition of inscriptions from the northern Black Sea (IOSPE). One of the main concerns of this project is to show the interconnections between the Black Sea and other Mediterranean regions, linking geographical and linguistic data. I wonder if it would be possible to devise for the future also a way to link other information, such as historical and institutional ones. I remind for example the recent discoveries of ostraka in the Chersonesos Taurica, which are an extraordinary proof of the use of ostracism in that area in Classical age. It would be nice to compare the text of these ostraka to the Athenian ones and to other ostraka found in other parts of Greece, and also to literary sources concerning this institution and its historical applications.
Is there any plans to have another digital research panel at next year’s APA?
I don’t know if there are concrete plans afoot, as yet, but I think it is very likely that there will be at least one panel proposed on digital Classical topics. Did you have anything in mind?
I’m working with a team of scholars on a digital text, commentary, and translation of Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana. This project has just gotten underway, and we have just developed a prototype of the digital site. We’re planning on producing both an open-access digital commentary as well as a traditional print commentary. I was thinking that if there was a panel on digital Classics, it would be a good opportunity to present our work-in-progress and begin discussion of the possibilities of digital commentaries.
Excellent. Are you on the Digital Classicist list? We should put out a preliminary call for interest there, see who might be willing to organize such a panel…
Thanks for the link – I’ve just joined the Digital Classicist list. I’ll keep an eye out for information…