Guest Writer: Matthew Kirschenbaum, Associate Director, MITH

The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) — the university’s primary intellectual hub for scholars and practitioners of digital humanities, electronic literature, and cyberculture — is up and running under the new leadership of Neil Fraistat, Director and Professor of English, and Matthew Kirschenbaum, Associate Director and Assistant Professor of English. Since its founding in 1999, MITH has become internationally recognized as one of the leading centers of its kind, distinguished by the cultural diversity so central to its identity.

Visitors to MITH will find that much remains the same: the Institute’s main space is still the bustling scene of work by Fellows pursuing research projects in conjunction with the MITH staff. But MITH’s former “break room” has been refurbished as a coffeehouse lounge — complete with digitally themed wall art and vintage Apple II computers! — open to anyone who wants to drop in and connect with what we’re doing (and help themselves to a strong cup of coffee from our pot and a strong wireless signal from our access point). We’ve also initiated a faculty consultation program: any faculty member in the College of Arts and Humanities or the University Libraries with a new or ongoing digital humanities project (or an idea for one) is welcome to set up an appointment for a free consultation with MITH’s expert staff. We’ve added a competitive graduate student fellowship, known as the Winnemore Dissertation Fellowship, to our offerings. Michele Mason, a doctoral candidate in communication, received the first award. Our high-end video editing station is available for use by the university community. MITH has also revitalized its Digital Dialogues series, which now brings speakers to campus every Tuesday at 12:30 in the MITH conference room (free and open to the public). Moreover, MITH supports a less formal CoffeeHouse Conversations series, events which may be organized and initiated by anyone through the sign-up sheet on our Web site.

We have also begun to pursue active collaborations in the arena of the digital arts and creative new media. Shelley Jackson, a noted hypertext and performance artist, will be working with MITH on a Web interface for her Skin project. As of July 1, 2006, MITH also became the new institutional home of the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO), the nation’s premier organization for writers, readers, scholars, and students of creative electronic literature, dedicated to the creation, preservation, and dissemination of born-digital literature. The ELO will provide MITH and the University of Maryland with a unique opportunity for a truly comprehensive program in the digital humanities, one that focuses equally on migrating electronically the cultural artifacts of the past and the production of the cultural artifacts of the future. Its presence on campus will bring readings, workshops, speakers, and opportunities for scholarly collaboration in the form of grant writing and other projects.

To keep track of everything that’s happening, MITH has a new blog-based Web site fed by a sometimes daily diet of news and updates from the digital humanities community around the world; visit us at www.mith.umd.edu, where you can also subscribe to MITH-COMMUNITY, a low volume announcement list for all the news from MITH and the digital humanities community beyond. Or stop by and visit us for real in McKeldin Library.