Humanities Computing

ACH/ALLC 2001

Humanities Computing Conference to be Held at NYU

Lorna Hughes and Matthew Zimmerman

From June 13th through the 17th, NYU will host the Joint International Conference of the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) and the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC). The conference is sponsored by NYU's Information Technology Services, the Faculty of Arts and Science, NYU Libraries, and the NYU Humanities Council. Lorna Hughes, Assistant Director for Humanities Computing here at ITS, is the conference organizer.

The ACH and the ALLC are professional organizations dedicated to the computer-aided study of language and literature, history, philosophy and other humanities disciplines. The ACH has traditionally been North American-based, while the ALLC is based in Europe.

Each year since 1988, the two groups have joined together to hold an international conference. The conference site alternates each year between North America and Europe. Past locations of the conference include Oxford University, the Sorbonne, the University of Bergen, the University of Toronto, and the University of Virginia. This year, NYU has the honor of hosting the event.

Typical research topics covered at ACH/ALLC conferences include textual encoding and analysis, hypertext, electronic editions, digital libraries, and the use of computers in humanities instruction. The theme for this year's conference is "Digital Media and Humanities Research," and will focus on the

impact of new media on research methods and intellectual practices.

A call for papers went out in fall 2000 and the conference program will be announced in February 2001. Registration will also open in February, and the conference expects to attract 250 participants from all over the world, including Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and a host of other countries.

This year's conference will run from June 13th until June 17th, with a combination of parallel paper sessions, posters and demonstrations, and keynote speakers. The keynote addresses for the 2001 Conference will be delivered by Johanna Drucker, director of the Media Studies Program at the University of Virginia, and Alan Lui, Professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Social events will include receptions each evening and a conference banquet on Friday, June 15th.

ACH/ALLC 2001 promises to be an exciting conference for presenters and attendees alike. If you would like to attend, there will be a special conference registration rate of $100 for NYU faculty and staff (this compares to the normal fee of $200 for ACH/ALLC members). A subsidized rate will be available for NYU graduate students (please contact Lorna Hughes. The registration fee includes admittance to all conference events, teas, and receptions.

To register or find out more about the conference, please contact the local organizer, Lorna Hughes at lorna.hughes@nyu.edu, or visit the conference website. There, you will find more information about the conference, including the program, schedule, and an online registration form. Conference registration is limited to 250 people, so if you do plan on attending, you should register as soon as possible.

If you would like to know more about the ACH or the ALLC, please visit their websites:

ACH: www.ach.org
ALLC: www.allc.org

Matthew Zimmerman is a Humanities Computing Specialist in ITS' Academic Computing Services
(See his full bio on p. 6).
matthew.zimmerman@nyu.edu

Posted February 16, 2001