Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
Encyclopedia
The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) is a research unit of the University of Virginia
, USA. Its goal is to explore and develop information technology
as a tool for scholarly humanities
research. To that end, IATH provide Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications development, and networked publishing facilities. It also cultivates partnerships and participate in humanities computing initiatives with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations, and other groups residing at the intersection of computers and cultural heritage.
The research projects, essays, and documentation presented below are the products of a unique collaboration between humanities and computer science research faculty, computer professionals, student assistants and project managers, and library faculty and staff. In many cases, this work is supported by private or federal funding agencies. In all cases, it is supported by the Fellows’ home departments; the College or School to which those departments belong; the University of Virginia Library; the Vice President for Research and Public Service; the Vice President and Chief Information Officer; the Provost; and the President of the University of Virginia.
The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities was established at the University of Virginia in 1992, with a major grant from IBM and a multi-year commitment of support from the University, as part of an effort to bring Jefferson's educational ideals into the twenty-first century.
The University's strong information technology and library facilities, along with its historical dedication to the ideal of democratizing access to information, have made it a national and international leader in the application of information technology to the arts, humanities and social sciences.
IATH’s founders are respected leaders in humanities computing, digital scholarship, and academic administration. Beginning in 1992 a Steering Committee of scholars, including Edward Ayers, Alan Batson, Jerome McGann
, Kendon Stubbs and William Wulf
managed IATH. A search committee commissioned by the Steering Committee carried out the search for a Director of the Institute. John Unsworth was selected, and his term began September 1, 1993.
IATH has generated over $9 million in grant funding and gifts in kind since it began operations. Much of this funding has come from Federal agencies and private foundations, and has gone to support faculty research and teaching across the University.
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, USA. Its goal is to explore and develop information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
as a tool for scholarly humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
research. To that end, IATH provide Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications development, and networked publishing facilities. It also cultivates partnerships and participate in humanities computing initiatives with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations, and other groups residing at the intersection of computers and cultural heritage.
The research projects, essays, and documentation presented below are the products of a unique collaboration between humanities and computer science research faculty, computer professionals, student assistants and project managers, and library faculty and staff. In many cases, this work is supported by private or federal funding agencies. In all cases, it is supported by the Fellows’ home departments; the College or School to which those departments belong; the University of Virginia Library; the Vice President for Research and Public Service; the Vice President and Chief Information Officer; the Provost; and the President of the University of Virginia.
Mission
Persistence through time and across media is the most critical attribute of humanities research, concerned as it is with the record of the past, but achieving that persistence in an era of rapidly developing technology is a very difficult task. IATH’s central mission is to provide scholars in the humanities with the time, the tools, and the techniques to document and interpret the human record in electronic form. To that end, we select a small number of fellows each year through a competitive application process, and we provide those fellows with consulting, technical support, applications programming, and networked publishing facilities. The Institute sponsors dozens of different humanities research projects, in disciplines as diverse as anthropological linguistics, architectural history, history of science, British literature, and film, to name just a few. Professional staff and student researchers assist IATH’s fellows.History
In 1819, Thomas Jefferson founded a new kind of university in the Commonwealth of Virginia—a completely integrated educational environment, one that encouraged intellectual exchange across disciplinary boundaries, that combined living and learning, that brought people together in new configurations, and that involved everyone in a cooperative pursuit of knowledge. He called this environment his "Academical Village."The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities was established at the University of Virginia in 1992, with a major grant from IBM and a multi-year commitment of support from the University, as part of an effort to bring Jefferson's educational ideals into the twenty-first century.
The University's strong information technology and library facilities, along with its historical dedication to the ideal of democratizing access to information, have made it a national and international leader in the application of information technology to the arts, humanities and social sciences.
IATH’s founders are respected leaders in humanities computing, digital scholarship, and academic administration. Beginning in 1992 a Steering Committee of scholars, including Edward Ayers, Alan Batson, Jerome McGann
Jerome McGann
Jerome McGann is a textual scholar whose work focuses on the history of literature and culture from the late eighteenth-century to the present.-Career:Educated at Le Moyne College , Syracuse University Jerome McGann (born July 22, 1937) is a textual scholar whose work focuses on the history of...
, Kendon Stubbs and William Wulf
William Wulf
William Allan Wulf is a computer scientist notable for his work in programming languages and compilers.Born in Chicago, Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois, receiving a BS in Engineering Physics and an MS in Electrical Engineering, then achieved the first Ph.D. in Computer Science...
managed IATH. A search committee commissioned by the Steering Committee carried out the search for a Director of the Institute. John Unsworth was selected, and his term began September 1, 1993.
IATH has generated over $9 million in grant funding and gifts in kind since it began operations. Much of this funding has come from Federal agencies and private foundations, and has gone to support faculty research and teaching across the University.
Projects
Projects at IATH include or have included:- WaxwebWaxwebWaxweb is a hypermedia version of the film "Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees" by David Blair.The online version of Waxweb has been hosted since 1994by the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia...
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/wax/ - Leonardo Da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's Treatise on PaintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/leonardo/ - ChacoChaco Culture National Historical ParkChaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park hosting the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in the American Southwest. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote canyon cut by the Chaco Wash...
Digital Initiative http://www.chacoarchive.org/ - CircusCircusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
In AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/circus/ - The Lienü zhuanLienü zhuanThe Lienü Zhuan is a ca. 18 BCE book compiled by the famous Han Dynasty scholar Liu Xiang. It includes 125 biographical accounts of women exemplars in early China, taken from Chinese histories like the Chun Qiu, Zuo Zhuan, and Shiji...
(Traditions of Exemplary Women) of Liu XiangLiu XiangLiu Xiang is a Chinese 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China....
(7777 BCYear 77 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Brutus and Lepidus...
-7676 BCYear 76 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Octavius and Curio...
B.C.) http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/xwomen/ - The Lives of the Saints http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/saints/
- Salem Witch TrialsSalem witch trialsThe Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/home.html - Evolutionary Infrastructure: BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's Back Bay FensBack Bay FensThe Back Bay Fens, most commonly called simply The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, and thereby to...
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/backbay/ - BarbarianBarbarianBarbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
s on the GreekAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
Periphery: A study of ancient CeltCeltThe Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic culture. http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/Barbarians/first.html - The UkrainianUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Village Project http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/slavfolk/ - The Center for EthicsEthicsEthics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, Capital Markets, and Political EconomyEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/cecmpe/ - Monuments and Dust: The Culture of VictorianVictorian eraThe Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/mhc/ - NounNounIn linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
Classification in SwahiliSwahili languageSwahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/swahili/swahili.html - The Thomas MacGreevyThomas MacGreevyThomas MacGreevy was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. A poet, he was also director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council .-Early life:MacGreevy was born in County Kerry, the son of a policeman and a primary...
Archive. http://www.macgreevy.org/ - Uncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
and American Culture : Multimedia Archive. http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/ - The MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
Electronic Library http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/melville/ - The World of DanteDANTEDelivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/dante/ - The Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
Archive http://www.whitmanarchive.org/ - Piers PlowmanPiers PlowmanPiers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman is the title of a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus"...
Electronic Archive http://www.iath.virginia.edu/seenet/piers/ - Emily DickinsonEmily DickinsonEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
Electronic Archives http://www.emilydickinson.org/ - The William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
Archive http://www.blakearchive.org/ - The Complete Writings and Pictures of Dante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/ - The SamantabhadraSamantabhadraSamantabhadra , is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism...
Project http://iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/collections/literature/nyingma.html - The Valley of the Shadow http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/
- The Hierarchical Audio Construction Kit: Composition and Design http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/shatin/
- Inscriptions from the Land of IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/mls4n/ - The Life of Adam and EveAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
: The BiblicalBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
Story in JudaismJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ity http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ - Tibetan and Himalayan Library