University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab

University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab is a research laboratory located at the University of Virginia, founded in 2006 by Bethany Nowviskie and Jeremy Boggs. The lab is part of the University of Virginia Library and focuses on digital scholarship, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. It collaborates with various institutions, including the Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to advance digital research methods. The lab's work is also influenced by the Digital Humanities Initiative at UCLA and the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia.

Introduction

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab is a hub for digital scholarship, providing a space for researchers to explore new methods and tools for analyzing and presenting data. The lab's mission is to support innovative research in the humanities and social sciences, and to foster collaboration between scholars from diverse disciplines, including English literature at Harvard University, history at Yale University, and sociology at University of California, Berkeley. The lab's work is informed by the principles of digital humanities, which emphasize the use of digital tools and methods to analyze and present cultural and historical data, as seen in projects like the Valley of the Shadow and the Rossetti Archive. The lab's research is also influenced by the work of scholars such as Franco Moretti and Katherine Hayles, who have written extensively on the application of digital methods to literary and cultural analysis, including the use of topic modeling and network analysis.

History

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab was founded in 2006 by Bethany Nowviskie and Jeremy Boggs, with the goal of creating a space for digital scholarship and innovation at the University of Virginia. The lab's early work focused on developing digital tools and methods for analyzing and presenting cultural and historical data, including the creation of the Neatline platform, which was used in projects such as the September 11 Digital Archive and the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. The lab has also collaborated with other institutions, including the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration, to develop digital collections and archives, such as the Chronicling America database and the Google Books project. The lab's history is also closely tied to the development of the digital humanities field, which has been shaped by the work of scholars such as John Unsworth and Patricia Cohen, who have written about the potential of digital methods to transform humanities research, including the use of geographic information systems and text analysis.

Research and Projects

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab has been involved in a wide range of research projects and collaborations, including the development of digital tools and methods for analyzing and presenting cultural and historical data. One of the lab's notable projects is the Prism platform, which allows users to crowdsource the analysis of large datasets, such as the Google Books corpus and the Internet Archive. The lab has also collaborated with scholars from University of Michigan and University of Texas at Austin to develop digital editions of literary and historical texts, including the Walt Whitman Archive and the Emily Dickinson Archive. The lab's research has also been influenced by the work of scholars such as Stephen Ramsay and Matthew Kirschenbaum, who have written about the potential of digital methods to transform humanities research, including the use of machine learning and data visualization.

Digital Scholarship

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab is a leader in the field of digital scholarship, and has been at the forefront of developments in digital humanities, including the use of digital pedagogy and digital publishing. The lab's work is informed by the principles of digital scholarship, which emphasize the use of digital tools and methods to analyze and present cultural and historical data, as seen in projects like the Digital Public Library of America and the HathiTrust Digital Library. The lab has also collaborated with other institutions, including the Council on Library and Information Resources and the National Endowment for the Humanities, to develop digital collections and archives, such as the American Memory project and the Chronicling America database. The lab's research has also been influenced by the work of scholars such as Tara McPherson and Alan Liu, who have written about the potential of digital methods to transform humanities research, including the use of critical code studies and cultural analytics.

People and Collaborations

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab has a diverse team of researchers and collaborators, including Bethany Nowviskie, Jeremy Boggs, and Eric Rochester. The lab has also collaborated with scholars from a wide range of institutions, including Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California, Los Angeles. The lab's work is also influenced by the research of scholars such as Lev Manovich and N. Katherine Hayles, who have written extensively on the application of digital methods to cultural and historical analysis, including the use of data mining and information visualization. The lab has also partnered with organizations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support digital scholarship and innovation, including the development of the Digital Humanities Now platform and the Journal of Digital Humanities.

Facilities and Resources

The University of Virginia's Scholars' Lab is located in the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, and has a range of facilities and resources available to support digital scholarship, including the Makerspace and the Digital Media Lab. The lab also has a range of digital tools and platforms available, including the Neatline platform and the Prism platform, which are used in projects such as the September 11 Digital Archive and the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. The lab's facilities and resources are also influenced by the work of scholars such as John Laudun and Matthew Gold, who have written about the potential of digital methods to transform humanities research, including the use of digital repositories and scholarly communication. The lab has also collaborated with other institutions, including the University of Michigan Library and the Stanford University Libraries, to develop digital collections and archives, such as the HathiTrust Digital Library and the Digital Public Library of America. Category:Research laboratories