About IDRH
Our Charter
The Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (IDRH) provides resources and training in the practices and tools of the digital humanities, facilitating interdisciplinary academic collaborations and innovative externally-funded research. Founded in 2010, IDRH is supported through a partnership of:
KU Libraries | Hall Center for the Humanities | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The goal of IDRH is to prepare and support faculty and graduate students as they explore and use computing technology to advance humanistic scholarship across disciplines. IDRH will enhance the possibilities that digital technologies present to humanities research by:
- Providing opportunities for faculty and graduate students to learn about the use of technology for humanistic inquiry, and stimulating ongoing discussions about relationships between technologies and human experience;
- Supporting the development or novel use of digital tools and practices for innovative humanities research, including collaborative and interdisciplinary research;
- Assisting scholars to explore new and emerging models of digital research, publishing, and peer-review;
- Providing a knowledge base and the training for faculty to successfully pursue external grant awards, particularly in computationally-assisted research;
- Working with faculty, departmental leadership, promotion and tenure committees, and KU administration to generate a series of dialogues about the transformation occurring in humanities scholarship, and the implications for digital research contributions and their evaluation; and
- Providing a forum for scholarly innovation, as well as for discussions between faculty, departmental leadership, promotion and tenure committees, and KU administration about the implications of the transformations in digital scholarship on their evaluation.
Our History
- Report of the KU Task Force on Digital Directions in the Humanities (2010). IDRH was founded in 2010 based on the recommendations of a task force formed by KU Libraries, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to fund an institute for digital humanities research.
- Co-piloting a digital humanities center: a critical reflection on a libraries-academic partnership. Rosenblum, Brian, and Arienne M. Dwyer. 2016. In White, John W. and Heather Gilbert (eds.) Laying the Foundation: Digital Humanities in Academic Libraries. Purdue University Press, pp. 111–126.
This book chapter describes the community-building efforts that led to the establishment of the Institute, and evaluates the partnership between the libraries and academic faculty in fostering digital humanities research and teaching on campus.
Code of Conduct
IDRH is dedicated to providing a safe and productive environment for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants based on gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, or religion in any form. Harassment includes offensive verbal comments, sexualized and or discriminatory images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Harassment is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks and workshops. This policy extends to Twitter and other social media spaces. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference at the discretion of the conference organizers. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact one of the DH Forum organizers. DH Forum organizers can be identified by their name badges, and will help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the Forum.
You may also make a report by emailing idrh@ku.edu or contacting KU's Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access.
Bottom line: be respectful. Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. It’s important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.
We value your experience and invite you to help us make the DH Forum a place that is welcoming and respectful to all participants.
This Code of Conduct is inspired by the Geek Feminism Wiki, the Django Code of Conduct, and the O'Reilly Conference Code of Conduct.
IDRH email address: idrh@ku.edu
Phone number for KU Public Saftey: 785-864-5900
Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access: (785)864-6415
KU Discrimination Policy: http://ioa.ku.edu/policies
Statement on Diversity and Inclusion
DRH supports the efforts of groups like Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk to improve the quality of life for marginalized students at the University of Kansas.
IDRH considers issues of diversity and inclusion fundamental to its core mission to expand scholarly forms and practices. We are dedicated to inclusion and diversity in our programming, and we recognize that a truly accessible digital humanities extends far beyond digital tools and standards, and provides people and communities of different abilities, ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, languages and cultures--and of varying levels of access to technology and infrastructure--the capacity to shape and pursue scholarship that addresses their own interests and needs. To that end, our 2015 Digital Humanities Forum, "peripheries, barriers, hierarchies: rethinking access, inclusivity, and infrastructure in global DH practice," focused specifically on issues of inclusion and diversity within digital humanities and within the technological infrastructure that supports our teaching, research and publishing activities.
We strive to foster dialogue about these issues, and we welcome participation, engagement and input from all members of the KU community.
November 2015
