Alan Liu

“The 4Humanities Initiative.” Bucknell University. 27 April 2015.

• Abstract: Presentation on the history, idea, and projects of the 4Humanities.org initiative.

“Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.” Texas Digital Humanities Consortium conference, University of Texas at Arlington. 11 April 2015.

• Abstract: Following up on the question he asked in the title of his 2012 essay “Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?”, Alan Liu will present early drafts from a book he is writing that imagines a mode of cultural criticism appropriate and native to the digital humanities. His talk focuses on the role of technology in, and between, neoliberalism’s major “knowledge work” institutions (including higher education) as the context in which digital-humanities research and development can be redirected from being primarily instruments of institution work to becoming also ways to act on institutions and their wider social impact. What methodological framework can assist the digital humanities in exploring that context? What kinds of scholarship, projects, and tool-building might constitute a critical digital humanities?
• Storify of Twitter live-coverage of the talk by Adeline Koh (@adelinekoh).
• Storify of Twitter posts from the #TXCHC conference by Jody Bailey (@reffervescent)

“Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.” History and Theory of New Media lecture series, Berkeley Center for New Media, University of California, Berkeley. 5 March 2015.

• Abstract: Following up on the question asked in the title of his 2012 essay “Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?”, Alan Liu will present early drafts from a book that imagines modes of cultural criticism appropriate and native to the digital humanities. His talk focuses on the role of technology in (and between) neoliberalism’s major “knowledge work” institutions (including higher education). Can digital-humanities research and development be redirected from being primarily instruments of institution work to becoming also ways to act on institutions and their wider social impact? What methodological framework can assist the making of a revisionary “enterprise technology”? What kinds of scholarship, projects, and tool-building might constitute a critical digital humanities?

“Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.” Mellon Research Initiative in Digital Cultures, University of California, Davis. 3 March 2015.

• Abstract: Following up on the question asked in the title of his 2012 essay “Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?”, Alan Liu will present early drafts from a book that imagines modes of cultural criticism appropriate and native to the digital humanities. His talk focuses on the role of technology in (and between) neoliberalism’s major “knowledge work” institutions (including higher education). Can digital-humanities research and development be redirected from being primarily instruments of institution work to becoming also ways to act on institutions and their wider social impact? What methodological framework can assist the making of a revisionary “enterprise technology”? What kinds of scholarship, projects, and tool-building might constitute a critical digital humanities?
• Jenae Cohn, “A Recap of Alan Liu’s Talk, ‘Against the Cultural Singularity: Toward a Critical Digital Humanities.'” (HASTAC blog post reporting on the talk, 12 March 2015)

“Key Trends in Digital Humanities — How the Digital Humanities Challenge the Idea of the Humanities.” Digital Humanities at Claremont Colleges (DH@CC) Spring Symposium, Claremont Colleges. 18 February 2015.

• Abstract: How do such key methods in the digital humanities as data mining, mapping, visualization, social network analysis, and topic modeling make an essential difference in the idea of the humanities, and vice versa? Using examples of digital humanities research, Alan Liu speculates on the large questions that confront the humanities in the face of computational media–most importantly, questions about the nature and function of interpretive “meaning.”
• Storify of the talk and symposium.
• Video of talk (videography by AJ Strout) (1 hr., 18 min.)

“Practice and Theory of ‘Distant Reading’: An Introductory Workshop on Digital Humanities Methods.” Experimental Humanities program, Bard College. 7 November 2014.

• Web site for workshop with detailed agenda and resources.
• Abstract: In this hands-on workshop and discussion, Alan Liu will introduce some commonly used analytical tools in the digital humanities—e.g.,
  • Google Books Ngram viewer & the Bookworm tool for exploring Hathi Trust texts;
  • Voyeur Tools, AntConc, and similar text-analysis tools;
  • Topic modeling tools;
  • Social network analysis tools;
  • Visualization tools.

  Participants will then try their hand at one or more tools, aiming not for mastery or even competence but just to capture an interesting “souvenir,” e.g., a screenshot. (For the purposes of the workshop, even failed attempts can produce an interesting souvenir.)

  Alan Liu will then lead a broader discussion based on the souvenirs about the opportunities and limitations of digital humanities methods. The largest question that the workshop will open to view is: how do digital humanities methods signal today’s changing ideas about the human world?

“Rediscovering the Humanities: Humanities Advocacy in the Digital Age.” Experimental Humanities program, Bard College. 6 November 2014.

• Abstract: How can liberal arts colleges, teachers, and students make the case for the value of the humanities to the public today? Starting with the example of the 4Humanities.org advocacy initiative that he co-founded, Alan Liu will discuss strategies of communicating the values of the humanities in today’s society. A special emphasis of the talk is the promise of new digital technologies for public engagement in the humanities.

“Advice for Chairs (Based on English Department Practice at UCSB).” New Chair Orientation Meeting, College of Letters & Science, UC Santa Barbara. 29 September 2014.

• Slides for presentation (.pptx)

“Against the Cultural Singularity: Drafts For a Critical Digital Humanities.” Center for the Humanities Digital Humanities lecture series, University of Miami. 26 September 2014.

“Key Trends in Digital Humanities (and How the Digital Humanities Register Changes in the Humanities).” Center for the Humanities Digital Humanities lecture series, University of Miami. 25 September 2014.

• Video recording of livestreamed talk (includes slides and Q&A) (1 hr., 24 min.)

“Quality E-Learning: MOOCs, Blended Learning, & Project-Based Methods.”  Talk and workshop at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.  4 August 2014.

• Abstract: What methods and features of e-learning can be used to position graduate-level and executive-training higher-education programs as providers of “quality” e-learning? In this workshop, Alan Liu reviews the current state of e-learning in California and draws on his experience in digital humanities programs and projects at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to suggest several qualities of e-learning that can be the building blocks of a “quality” e-learning program.
              Publications that Liu has written relevant to this workshop include: “Literature+” (Currents in Electronic Literacy, Spring 2008), “Digital Humanities and Academic Change” (English Language Notes 47 [2009]) (open-access version, PDF), and “Teaching Literature+ — Digital Humanities Hybrid Courses in the Era of MOOCs” (forthcoming in Teaching Literature: Text and Dialogue in the English Classroom, ed. Ben Knights, Palgrave Macmillan). Recent graduate courses he has taught related to e-learning include “Digital Humanities: Introduction to the Field.”

• Presentation Site with lecture notes and links to resources.

“This is Not a Book: Long Forms of Attention in the Digital Age.” Material Cultures of the Book Working Group, University of California, Riverside. 3 June 2014.

• Abstract: This talk argues that in the digital age, the “book”–whether physical, digital, or in some other media—is only a metaphor for “long forms of shared attention.” The book dissolves into, but also persists in, slowly-changing networks of discourse that are “transliteracies” because they span across media, across networks, and across time. The talk concludes with examples of recent digital projects—including the RoSE (Research-oriented Social Environment) at University of California, Santa Barbara–that attempt to represent such long forms of shared digital attention.
• Full text of original talk (with thumbnails of selected slides.

“The Big Bang of Online Reading.”  Friends of English Southland graduate conference on “Reading Matters,” UCLA.  30 May 2014.

“From ‘Search’ to Digital Humanities.”  Dean’s Forum on “The Co-Evolution of the Humanities and New Technologies,” UCLA.  28 May 2014.

“Mickey Mouse Creativity: New Media Arts After the Ideology of Creativity.” Lahey Lecture, Concordia University. 3 April 2014.

“Against the Cultural Singularity: Drafts For a Critical Digital Humanities — A Workshop.” mediations speaker series, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, 1 April 2014.

“The Big Bang of Online Reading.” mediations speaker series, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, 31 March 2014.

“Digital Humanities: An Introduction.” Panel on IT Research Methods, Center for Information Technology and Society, University of California, Santa Barbara, 11 March 2014.

“Learning and Using Enough Digital Humanities to be Viable for Jobs With a DH or New Media Component: A Guide for Non-Specialists.” University of California, Santa Barbara. 19 February 2014.

“The Heart of the Matter: A Workshop Discussion.” 4Humanities@NY6 Public forum on “Defining and Framing the Humanities Today.” Union College, NY. 10 February 2014.

• Workshop agenda (with links to The Heart of the Matter report, a version of the report annotated by Alan Liu, and other materials.

“Values, Strategies, and Technologies for Humanities Advocacy in the Digital Age.” 4Humanities@NY6 Public forum on “Defining and Framing the Humanities Today.” Union College, NY. 10 February 2014.

“Mickey Mouse Creativity: New Media Arts After the Ideology of Creativity.” Data Drive Research Programme, University of Amsterdam. 15 November 2013.

“Advocating for the Humanities Today: 4Humanities.org and 4Humanities@UCLA.” UCLA. 24 October 2013.

Abstract: 4Humanities is an initiative that advocates for the humanities by drawing on the technologies, new-media expertise, and ideas of the international digital humanities community and also on research and projects from local chapters at various universities. Alan Liu will give an overview of the initiative’s goals and projects and then participate with UCLA faculty, staff, and students in planning for a possible 4Humanities@UCLA local group. What research activities and project-building could a group that taps into UCLA’s pool of talent and expertise engage in? How might a UCLA local group collaborate with other 4Humanities local research groups—e.g., the ones at UC Santa Barbara and CSU Northridge?

• Twitter posts related to the talk (Storified by Viola Lasmana, @viola_lasmana)

“This is Not a Book: Long Forms of Attention in the Digital Age.” Print Culture Speaker Series, Simon Fraser University. 18 October 2013.

“Remembering Networks: Agrippa, RoSE, and Network Archaeology.” Print Culture Speaker Series, Simon Fraser University. 18 October 2013.

“Mickey Mouse Creativity: New Media Arts After the Ideology of Creativity.” University of Sydney. 30 July 2013.

“This is Not a Book: Long Forms of Attention in the Digital Age.” Humanities Research Centre Seminar Series, Australian National University. 23 July 2013.

“‘Literature+ ‘: A Project-Based Digital Pedagogy Model.” School of Cultural Inquiry seminar series, Australian National University. 22 July 2013.

Abstract: In this seminar, Alan Liu will discuss the paradigm of the “Literature+” courses he has evolved at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Designed to introduce students to the use of digital methods in humanities scholarship, the courses provide a rapid orientation in key topics of the “digital humanities” before then focusing on team-based project building. Liu will use the example of the course structure and of some of the student projects that have been produced to discuss larger issues of digital humanities pedagogy—including the way such pedagogy can position the humanities as both similar to and different from the “building” versus “interpreting,” collaboration, and other trends of contemporary “knowledge work” societies.

Links for Web sites Referred to in Talk:
/ excerpt » /

“Humanities Centers and the Digital Humanities.” Panel on The Digital Humanities and Virtual Research Environments. Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres 2013 Annual Meeting. University of Western Australia, 8 July 2013.

• Slides for talk (.pptx, 1.6 Mb)
• Reports on the talk and the ACHRC meeting:
  • Karen Miller (@infoliterati), “The Humanities, Public Engagement and the Academic Library”
  • Jo Hawkins (@History_Punk), “10 Insights for Humanities Researchers from #ACHRC 2013”

“Values, Strategies, and Technologies for Humanities Advocacy in the Digital Age.” Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres 2013 Annual Meeting. University of Western Australia, 8 July 2013.

• Slides for talk (.pptx, 16.6 Mb)
• Report on the talk and the ACHRC meeting by Karen Miller (@infoliterati)

“The Meaning of Digital Humanities.” Stony Brook University, SUNY. 6 May 2013.

“4Humanities — Planning Next Generation Digital Humanities Tools for Public Engagement.” Digital Humanities Initiative, New York University. 2 May 2013.

“The Meaning of the Digital Humanities.” Goldstone Lecture. New York University. 1 May 2013.

• Video of talk (1 hr. 47 min.) [Talk presents a fuller version of the paper subsequently published in PMLA.]

“4Humanities: Values, Strategies, Technologies for Humanities Advocacy in the Digital Age.” University of Virginia. 17 April 2013.

• Podcast of talk. (1 hr, 25 min.)

Co-presented with Rama Hoetzlein. “History of Thought as a Networked Community: The RoSE Prototype.” University of Virginia. 16 April 2013.

• Abstract: What if bibliographies of past authors and works could be modeled as a dynamic, evolving society linked to today’s scholars and students? What if scholars and students could add data about biographical, historical, and intellectual relationships to the bibliographical entries, thus using present-day crowdsourcing to make more socially meaningful the crowds of history? And what if visualizations could help us actively “storyboard” intellectual movements and not just spectate them? Alan Liu and Rama Hoetzlein present the conceptual framework and some of the discoveries and challenges of the RoSE Research-oriented Social Environment (in beta at the conclusion of a NEH Digital Humanities Start-up grant).
• Podcast of talk. (1 hr, 7 min.)

Co-presented with Rama Hoetzlein. “The RoSE Prototype.” SNAC Advisory Board Meeting, University of Virginia. 16 April 2013.

“Micky Mouse Creativity: New Media Arts after the Ideology of Creativity.” Conference on “Creative Labor and the Humanities,” Florida State University, Tallahassee. 22 March 2013.

• Announcement of talk on FSU Digital Scholars site

“The Meaning of Digital Humanities.” Oklahoma University. 25 February 2013.

• Page for talk and colloquia organized by the Oklahoma Digital Humanities working group

“Academic Expertise and Networked Public Knowledge.” Oklahoma University. 25 February 2013.

• Page for talk and colloquia organized by the Oklahoma Digital Humanities working group

“This is Not a Book.” Oklahoma University. 25 February 2013.

• Page for talk and colloquia organized by the Oklahoma Digital Humanities working group