Open Letter on the Fate of Cultural Studies in Poland (2017)
January 1, 2018 Mr. Jaroslaw Gowin, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Republic of Poland cc: Professor Tomasz Majewski, Chair, Polish Association of Cultural Studies (Polskie Towarzystwo Kulturoznawcze) Dear Minister Gowin: I am writing in this open letter to add my voice to those of other international scholars concerned that a pending Polish Higher Education […]
“From Cultural Studies to Infrastructure Studies? (Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies)” (Dartmouth C.) (2016)
“From Cultural Studies to Infrastructure Studies? (Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies).” Dartmouth College. 20 September 2016. Pre-circulated reading: “Drafts for Against the Cultural Singularity” (book in progress)
“Against the Cultural Singularity: Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies” (U. Canterbury, Christchurch) (2015)
“Against the Cultural Singularity: Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies.” Workshop on “Frontiers of DH: Humanities Systems Infrastructure,” University of Canterbury. 12 November 2015. (Lecture delivered as part of a series in New Zealand during Fulbright Specialist residency at U. Canterbury, October-November, 2015.) Abstract: Following up on the question asked in the title of his […]
“Infrastructure as Epistemic Value in the Digital Humanities” (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, 2023) (2023)
“Infrastructure as Epistemic Value in the Digital Humanities,” Symposium on “The Integrative Potential of Epistemic Virtues for the Digital Humanities,” German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, 27 January 2023. Abstract: In seeking legitimacy as a field of study, the digital humanities have cultivated epistemic values that combine some from the sciences (such as evidence, precision, and […]
“Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies — An Overview” (King’s College, London) (2021)
“Digital Humanities and Critical Infrastructure Studies — An Overview.” King’s College, London, 21 June 2021, 5:10-5:50 pm London time. Keynote lecture for the “Infrastructural Interventions” workshop in the Digital Humanities & Critical Infrastructure Studies series organized by Urszula Pawlicka-Deger. (Delivered by Microsoft Teams meeting.) Abstract: In this talk, Alan Liu provides an introduction to “critical […]
“Critical Infrastructure Studies — A Primer” (Furman U.) (2020)
“Critical Infrastructure Studies — A Primer.” Furman University, 12 November 2020, 1:30-2:30 pm Pacific time (4:30-5:30 Eastern time). (Lecture delivered by Zoom webinar: registration.) Abstract: What have been the main approaches to the study of infrastructure that now combine to make the topic of such compelling socio-political, technological, media-informatic, cultural, historical, and artistic interest across […]
“Critical Infrastructure Studies — A Primer” (U. Texas at Austin) (2019)
“Critical Infrastructure Studies — A Primer.” University of Texas at Austin, 4 September 2019. Abstract: What have been the main approaches to the study of infrastructure that now combine to make the topic of such compelling socio-political, technological, media-informatic, cultural, historical, and artistic interest across the disciplines? In this talk, Alan Liu provides an introduction […]
“Critical Infrastructure Studies” (U. Wroclaw) (2017)
“Critical Infrastructure Studies.” University of Wroclaw. 28 June 2017. Abstract: In an era when complexly “smart” and hybrid material-virtual infrastructures ranging from the micro to the macro scale seem to obviate older distinctions between material base and cultural superstructure, how can the digital humanities and new media studies join in an emergent “critical infrastructure studies”? […]
“Toward Critical infrastructure Studies: Digital Humanities, New Media Studies, and the Culture of Infrastructure” (U. Connecticut) (2017)
“Toward Critical infrastructure Studies: Digital Humanities, New Media Studies, and the Culture of Infrastructure.” University of Connecticut, Storrs. 23 February 2017. Abstract: In an era when complexly “smart” and hybrid material-virtual infrastructures ranging from the micro to the macro scale seem to obviate older distinctions between material base and cultural superstructure, how can the digital […]
Drafts for Against the Cultural Singularity (book in progress) (2016)
Citation: “Drafts for Alan Liu, Against the Cultural Singularity (book in progress.” Alan Liu, 2 May 2016. https://liu.english.ucsb.edu/drafts-for-against-the-cultural-singularity Excerpt The following is draft work (notes and bibliography not included) from one of my books in progress tentatively titled Against the Cultural Singularity: Digital Humanities & Critical Infrastructure Studies. Excerpted are a few portions from the […]
Drafts for Against the Cultural Singularity (book in progress) (2016)
Citation: “Drafts for Against the Cultural Singularity (book in progress).” Alan Liu, 2 May 2016. doi:10.21972/G2B663. https://liu.english.ucsb.edu/drafts-for-against-the-cultural-singularity The following is draft work (notes and bibliography not included) from one of my books in progress tentatively titled Against the Cultural Singularity: Digital Humanities & Critical Infrastructure Studies. Excerpted are a few portions from the beginning of […]
“Why I’m In It” x 2 — Antiphonal Response to Stephan Ramsay on Digital Humanities and Cultural Criticism (2014)
September 13, 2013 i. Prelude On January 7, 2011, Stephen Ramsay and I both participated in the memorable panel at the Modern Language Association convention in Los Angeles entitled “The History and Future of the Digital Humanities.” We both launched on that day controversial theses about the digital humanities by asking leading questions. Steve asked, […]
“Against the Cultural Singularity: Drafts For a Critical Digital Humanities — A Workshop” (U. Western Ontario) (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.
“Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?” (2011)
This is the original full text of a paper presented at the panel on “The History and Future of the Digital Humanities,” Modern Language Association convention, Los Angeles, 7 January 2011. (The paper was delivered in truncated, improvised form at the actual event due to time constraints.) An expanded version of this paper (full text) […]
Notes & Links for “Literature and Data” (Theory and Media Studies Colloquium, Yale U.) (2009)
Literature and Data (Theory & Media Studies Colloquium, Yale Univ., Oct. 7, 2009) ProSE ProSE (alpha version) ProSE Developer Collaboration How a Romantic Became a Digital Humanist The Two Cultures The Sense of History and Information Culture Selected UCSB English Department Digital Initiatives Department Projects Web Pages & Database-to-Web Sites (“Web 1.0” and “Web 1.5”) […]
“Imagining the New Media Encounter” (Introduction to A Companion to Digital Literary Studies) (2007)
Citation: “Imagining the New Media Encounter.” A Companion to Digital Literary Studies. Ed. Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. 3-25 Full text also available online.
Transliteracies Project (Research in the Technological, Social, and Cultural Practices of Online Reading) (2005)
URL: https://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu Role: Principal Investigator. Funded as a University of California Multicampus Research Group for 2005-2010, Transliteracies studies and plans for innovations in online reading from the perspectives of the computer sciences, social sciences, humanities (including the history of the book field), and new media art. Project participants include faculty from seven University of California […]
“Local Transcendence: Cultural Criticism, Postmodernism, and the Romanticism of Detail” (1990)
Citation: “Local Transcendence: Cultural Criticism, Postmodernism, and the Romanticism of Detail.” Representations 32 (Fall 1990): 75-113. Open access (published version in institutional repository) Paywalled (published version)
“Messages and Values in the Age of Machine Learning: From Postcards to Social Media” (2023)
Citation: Alan Liu, “Messages and Values ??in the Age of Machine Learning: From Postcards to Social Media,” Prace Kulturoznawcze 26, no. 4 (2023): 125–29, https://doi.org/10.19195/0860-6668.26.4.8. Excerpt (first paragraphs): If Stanislaw Pietraszko were to update his essay “Messages and Values” today, would he write about social media instead of postcards? Superficially, the analogy between postcards and […]
“Key Trends in the Digital Humanities — How the Digital Humanities Challenge the Idea of the Humanities” (U. Wroclaw) (2017)
“Key Trends in the Digital Humanities — How the Digital Humanities Challenge the Idea of the Humanities.” WRO Art Center, Wroclaw, Poland. 27 June 2017. Abstract: How do key methods in the digital humanities such as data mining, mapping, visualization, social network analysis, and topic modeling make an essential difference in the idea of the […]
Profile (2006)
Recent: Article: “Messages and Values in the Age of Machine Learning: From Postcards to Social Media,” Prace Kulturoznawcze 26, no. 4 (2023): 125–29, https://doi.org/10.19195/0860-6668.26.4.8. Commencement speech: “What is Good Writing in the Age of ChatGPT?” (18 June 2023) Materials related to Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) owned by Alan Liu Transcript of letter from […]
The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information
(Catalogue Copy & Table of Contents) (2004)
University of Chicago Press, 2004, 552 pages, ISBN-10: 0226486990, ISBN-13: 978-0226486994 (fuller precis of book) [Catalogue copy] “Knowledge work” is now the reigning business paradigm and affects even the world of higher education. But what perspective can the knowledge of the humanities and arts contribute to a world of knowledge work whose primary mission is […]
“The One Life and the One Gun: Memory, Mechanism, and Destruction in William Gibson’s ‘Agrippa’ and William Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey'” (UC Berkeley) (2003)
“The One Life and the One Gun: Memory, Mechanism, and Destruction in William Gibson’s ‘Agrippa’ and William Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey.’” 19th Century and Beyond British Cultural Studies Working Group. University of California, Berkeley. 18 November 2003. Notes and presentation slides for introduction to colloquium on pre-circulated paper
Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) (1994)
Original, static HTML version of my Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research. I started VoS in late 1994 as a Web site restricted to my campus (U. California, Santa Barbara), then made it world-accessible on 21 March 1995 as the root site of UCSB’s first humanities server (named humanitas.ucsb.edu at that time). […]
“What is Good Writing in the Age of ChatGPT?” (2023)
Citation: “What is Good Writing in the Age of ChatGPT?” Alan Liu, 18 June 2023. The following talk was given on the occasion of the UC Santa Barbara English Department’s commencement ceremony on June 18, 2023. 18 June 2023 What is good writing in the age of ChatGPT? (ChatGPT, as you know, is the most […]
Friending the Past: The Sense of History in the Digital Age (Catalogue Copy, Table of Contents, Abstracts) (2018)
Friending the Past: The Sense of History in the Digital Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018 (forthcoming November 2018). Catalogue Copy Can today’s society, increasingly captivated by a constant flow of information, share a sense of history? How did our media-making forebears balance the tension between the present and the absent, the individual and […]
“Digital Humanities Diversity as Technical Problem” (2018)
Citation: “Digital Humanities Diversity as Technical Problem” Alan Liu, 15 January 2018. doi:10.21972/G21T07. Update: A substantially expanded and revised version of this paper was published in 2020 as an article in PMLA titled “Toward a Diversity Stack: Digital Humanities and Diversity as Technical Problem.” This paper was originally presented 5 January 2018 at MLA 2018, […]
“Theses on the Epistemology of the Digital: Advice For the Cambridge Centre for Digital Knowledge” (2014)
Citation: “Theses on the Epistemology of the Digital: Advice For the Cambridge Centre for Digital Knowledge.” Alan Liu, 14 August 2014. https://liu.english.ucsb.edu/theses-on-the-epistemology-of-the-digital-page/ The following was written as a solicited follow-up to my participation in the second planning consultation session of the Cambridge University Centre for Digital Knowledge. The session, held on 7 May 2014 at […]
“Theses on the Epistemology of the Digital: Advice For the Cambridge Centre for Digital Knowledge” (2014)
Citation: “Theses on the Epistemology of the Digital: Advice For the Cambridge Centre for Digital Knowledge.” Alan Liu, 14 August 2014. https://liu.english.ucsb.edu/theses-on-the-epistemology-of-the-digital-page/ The following was written as a solicited follow-up to my participation in the second planning consultation session of the Cambridge University Centre for Digital Knowledge. The session, held on 7 May 2014 at […]
The Digital Humanities and Identity Issues (2013)
The following was written in response to “Open Thread: The Digital Humanities as a Historical “Refuge” from Race/Class/Gender/Sexuality/Disability?”, which the #dhpoco (Postcolonial Digital Humanities) initiative started in May 2013. The thread opened with the questions: In your view, how much of this has changed since Smith’s article was published, if anything? What is your perspective […]
Is Digital Humanities a Field? — An Answer From the Point of View of Language (2013)
6 March 2013 Over the past few years, I have wrestled with a low-level set of usage and style problems when publishing essays related to digital-humanities issues. These may be put in the form of the two questions: is “digital humanities” singular or plural? and should we crown the phrase with the definite article (“the […]
English 236, “Literature+” (Spring 2012) (2012)
Literature+ New Media & Literary Interpretation:Close, Distant, and Other Reading Graduate Course – Winter 2012 Instructor: Alan Liu UC Santa Barbara Thur 2:00 – 4:30 pm, South Hall 2509 Digital methods shared with other disciplines have recently introduced new methods of literary “reading” that destabilize older methods and extend the interdisciplinary experiments of […]
Notes for Seminar on “Literature+” (Simpson Center, U. Washington) (2009)
Question for This Seminar What is the future of “interpretation”? Context for Question Selected UCSB English Department Digital Initiatives Digital Technology and Transdisciplinarity Literature+ The Question Selected UCSB English Department Digital Initiatives Department Projects Web Pages & Database-to-Web Sites (“Web 1.0” and “Web 1.5”) Voice of the Shuttle (1994-2001) (2001-present) The Romantic Chronology (co-editor Laura […]
Local Transcendence: Essays on Postmodern Historicism and the Database
(Catalogue Copy & Table of Contents) (2008)
University of Chicago Press, 2008, 392 pages, ISBN-10: 0226486966, ISBN-13: 978-0226486963 [Catalog copy] Driven by global economic forces to innovate, today’s society paradoxically looks forward to the future while staring only at the nearest, most local present–the most recent financial quarter, the latest artistic movement, the instant message or blog post at the top of […]
UC New Media Directory (2007)
URL: http://ucnewmedia.english.ucsb.edu Role: Founder. The area of “new media studies” has recently emerged at the intersection of humanities, arts, social science, and computer science research into digital, networked technologies and their cultural implications. Research fields in this area include humanities computing, digital and network art, electronic literature, critical internet studies, computer-mediated communication, information technology and […]
“The Downsizing of Knowledge: Knowledge Work and Literary History” (1998)
Citation: “The Downsizing of Knowledge: Knowledge Work and Literary History.” Abridged and edited by Randolf Starn. In Alan Liu, Miryam Sas, Albert Ascoli, and Sharon Marcus. Knowledge Work, Literary History, and the Future of Literary Studies. Ed. Randolf Starn. Doreen B. Townsend Center Occasional Papers, No. 15. Berkeley, Calif.: Townsend Center, 1998. 1-22. [Includes response […]
“The Power of Formalism: The New Historicism” (1989)
Citation: “The Power of Formalism: The New Historicism.” ELH 56 (1989): 721-71. DOI: 10.2307/2873158 Open access (published version in institutional repository, viewable online and downloadable as PDF) Paywalled (published version, PDF) Translations of essay: “El Poder del Formalismo: El Nuevo Historicismo.” Nuevo Historicismo. Ed. Antonio Penedo y Gonzalo Pontón. Madrid: Arco/Libros, 1998. 193-261. “Die Macht […]
