Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 374.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
[1] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
Subject: Fwd: [DIGITALCLASSICIST] Apply for Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon #DHH26 | 20.-29.5.2026 (56)
[2] From: Fenwick Mckelvey <mckelveyf@gmail.com>
Subject: Many, Many Machine Agencies: Call for Participation in 4S Open Panel and Edited Book (71)
[3] From: Menno Van Zaanen <Menno.VanZaanen@nwu.ac.za>
Subject: CfP Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence in African Studies workshop, Stellenbosch, South Africa (185)
[4] From: Rafail Giannadakis <giannadakis.uni@gmail.com>
Subject: Hybrid lecture-March 19, 2026 | Dodona Travels to Ithaca and Back: Lessons from Testing AI in Greek Epigraphy (46)
[5] From: Rafail Giannadakis <giannadakis.uni@gmail.com>
Subject: March 18-Virtual event: Gaming and Literacy in the Age of AI: Perspectives and New Directions (40)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2026-03-18 13:49:49+00:00
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
Subject: Fwd: [DIGITALCLASSICIST] Apply for Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon #DHH26 | 20.-29.5.2026
[from DIGITALCLASSICIST@JISCMAIL.AC.UK]
Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon #DHH26 | 20.–29.5.2026
http://heldig.fi/dhh26 <http://heldig.fi/dhh26>
Join us for the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon 2026—an intensive
opportunity to collaborate, innovate and push your mental and technical
boundaries. Apply now to be part of this year’s efforts.
* #DHH26 application period has started:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRNW1mpme5UbjpRyF7aWzaB7qUR8U1Py_jDqFU
jdwfmM9AYw/viewform
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRNW1mpme5UbjpRyF7aWzaB7qUR8U1Py_jDqF
UjdwfmM9AYw/viewform>(until
14.4.2026).
* Participation to #DHH26 is free to all accepted participants. In
addition, we also expect to sponsor a limited number of participants
from outside Finland with flights and accommodation.
* 5 ECTS credits may be gained from participating in the hackathon for
students in University of Helsinki and other universities.
Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon #DHH26 will be organised
20.–29.5.2026 as an international summer school. The event will be
organized as an in-person hackathon. The event is organised by
FIN-CLARIAH—particularly its DARIAH-FI component—in collaboration with
HELDIG and the Department of Digital Humanities at the Faculty of
Humanities, University of Helsinki, as well as Aalto University. The
event is supported by CLARIN-EU, HIIT, the Helsinki Centre for
Intellectual History, and Marie Curie Training Networks CASCADE & MECANO.
Application schedule for #DHH26:
NOW: 17.3.–14.4.2026 Application period
27.4.2026 Registration period ends for #DHH26 for accepted participants
4.5. & 11.5.2026 Two #DHH26 pre-hackathon online preparatory sessions,
2 – 4 PM UTC+03:00
20.–29.5.2026 #DHH26 hackathon in Helsinki
The Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon is a chance to experience an
interdisciplinary research project from start to finish within the span
of 10 days.
For more information on this year's hackathon, including the themes,
data, team leaders, and what the hackathon was like in previous years,
see: http://heldig.fi/dhh26 <http://heldig.fi/dhh26>
Regards,
#DHH26 General organizers
Mikko Tolonen, Eetu Mäkelä, Jukka Suomela & Jouni Tuominen
http://heldig.fi/dhh26 <http://heldig.fi/dhh26>
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2026-03-18 08:10:13+00:00
From: Fenwick Mckelvey <mckelveyf@gmail.com>
Subject: Many, Many Machine Agencies: Call for Participation in 4S Open Panel and Edited Book
I am sharing a call for research-creation works critical engaging with AI.
The goal is an edited book and a 4S online workshop. Please contact me if
you have any questions.
++++
Many, Many Machine Agencies: Call for Participation in 4S Open Panel and
Edited Book
Where is the artificial intelligence? With AI included in every job talk,
abstract commentary, or refrigerator, our edited collection, Many, Many
Machine Agencies, challenges contributors to present encounters with many
kinds of artificial intelligences in a more curious fashion than the hyped
search for the artificial intelligence so far has been able to amass. The
book theoretically eschews the instrumentalizing language of artificial
intelligence in favour of an open-ended call for more experiential
understanding that advances a posthumanistic and materialist method of
critical cultural AI through experience design, critical making, and
research-creation.
We seek contributors for this unusual, edited collection of machine
agencies, asking for recipes, instructions, or games that center the
problem of agency and interaction and the importance of new kinds of
encounters with machines. Constructed, found, or haphazard encounters
define our approach rather than any presumed intelligence, utility, or
efficacy. This collection brings together agencies that must be worked out
through documented interactions rather than named as an a priori aptitude
or benchmark. As such, this is a call for all the hybrid maker-thinkers who
dabble in different theories of machinic agency including artificial life,
digital games, interaction design, robotics, ubiquitous computing, expert
systems, virtual life, simulation, and neural networks.
Prospective authors are invited to propose recipes for human-machine
encounters that actualize machine agencies and intelligences. Many, Many
Machine Agencies is a kind of a cookbook for engaging critically with
machines, and as such, we take inspiration from celebrated cookbook authors
like MFK Fisher who provides recipes and instructions for dishes, while
embedding them in a broader biographical and cultural narrative. Certainly,
we want to teach readers how to get on cooking with AI, but we also do not
want to be too prescriptive in the kind of instructions they dispense.
Essentially, the chapter-recipes are descriptive accounts of interactions
and experiences that the reader can reproduce for themselves in their own
setting, and they provide the pretext for the articulation and
understanding that arise from the encounter.
An encounter refers to an interaction between humans, machines, and
environments. The prompt, for example, can be an encounter, one highly
scripted in the history of computing where machines guess/predict what we
expect. Often our roles in interactions with machines are prescripted, and
we find ourselves reproducing encounters within frames of client/server,
sender/receiver, core/periphery. Our book challenges these expectations
that are inherited from the instrumentalist logics that curtail stories of
other kinds of encounters with machines. Encounters can be simple games,
thought experiments with technologies, reflections on artistic praxis that
produce agencies in the experience.
For more details about the book, see:
https://ebauche.facil.services/form/#/3/form/view/b4c188787c12116a94c3019f1426e0
ca/
To support the book, we also have a 4S open panel #136 Many, Many Machine
Agencies: Recipes for Posthuman-Human Encounters
We encourage anyone interested to submit a 250-word abstract. The deadline
is 30 April.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
--
Be good,
Fen
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2026-03-18 05:37:04+00:00
From: Menno Van Zaanen <Menno.VanZaanen@nwu.ac.za>
Subject: CfP Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence in African Studies workshop, Stellenbosch, South Africa
CALL FOR PAPERS
A DFG Programme Point Sud Workshop
Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence in African Studies:
Towards Sustainable and Equitable Practices
21–24 September 2026 · STIAS, Stellenbosch, South Africa
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
The integration of digital humanities (DH) and artificial intelligence
(AI) is transforming the production of knowledge in African Studies,
offering new opportunities for innovative analysis, dynamic
visualisation and cross-cultural research. Yet this shift raises urgent
questions regarding equitable access, the representation of African
languages, and the suitability of methodologies. Current large language
models underrepresent African languages, digital scholarly
infrastructures remain optimised for English, and digitisation
pipelines that produce AI-ready data are themselves shaped by
political choices about what to digitise, how to describe it, and
who controls access.
While recent initiatives on digital sovereignty in Africa have centred
on policy and regulation, this workshop shifts attention to
methodological practice. It asks how DH methods and AI transform
research in African Studies, and how we can design, evaluate, and
sustain these methods under African conditions. By bringing together
scholars, independent researchers and practitioners from Africa,
Europe, and beyond, the event will foster North–South and
South–South dialogue at the intersection of African epistemologies
and digital methods, moving from description to design.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CONVENORS
- Frédérick Madore, University of Bayreuth
- Vincent Hiribarren, King's College London
- Emmanuel Ngue Um, University of Yaoundé 1
- Menno van Zaanen, South African Centre for Digital Language
Resources (SADiLaR)
───
THEMATIC AXES
The programme is structured around the following thematic axes:
1. Transforming Research Methods through AI and Digital Tools in
African Studies
This axis asks a fundamental question: how are AI and DH methods
changing the study of African cultures, languages, and histories?
Participants will present concrete uses of AI to analyse multilingual
texts, employ computer vision to study visual culture and historical
artefacts, and develop digital mapping to trace cultural movements and
connections. We will evaluate what works for different kinds of African
cultural materials, identify adaptations required for local contexts,
and specify where computational approaches can complement—rather than
replace—interpretive scholarship. The goal is clear: practical guidance
for integrating these methods while preserving the interpretive
richness that defines the humanities.
2. Building Sustainable Research Infrastructures from African
Perspectives
Moving beyond policy discourse, this axis asks what it takes to build
and sustain digital research capacity within African institutions and
communities. We will examine practical obstacles—limited connectivity,
unstable funding, and scarce training data for local languages—and
showcase South–South collaboration models that have navigated these
constraints. Participants will share strategies for developing tools
that utilise available resources rather than assuming high-end
infrastructure. Key questions include how to keep research outputs
accessible to the communities being studied, how to train the next
generation of African DH scholars, and how to secure sustainable
funding that does not depend solely on institutions in the Global
North. The focus is on concrete, scalable approaches to durable
capacity.
3. Centring African Knowledge Systems in Digital Research Design
This axis poses a methodological challenge: how can digital research
tools respect and incorporate African ways of knowing? Rather than
retrofitting existing techniques to African materials, we explore how
African epistemologies can shape the tools themselves. Case studies
will show community knowledge informing database structures, oral
traditions testing text-centred analytical frameworks, and local
classification systems improving standard metadata schemas. We will
consider protocols for culturally sensitive materials, interface design
that does not privilege European languages, and criteria to ensure that
AI systems trained on African data primarily serve African research
needs. Here, decolonisation moves from critique to construction.
──
WORKSHOP FORMAT & LANGUAGE POLICY
The workshop will run in a hybrid format to maximise participation and
impact. In-person sessions at STIAS will be paired with remote access
via Zoom for those unable to travel. Participants will pre-circulate
draft papers in English or French one month in advance, each with a
bilingual abstract to support preparation. To address language barriers,
the workshop will operate bilingually in English and French. Presenters
may speak in either language; where possible, a bilingual chair will
moderate discussion and provide brief consecutive interpretation where
needed. Recent advances in AI speech recognition and machine
translation now enable near-real-time captioning; we will deploy these
tools in the room and on Zoom. All presenters will supply slides with bilingual
titles and key terms, and a one-page terminology handout in both
languages. Together, these measures encourage meaningful participation
in Africa’s Anglophone and Francophone communities, which are often
divided by institutional and linguistic boundaries, and provide
immediate, practical benefits for multilingual colleagues.
───
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We invite proposals for individual papers (20-minute presentations).
Submissions may be in English or French. Proposals of up to 500 words
should be emailed to the convenors by 30 April 2026. Each submission
must include: (i) a title; (ii) an abstract outlining the context,
central question, and methodological approach; and (iii) a 100-word
biographical note indicating the applicant’s discipline and
institutional affiliation.
Please send your proposals to the following addresses:
- Frédérick Madore: frederick.madore@uni-bayreuth.de
- Vincent Hiribarren: vincent.hiribarren@kcl.ac.uk
- Emmanuel Ngue Um: ngueum@gmail.com
- Menno van Zaanen: menno.vanzaanen@nwu.ac.za
───
PUBLICATION
Our goal is to publish selected papers from the workshop as a special
issue in the Journal of the Digital Humanities Association of Southern
Africa (JDHASA), subject to agreement with the journal’s editorial
board. All submitted full papers will undergo peer review. Authors
whose papers are selected for the special issue will be expected to revise
their manuscripts in line with reviewer feedback before final
publication.
───
SELECTION CRITERIA & INCLUSIVITY
Selection will prioritise gender equity, support for early-career
scholars based in sub-Saharan Africa, and balance across disciplines
and regions. In addition to scholars, we will include
practitioner-developers by directly engaging the teams behind DH tools.
Their participation will help us to assess user needs and the
feasibility of embedding African ways of knowing in tool design. DH
remains gender-imbalanced; accordingly, the open call will explicitly
encourage applications from women and weight gender equity in review.
We will intentionally include Africa-based, diasporic, and returning
scholars. Recognising uneven DH capacity, particularly in several
Francophone regions, we will aim for a majority of Africa-based
participants and amplify Francophone voices through targeted outreach
and reserved places for early-career researchers. The workshop will
uphold equal opportunity regardless of gender, religion, or other
sociocultural differences.
───
KEY DATES
- Submission Deadline: 30 April 2026
- Notification of Acceptance: 15 May 2026
- Deadline for Full Papers: 15 August 2026
- Workshop Dates: 21–24 September 2026
https://fmadore.github.io/stias-dh-ai-workshop-2026
--
Prof Menno van Zaanen menno.vanzaanen@nwu.ac.za
Professor in Digital Humanities
South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
https://www.sadilar.org
--[4]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2026-03-17 10:35:38+00:00
From: Rafail Giannadakis <giannadakis.uni@gmail.com>
Subject: Hybrid lecture-March 19, 2026 | Dodona Travels to Ithaca and Back: Lessons from Testing AI in Greek Epigraphy
Dear all,
The TALOS Lab is pleased to announce an invited hybrid lecture by Dr. Elena
Martn Gonzlez (Assistant Professor, Department of Classical Philology,
University of Valladolid, Spain).
Title: Dodona Travels to Ithaca and Back: Lessons from Testing AI in Greek
Epigraphy
Date: Thursday, 19 March 2026
Time: 15:00 (Greek time)
Venue: TALOS Conference Room, Building , KEME/UCRC, Rethymno, and online via
Zoom
TALOS website announcement: https://talos-ai4ssh.uoc.gr/martingonzalez-
lecturemarch2026/
Zoom link: https://uoc-
gr.zoom.us/j/88449437522?pwd=UaUdeYkMcbqnOKriToB2hoSEZQIJU2.1
Meeting ID: 884 4943 7522
Passcode: 300691
In this lecture, Dr. Martn Gonzlez will present the results of the research
project Dodona Travels to Ithaca, currently being carried out at the University
of Valladolid with NextGenerationEU funding. The project examines the
application of the AI model Ithaca to the revised edition of the oracular
tablets from the sanctuary of Dodona.
The talk will discuss the methodological challenges of applying AI tools to
Greek epigraphy, highlighting both the possibilities and the limitations that
emerge from testing Ithaca on this corpus.
Speaker bio
Elena Martn Gonzlez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical
Philology at the University of Valladolid, Spain. Her research focuses on Greek
epigraphy, especially the edition, interpretation, and commentary of Greek
inscriptions. Her current work centres on the corpus of oracular tablets from
the sanctuary of Dodona.
You are warmly invited to attend.
Best regards,
Rafail Giannadakis <https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafail-giannadakis/>
Research Assistant, TALOSCAI4SSH Lab | University of Crete
BA in Philology (major in Classics), Dept. of Philology | University of Crete
--[5]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2026-03-17 07:57:01+00:00
From: Rafail Giannadakis <giannadakis.uni@gmail.com>
Subject: March 18-Virtual event: Gaming and Literacy in the Age of AI: Perspectives and New Directions
Dear colleagues,
I am writing to draw your attention to the following event happening virtually
tomorrow, March 18, 2026.
Gaming and Literacy in the Age of AI: Perspectives and New Directions
Virtual Event | Wednesday, 18 March 2026 | 18:00–20:00 (EET) | Zoom
(registration required)
See more here: talos-ai4ssh.uoc.gr/gaming-and-literacy-march18<https://talos-
ai4ssh.uoc.gr/gaming-and-literacy-march18/>
The TALOS–AI4SSH Lab at the University of Crete invites the public to an
international virtual event on the intersections of gaming, literacy, and
artificial intelligence.
The discussion will explore how digital gaming environments shape language,
identity, communication, and learning, and how these processes are changing in
the age of AI. Moving beyond simplified views of gamification, the event
highlights digital game-based learning, gaming literacies, and the growing
importance of critical AI literacy in education and society.
Speakers
Dr. Earl Aguilera, California State University, East Bay
Foundations of Digital Game-Based Learning: Insights for the Classroom and
Beyond
Dr. Raúl Alberto Mora, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Victory in the Digital Multiverse: Bridging Gaming Literacies and the AI
Frontier
Discussant
Dr. Zoi Traga Philippakos, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The event is open to researchers, educators, graduate students, and anyone
interested in digital cultures and emerging technologies.
Kind regards,
Rafail Giannadakis<https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafail-giannadakis/>
Research Assistant, TALOS–AI4SSH Lab | University of Crete
BA in Philology (major in Classics), Dept. of Philology | University of Crete
_______________________________________________
Unsubscribe at: http://dhhumanist.org/Restricted
List posts to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
List info and archives at at: http://dhhumanist.org
Listmember interface at: http://dhhumanist.org/Restricted/
Subscribe at: http://dhhumanist.org/membership_form.php
