Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences - Updates

National Endownment for the Humanities

2007-10-02T13:57:00.001-07:00

Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants

Deadline: October 16, 2007 & April 2, 2008

NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants are offered for the planning or initial stages of digital humanities initiatives in all areas of NEH concern: research, publication, preservation, access, teacher training, and dissemination in informal or formal educational settings. Applications should describe the concept or problem that is being addressed, the plan of work, the experience of the project team as it relates to the plan, and the intended outcomes of both the grant and the larger project that the grant will initiate.

A one-page brochure about this program is available here (PDF Format).

Revised application guidelines for this program are available now.

Legislation Introduced to Create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence

2007-09-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

On September 14, 2005 Congressman Kucinich introduced H.R. 3760 a bill to create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace and Nonviolence which embodies a broad-based approach to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution at both domestic and international levels. The Department of Peace and Nonviolence would serve to promote non-violence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful world. Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly. Internationally, the Department would analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on matters pertaining to national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.The Department would also have an Office of Peace Education that would work with educators in elementary, secondary and universities in the development and implementation of curricula to instruct students in peaceful conflict resolution skills. In addition, a Peace Academy, modeled after the military service academies, would be established to provide instruction in peace education and offer opportunities for graduates to serve in programs dedicated to domestic or international nonviolent conflict resolution. more information

CHASS Proposes Cyberinfrastructure for Peace and Non-Violence

2007-08-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

released 08.28.07

CHASS proposes CI-TEAM (LA), a project which connects teams of faculty and students across disciplines, institutions, and cultures for the express purpose of addressing the problem of violence. It seeks to educate and train a future workforce to use cyberinfrastructure technologies with the potential to offer new understanding of the causes of violence and suggest innovative means of curbing incidents of violence, especially gang and youth violence in Los Angeles.

"This combined approach involving local youth and teachers in the research and program development while learning and using supercomputer technology is exciting and is what cities and the nation need to begin to solve the fundamental problems that evolve to youth violence" said actor and activist Edward James Olmos.

CI-TEAM (LA) plans to build and expand on current successes funded by NSF investments in cyberinfrastructure, specifically work conducted at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, along with Queens College’s Social Explorer application. The project will leverage existing successful California State University, Los Angeles and other community-based collaborative projects with previously assessed activities and a strong history of commitment to diverse community involvement and sustainability in order to:

· train students in the use and implementation of cyberinfrastructure for education and research;
· use cyberinfrastructure to develop and implement methods of preventing youth violence in participating high schools;
· foster strong partnerships with local high schools and surrounding communities;
· ensure broad interdisciplinary participation amongst university departments and students.

The project will make use of cyberinfrastructure-supported portals that already exist. It will take the next step: enabling interdisciplinary teams to use a cyberenvironment to attack long-term goals in research and problem-solving for a positive societal good.

The CI-TEAM (LA) students’ community-based research approach has the potential to change their sociology of research from a focus on individual goals, which are generally of a short-term character, toward a greater emphasis on effective collaboration in interdisciplinary, inter-institutional settings.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar said in support of the project, "I have been struck by the community’s indomitable spirit and will to improve the quality of life for it's children and youth. This courage and unfailing optimism make it imperative that the policymaking and academic communities develop sustainable partnerships that result in tangible benefits for these communities."

A recent article in The Economist reported that Los Angeles experienced more than 400 racial hate crimes in 2006, the most, as a proportion of all hate crimes, for at least a decade.

"We hope CI-TEAM (LA) will produce new solutions to the old problem of youth violence. This new and very unique effort has the potential to contribute not only to youth violence prevention but result in improved economic and living conditions in the communities most touched by violence. LA is the right city to launch this effort and we anticipate many other cities will join the project" said Steve Valdivia, former Director of the L.A. Youth Gang Violence Council and a key driver behind the CI-TEAM (LA) project.

CI-TEAM (LA) will take a leadership role in next generation cyberinfrastructure education and research, especially as it applies to the social and behavioral sciences, enabling and encouraging education and research by a diverse workforce across disciplines.

Fundraising for the project is being actively pursued. If you would like to make a contribution or are interested in more information please contact Dr. Kevin D. Franklin at kdf@uiuc.edu

Suggested Reading: Forces... Understanding Youth Gang Violence and Why Communities Erupt. by Steve Valdivia stevonmfl@yahoo.com, due to be released on http://www.lulu.com/ mid-October