Approval of Agenda

• Approved

Approval of December 5th Minutes

• Corrections: that ADHO needs a new webmaster, not SDH-SEMI-ANNUAL
• typos

Committee and Officer Reports (precirculate if possible):

• Nothing pre-circulated

President English

• ADHO web issues affected by John Unsworth’s departure from UIUC

President French

• For March meeting, anticipate bylaw changes and new French name for our society
• Subscription form–MOU with ADHO to enable membership through Fed website

Vice President

• Dan speaks to ADHO nomination committee work being done by Susan (in her absence)
• The committee needs to find a list of ADHO positions before it can proceed in its work

Vice President Outreach (also Web/infrastructure)

• Infrastructure issues being addressed, which is not to say solved
• French language renaming of the society will come for discussion before the Exec as early as March meeting
• The membership page in French, enabling payment in their own language, may be more important than a new name
• Dan cautions that server speed likely to remain an issue at least through the spring

Treasurer

• Finances are good.
• ADHO payment received before year end
• SDH-SEMI paid up with FEDCAN
• Institutional subscriptions to the ADHO journal form a basis for ADHO payments to SDH-SEMI

Conference

• CfP has gone out
• We are using ConfTool
• By February meeting we should have numbers of submissions
• Treasurer asked to discuss attendance plans with the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award, toward predicting the costs

New Items

SOPA (Richard)

• Richard circulated an email asking us to discuss OUP and its support for SOPA
• MIT, Penn State UP, have posted anti-SOPA statements, Cambridge reported to be considering the issue
• Richard to draft a statement for circulation to Executive prior to being posted on SDH-SEMI website

SDH-SEMI and North South Collaboration

• Is SDH-SEMI interested in pursuing “North-South” international collaboration (i.e. developing collaborations, co-hosting workshops and events, seeking funding with programmes and colleagues in the developing world?)
• Should SDH-SEMI pursue relationships with digital organizations in the global south?
• Perhaps we could ask Ray Siemens & Dan think about how to pursue this idea?  What sources of money, how to do it, etc.?
• We should not forget that our first priority is the Canadian context, and that we need to increase our Canadian membership numbers.
• Dan will report back after discussing this with Ray.

Advocacy and Outreach position/committee?      

• Given the number of times we discuss the need to be active with national and international organisations and work on developing discipline, should we establish an advocacy and outreach position?
• Such a position might lead to greater uptake of ideas put forward during Exec meetings or general meetings or on an ad hoc basis
• Would such a position remove from executive oversight public statements seeming to come from SDH-SEMI?
• Our need for such a position may not be urgent, but we agree to keep an eye on the idea.
• The VP Outreach will compile a list of possible issues that might benefit from the attention such a position could enable

Time and Location: 1330 Eastern on Skype

• Approval of Agenda
• Approval of December 5th Minutes
• Committee and Officer Reports (precirculate if possible):
• President English
• President French
• Vice President
• Vice President Outreach (also Web/infrastructure)
• Treasurer
• Conference
• Journal
• Nomination
• ADHO
• Other?
• Ongoing Action (if not reported above)
• Bylaw changes
• ADHO
• Subscription form
• New Items
• SOPA (Richard)
• Richard circulated an email asking us to discuss OUP and its support for SOPA
• Advocacy and Outreach position/committee?
• Given the number of times we discuss the need to be active with national and international organisations and work on developing discipline, should we establish an advocacy and outreach position?
• SDH-SEMI and North South Collaboration
• Is SDH-SEMI interested in pursuing “North-South” international collaboration (i.e. developing collaborations, co-hosting workshops and events, seeking funding with programmes and colleagues in the developing world?)

Crossroads: Scholarship for an Uncertain World
2012 Annual Meeting of the Society for Digital Humanities / Société pour l’étude des médias interactifs

Our keynote speaker and recipient of this year’s award for Outstanding Achievement for Computing in the Arts and Humanities is Ronald Tetreault (Dalhousie University).

The conference will also present joint sessions with ACCUTE and Canadian Game Studies Association/Association Canadienne d’Études Vidéoludiques (see post below).  Proposals should specify any preference for inclusion in this joint session.

Proposals for papers (20 min.), posters, and panels or roundtables (2 -6 speakers for a 1½ hour session) will be accepted until 1 February 2012 and must be submitted at http://www.sdh-semi.org/conference/.  Abstracts should be between 200 and 400 words long, and should clearly indicate the paper’s thesis, methodology and conclusions. There is a limited amount of funding available to support graduate student travel.  Please note that all presenters must be members of SDH/SEMI at the time of the conference.

Selected papers from the conference will appear in a special collection published in the society journal, Digital Studies/Le champ numérique (http://www.digitalstudies.org).

Program committee: Brent Nelson (program chair), Aimée Morrison (local organizer), Eric Moore, Harvey Quamen, Jon Saklofske, Susan Brown, Stéfan Sinclair, Dan O’Donnell, Michael Eberle-Sinatra

À la croisée des chemins: Le savoir  face à un monde incertain
Réunion annuelle de 2012 de la Society for Digital Humanities / Société pour l’étude des médias interactifs (SDH/SEMI)

La Société pour l’étude des médias interactifs invite chercheurs et étudiants aux cycles supérieurs à soumettre des propositions de communication et de session pour sa réunion annuelle, qui se tiendra au Congrès 2012 de la Fédération canadienne des sciences humaines à l’Université Wilfrid Laurier et l’Université de Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, du 28 au 30 mai (http://congress2012.ca/).

La Société souhaite encourager en particulier des propositions concernant le thème central de la réunion : « À la croisée des chemins : Le savoir  face à un monde incertain ». Bien que le thème du congrès de cette année soit bien adapté aux intérêts de la SDH/SEMI, nous encourageons également toute communication qui traite des sciences humaines numériques, tant au niveau théorique que pratique.

Ronald Tetraul (Dalhousie University), récipiendaire du prix 2012 pour une contribution exceptionnelle dans le domaine des arts et sciences humaines informatiques, sera notre conférencier plénier.

La conférence présentera aussi des sessions conjointes avec ACCUTE et le Canadian Game Studies Association/Association Canadienne d’Études Vidéoludiques.  Les participants devraient indiquer leur intérêt à participer aux sessions conjointes.

Les propositions de communication (20′), posters et de session ou table-ronde (2-6 participants pour une période d’une heure trente) seront acceptées jusqu’au 1 février 2012 et doivent être soumises à http://www.sdh-semi.org/conference/.  Les résumés devraient compter entre 200 et 400 mots, et indiquer clairement la thématique, méthodologie, et conclusion. La société a des fonds limités pour les frais de déplacements pour les étudiants.  Veuillez noter que tout présentateur devra être membre de la SDH/SEMI au moment de la conférence.
Une sélection des présentations de la conférence sera publiées dans un numéro spécial du journal de la Société, le Digital Studies/Le champ numérique (http://www.digitalstudies.org).

Comité scientifique: Brent Nelson (program chair), Aimée Morrison (local organizer), Eric Moore, Harvey Quamen, Jon Saklofske, Susan Brown, Stéfan Sinclair, Dan O’Donnell, Michael Eberle-Sinatra

Please indicate in your proposal that you wish to be considered as part of this co-sponsored panel. Proposals that are not accepted for this special session will still be reviewed by SDH-SEMI conference organizers for possible inclusion in the broader SDH-SEMI program.

Proposals can be submitted up to 1 February 2012 through the SDH-SEMI conference site at http://www.sdh-semi.org/conference/.  See the post above for the general SDH/SEMI call for papers.

• present: Keith, Susan, Dan, Michael, Stéfan (regrets: Richard)
• approval of agenda, with addition of name change discussion
• reports:
• President French:
• society name change committee added Dominic, looking for one more
• FEDCAN payment page is to be presented to the ADHO SC for discussion and approval of a MOU – the site may serve as a model for other constituencies
• President English: mostly ADHO business, we need a replacement webmaster
• Treasurer: still waiting about news for disbursements from ADHO
• Congress: bilingual CFPs are ready, will be released soon, ConfTool won’t be used this year (MES will find out more)
• DS/CN: almost caught up, moving toward to issues a year, new infrastructure moving to Lethbridge almost ready
• Website:
• three main tasks: 1) cleaning and categorizing; 2) translation; 3) ongoing point person
• possibility of webmaster in addition to members-at-large
• motion (SS) for $500 for web clean-up, seconded (KL), carried
• Nominations: inventory of positions (ADHO) and society
• new business:
• minutes & agendas:
• default is public, filtered out on main page
• DO action: go through previous agendas and minutes to ensure integrity
• ADHO new membership: unanimous approval
• explore possibility of expanding exec
• name change for society prize: issues of internationalization, scope of award, emerging scholar (action SB will lead report from awards committee)
• we need someone for the ADHO awards committee
• MEB will be ADHO rep

Appointment of Secretary

• Appointment of Secretary

Approval of Agenda

Approval of Minutes

Reports

• Presidents Activity (DO and MS)
• ADHO (DO and MS)
• ?Financial (KL)
• Congress 2012 (BN/AM/MS)
• Journal (DO)
• Website
• ?Nomination Ctte (SB)
• French Name Change (MS)
• Changes at FedCan (MS)
• Others?

New Business

• Public Minutes and Agendas
• Approval of aaDH joining ADHO
• Review of Executive (add member at large?)
• Name Chang for prize?

The Textual Studies team of INKE (Implementing New Knowledge Environments) wish to invite presentation proposals for Beyond  Accessibility: Textual Studies in the 21st Century .
June 8, 9, and 10, 2012, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada.
Keynote speakers: Adriaan van der Weel (Leiden University) and Sydney Shep, (Victoria University of Wellington)

At the end of the 20th century, textual studies witnessed a revolution in accessibility to texts with the explosion of the internet.  Now we simply take it for granted that digital processes infuse every step of our study, editing, production, and dissemination of texts. The Textual Studies team of INKE invites presentations that address the questions “What is the state of textual studies in the 21st century? What is the important work of textual studies in the 21st century? What are the outstanding issues, challenges, concerns, emerging trends, methods, attitudes, and exciting developments in textual scholarship?  Papers may address such questions as

• What is the state of the scholarly edition after the transition from print to print and digital?
• What is the impact on the material book and on book history of the different kinds of access enabled by the digital medium?
• How have authorship attribution studies been transformed by access to so many more searchable texts?
• How has the new age of access to materials affected the state of textual studies in various regions of the globe?
• How well are scholars being served by traditional and emerging infrastructures for the study, creation, production, and dissemination of texts?
• What is the future of, for example, the study of readership and letter writing, genetic editing, and reception history?

INKE is a multi-national, multi-disciplinary research initiative, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and partnering organizations, to study, develop, and implement digital environments for reading and research (www.inke.ca).   The Textual Studies Team of INKE is researching ways in which the age of manuscript and print production can inform our development and implementation of electronic reading technologies.

We invite proposals for papers, posters/demonstrations, and roundtable discussions that address these and other issues pertinent to research in textual studies. Proposals should contain a title, a detailed and focussed abstract (of approximately 300 words) plus list of works cited, and the names, affiliations, and Website URLs of presenters. Please send proposals before 15 December 2011 to richard.cunningham@acadiau.ca.

Potential participants in the conference, particularly those coming from abroad, might be interested to take advantage of the Digital Humanities Summer Institute, which will just before our conference, from 4-8 June, also at the University of Victoria (dhsi.org).   A limited number of scholarships for workshop tuition will be available for graduate students participating in the Beyond Accessibility conference.  Also of potential interest is the annual conference of the Society for Digital Humanities (SDH/SEMI) at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, 28-30 May, 2012 (sdh-semi.org).

Location: Skype

Time: 10:30 EST

Expected: DOD, MS, SB, KL, SS, RC

Certification

Approval of Minutes

• http://sdh-semi.org/?p=297

Reports:

Conference (MS)

• Update
• Cfp?
• Prize ctte?
• Journal and proceedings?
• Could we schedule either an interdisciplinary plenary or a society plenary in at Congress?

Journal (DOD)

• Third Issue?
• New Editors?

Web (SS)

• Progress and future plans

Nominations (SB)

• Staffing of committee
• Inventory of positions
• Start recruiting (to begin in November)

Constitution (MS)

• By November/December: “Some final changes need to be made to constitution, particularly involving the dissolving of the old Board, which still retains the sole authority to amend the constitution; MS to finalise the language changes and organise the board meeting”

Name Change–due Spring (MS)

• Action on this should be taking place in the Spring, with initial report on status of committee, planning, etc. by January meeting.

ODH/Leadership in DH matters

• No action was proposed on this

New Business

• Membership Site (MS)
• 2011 Proceedings

Comments/suggestions

• Meeting started about 10:35 EST;
• Adjourned 11:38
• Present: MS, SB, SS, DO, KL; Regrets RC.

Reports:

Conference

• Committee has started work;
• Hope is to have cfp ready for discussion by November Exec. meeting
• Useful if prize committee could conclude its work earlier than in previous years so that an announcement can be made long before the actual conference date (?Was an actual target set?)
• Journal would like to work more closely with cfp and ctte in order to ensure there is material for a timely proceedings issue.
• In relation to the larger DH issue: could we schedule either an interdisciplinary plenary or a society plenary in at Congress? MS reports that both are possible and the deadline for neither has passed. Especially if we are not looking for funding, we can get a plenary on the schedule. Deadline is end October/Early November

Journal

• Second backlog issue out. With the next issue we are caught up. Third Issue is hoped for for end 2011. After that goal is to have one open in the Spring, one proceedings in the fall (same year as papers).
• Significant turnover has occurred: Kirsten and Jeff have stepped down; Dominic and DO are putting together suggestions for additional editorial names; DO to ask for suggestions from Board: goal would be to have range of experience and in particular look outside Canada as part of positioning ourselves as a DH journal

Web

• Word Press site is mostly up and running. SS has solicited comment and barring last minute objections, would like site to go live at end of week.
• We can assign unames and pwords to site, but do not yet have any job control. Not thought to be a serious liability at this point; we’ll begin by assigning access to people who need it and deal with problems, if they arise, when they do.

Items for Future Action

Nominations

• Need to re-establish nomination committee and try to get it so it runs automatically as part of our tasks.
• Needs to include both SDH-SEMI vacancies /and/ ADHO vacancies we are responsible for
• In previous years, SB’s position was chair; SB agrees to chair it again.
• Tasks:
  • Staff committee: SB chair; DO is ex officio; Ray Siemens has indicated an interest in serving; need to find at least one more member; should have some francophone and esp. Quebec experience; also look for somebody outside current exec. and officers–perhaps newer scholar (post doc? Grad student? New faculty?)
  • Compile inventory of positions: SDH-SEMI positions are outlined in constitution; adho positions we need an inventory of; DO to speak to Ray about that to get list.
  • Start recruiting–both through direct pressure, but also through open call–on new website, through mailing lists, etc.
• i) and ii) to be done before November meeting; iii) to start immediately after November meeting.

Constitution

• Some final changes need to be made to constitution, particularly involving the dissolving of the old Board, which still retains the sole authority to amend the constitution; MS to finalise the language changes and organise the board meeting;
• expect the changes to be done by November meeting; meeting may take a little longer; hopefully everything done by December.

Name Change

• Long standing issue of French name of organisation (and journal) needs to be addressed, as neither are appropriate for how field is evolving and its practitioners describe itself.
• MS would like this to be addressed so that we can bring it before the membership at Congress.
• MS will chair a group to come up with suggestions; membership should include somebody not on the exec (present or past) as well as somebody who was involved in the decision to go with SEMI
• Action on this should be taking place in the Spring, with initial report on status of committee, planning, etc. by January meeting.

Journal editors

• Covered earlier under reports

ODH/Leadership in DH matters

• Ties together a number of separate issues: concerns about refereeing/attention to our discipline as a discipline by funders discussed last meeting; need for improved representation/attention/relations with funders.
• SS began work on collecting parallels for refereeing in summer; more work is needed and goal should now be to collect impressions of new insight programme first so that we can report to SSHRC before the 2012 competition
• Perhaps tie this to the conference by suggesting panel on issue? Soliciting feedback from membership/larger community?
• larger question of showing leadership in highlighting discipline is to be first item on next agenda

Comments/suggestions

• as part of our regularising our activities, some suggestions came up including
  • better development and publication of agenda (MS and DO are going to start meeting a week before exec. in order to prepare and distribute agenda)
  • better minuting (DO to circulate notes among exec membership). Question of whether we want to publish minutes came up: to discuss at November meeting. SS suggested private space on website with public blog summarising meetings.

• Posters (abstract max of 1500 words)
• Short papers (abstract max of 1500 words)
• Long papers (abstract max of 1500 words)
• Multiple paper sessions, including panels (overview max of 500 words)

SDH/SEMI is a member of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations. For more information on the conference, please see the website: http://www.dh2012.uni-hamburg.de/