The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded nearly $1 million to Michigan State University as part of its Digital Humanities Implementation Grants program.
Marking the largest grant, Jon Frey, assistant professor of art history and visual culture, and Ethan Watrall, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and associate director of MATRIX: Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, received $324,586 for ARCS: Archaeological Resource Cataloguing System.
It will provide an open-source application in which users can upload, tag, sort and link digitized copies of photos, drawings and archaeological documents. The project builds upon the original case study of Ohio State University’s Isthmia excavations, for which Frey is field coordinator.
MSU also received the following grants:
- Watrall and Lynne Goldstein, professor of anthropology, $249,708 for the Institute on Digital Archeology Method and Practice, a 12-day institute to be held throughout two summers for 20 participants to explore new media and new approaches for archaeology.
- Frederick Gifford, professor of philosophy, $198,897 for Development Ethics: Gender, Economics and Environment, a four-week summer institute for 25 faculty members.
- Nwando Achebe, professor of history, $199,040, for Africa in World History, a four-week institute for 25 teachers on central themes in African history.
In addition, Liza Potts, assistant professor of digital humanities in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, and her research colleagues at Old Dominian University received a grant for $324,634 for a digital archiving project.