Digital Medieval Studies Institute (DMSI) 2024, University of Notre Dame, March 13, 2024

As a collaborative effort between the University of Notre Dame, Digital Medievalist, and the Medieval Academy of America, a one-day, pre-conference workshop in digital scholarly methods will be held before the annual MAA meeting in March 2024. The event is tailored especially to medievalists, their sources, and their scholarly concerns and will feature established approaches in digital medieval studies.

There are two ways to participate in DMSI 2024.  

First, five separate day-long workshops will be offered accompanied by two sessions of lightning talks, followed by a social hour.

Second, participants can give a short presentation about any project in digital medieval studies they have been involved in; the topic of a short presentation does not have to be the same as the workshop in which the participant enrolls. Participants will be able to present a lightning talk only if they are accepted to attend the full-day workshop.

Options for workshops (with instructor name) are as follows:

• Accessible Geospatial Tools for Mapping and Sharing Medieval Information (Matthew Sisk): This workshop will cover the basics of geospatial data and how best to create maps using them. Focusing on geospatial and mapping tools that are low or no cost, the participants will work on analysis and sharing of spatial data for medieval sources.
• Transcribing and Marking-up Medieval Texts (Dan Johnson): This workshop will serve as a primer to text encoding, illuminating the challenges of representing pre-modern works digitally. Drawing on practices and standards developed in part by digital medievalists, participants will get a taste for transcribing and marking up text, annotations, and other paratextual elements using the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) Guidelines.
• Working with Medieval Manuscripts or Art Historical Images using IIIF  (Caterina Agostini): This workshop will allow participants to explore medieval manuscripts or art historical images and find out more about the International Image Interoperability Framework community of scholars and practitioners. Participants will discover innovative techniques and master essential skills to view, compare, and annotate texts, illuminations, and fragments, whether as isolated components or within their original contexts.
• Forensic and Digital Approaches to Fragmentology (David Gura, Scott Gwara): This workshop aims to provide participants with the knowledge and tools to work with medieval manuscript fragments in forensic and digital capacities. Topics and applications include: analytical manuscript description, identification of contents and genres, theories of origin, biblioclasty, provenance research, and digital resources which may complement traditional paleographical and codicological methods. Each participant will work with a number of manuscript fragments in situ drawn from the collection of University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Library.
• Introducing Medieval Liturgy: Tutorials for Students and Teachers (Cara Aspesi, Katie Bugyis, Margot Fassler, Kristina Kummerer Nicoll): Hosted by Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, Medieval Liturgy is a teaching website that aims to offer practical demonstrations of the skills and tools necessary to work with relevant manuscripts and fragments. It is fully linked to the Cantus Database. We will familiarize participants with the taxonomy of medieval liturgy that serves as the site plan and provide hands-on instruction in the use of our template to prepare teaching videos. Participants who are interested in developing courses at their home institutions for making videos for Medieval Liturgy will also get an opportunity to discuss their plans.

All may apply, but preference will be given to applicants who illustrate the ability to apply what they have learned in their research, teaching, or professional practice. A maximum of 8-10 participants will be accepted into each workshop. It will only be possible to enroll in one workshop. We are offering a small bursary for five participants (one per class) to cover the participation fee; the bursary is needs-based.

All registered participants will be charged a fee of $100 to participate in DMSI 2024. 

Please note that the cost of lodging is not covered in the institute fee, and individuals arriving in South Bend early for DMSI should be prepared to make arrangements for accommodations accordingly.