E-Newsletter
Recent Posts
Latest News
-
Showcasing the Digital Scholarship Lab: Spring Series, 2013
|
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — This spring, Brown University Library is launching a series of talks by Brown faculty and visiting scholars across the disciplines to celebrate the opening of the Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab at the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library. All talks for Showcasing the Digital Scholarship Lab: Spring Series, 2013 are free, open to the public, and followed by catered receptions. Space is limited. Seating is first-come, first-serve.
Series speakers will discuss and demonstrate ways in which digital technologies, especially those enabling data visualization and analysis, have impact on their teaching and research and enable new forms of student learning and interaction. Talks are scheduled for Thursday evenings (and one Tuesday evening) starting at 5:30pm.
The series will kick off on March 14. Sheila Bonde, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture and Professor of Archaeology at Brown, will give a lecture titled “Re-presenting the Past,” examining the challenges of representing the past through the lens of archaeological work at the French medieval monasteries of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes in Soissons and Notre Dame d’Ourscamp. Bonde will look at the challenges of incomplete data, of representing time and movement, and of going beyond visual representation.
Massimo Riva, Professor of Italian studies at Brown, Director of the Brown Center in Bologna and Director of the Virtual Humanities Lab at Brown will give the second talk on Thursday, March 21. Riva’s talk, “The Virtual Life of Books and Other Curious Artifacts,” will examine how great books, such as Boccaccio’s Decameron, and curious historical artifacts, like the Garibaldi panorama, help us rethink research and teaching in the digital age.
Speaker schedule:
Thursday, March 14 – Sheila Bonde, Professor of History of Art and Architecture and Professor of Archaeology at Brown University
Thursday, March 21 – Massimo Riva, Professor of Italian Studies, Director Brown Center in Bologna and Director, Virtual Humanities Lab at Brown University
Thursday, April 4 – Rachel Franklin, Assistant Professor of Population Studies at Brown University
Thursday, April 11 – John Cayley, Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University
Thursday, April 18 – Eben Gay, REVEAL architect.
Thursday, April 25 – Jill Pipher, Professor of Mathematics at Brown University and Director, of ICERM, The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics
Tuesday, April 30 – Andries Van Dam, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science at Brown University
Thursday, May 2 – Shawn Greenlee, Assistant Professor of Foundation Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design
The Lab, located on the first floor of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, features a 7’x16′ video wall composed of over 24 million pixels for data visualization and analysis. The wall can be configured to display up to twelve independent video sources simultaneously, making the Lab an effective collaboration space. The Lab is also outfitted with a wide range of software for scholars across the disciplines, a state-of-the-art audio system, video conferencing capabilities, programmable lighting, and two 50″ touch-screen displays that can be used independently or linked to the video wall for collaborative display and interaction.
For updates on the series visit library.brown.edu/dsl.
The Brown University Library is home to more than 6.8 million print items, plus a multitude of electronic resources and expanding digital archives serving the teaching, research, and learning needs of Brown students and faculty, as well as scholars from around the country and the world.
Contact: Jennifer Braga | 401-863-6913
###
-
Fleurs des Tranchées = Trench Flowers
|
It arrived on my desk one morning. A handmade scrapbook labeled Correspondances Militaires, 1916-1917 covered in paper the color of the French military uniform – bleu horizon. Each letter was carefully pasted along one edge to a thin strip of paper. Each letter was written to Emile Toulouse from his brothers Eugène and Jean and a smattering of friends and cousins. They all served France during World War I. Emile served as a firefighter in Paris. Eugène served in the infantry. Jean served with the artillery.
The most important function of war time letters is simply to assure family and friends that one is still in this world. Eugène writes at the beginning of almost every letter and card exactly the same sentence: “Je suis toujours en bonne santé et désire que ma lettre te trouve de même. = I am still in good health and hope that my letter finds you the same.” The fact that Eugène wrote that for over 2.5 years (March 1915 until November 1917) while serving in the trenches in France is remarkable. In the optimistic early days of 1915, he gathered flowers from each of the trenches.
Flowers collected in the trenches by Eugene Toulouse, 1915
By December 29, 1916, Eugène’s spirits were flagging and for good reason. Below is a translated excerpt from that letter.
“ . . . From time to time here at this Compagnie de Dépôt we are almost as brutally treated as you are, and twice I was almost thrown in jail without any reason. You better believe it’s harsh to be treated that way especially because it’s possible that in one week we will have our pants on fire and our feet freeze. I am beginning to believe that we will never beat them although you know my morale was pretty high. I can’t wait for the escape.”
[Translation by Dominique Coulombe, Senior Scholarly Resources Librarian]
To read that letter and all the others in this diminutive but interesting scrapbook visit the John Hay Library and request the Toulouse Family Correspondence (Ms.2012.017).
-
Exhibit honoring the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”
|
The John Hay Library has a new exhibition celebrating the artistic innovations of Rite of Spring with a selection of works illuminating the original Paris production. The items displayed are from the Brown University Library’s Bryson Dance Collection.
The exhibit is one of a series of events taking place in Rhode Island this spring to mark the FirstWorks presentation of the Joffrey Ballet’s recreation of the original ballet. The Joffrey’s performance will take place on March 19th at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was commissioned for the Ballets Russes in Paris and was designed by Russian artists on a Russian theme, in an attempt to inform Paris of Russia’s interpretation of modernism.
Title: A Picture of Avant-Garde Russia: The Rite of Spring and the Ballets Russes in 1913, Selections from the Bryson Dance Collection
Date: Monday, March 4 – May 31, 2013
Location: John Hay Library, Gammell Gallery
Contact: Holly Snyder | (401) 863-1515 | Holly_Snyder@brown.edu
