{"id":8363,"date":"2016-03-14T13:59:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T17:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.brown.edu\/libnews\/?p=8363"},"modified":"2016-03-14T13:59:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T17:59:04","slug":"digital-publishing-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/digital-publishing-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot Projects Selected for Brown\u2019s Digital Publishing Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dean of the Faculty and the Brown University Library are pleased to announce the selection of two faculty-led projects for the inaugural year of the University\u2019s Digital Publishing Initiative. Supported by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Digital Publishing Initiative<\/strong> offers Brown faculty members the opportunity to explore new and innovative approaches to scholarly publishing and research. Produced through new partnerships between scholars and digital scholarship staff, these two pilot projects will be conceived and constructed over the next several years, leading ultimately to pioneering, interactive publications on the web.<\/p>\n

\"MRiva\"<\/a>
Massimo Riva, Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and Professor of Italian Studies, Chair of Italian Studies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Written by Brown University\u2019s leading Italian Studies scholar Massimo\u00a0Riva<\/strong>,\u00a0Italian Shadows<\/em>: Casanova\u2019s Polemoscope and Other Tales of Imaginary or Forgotten Media <\/em>conceives of an archaeology of virtual reality. Through focusing on four curious pieces of analog media from the pre-digital age\u2014including Casanova\u2019s voyeuristic polemoscope (<\/strong>or jealousy glass);<\/strong> an eighteenth century peep show box, the Mondo Novo<\/em>; the Great Belzoni\u2019s Aggrescopius<\/em>, an enhancement of magic lantern theater; and the travelling panorama\u2014Riva will draw connections between old forms of reality-altering technologies and today\u2019s virtual world. Taking advantage of the capabilities of the web, Italian Shadows <\/em>will include rich, interactive illustrations that capture the effects of these long forgotten optical tools and cut a hypertextual path across a variety of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mediascapes. Mining the past for examples of \u201cimaginary\u201d technologies that provided a conduit for alternative imaginings, this study examines the complex relationship between technological innovations and the cultural imagination.<\/p>\n

\"myofficialphoto<\/a>
Tara Nummedal, Associate Professor of History, Associate Professor of Italian Studies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other pilot project is a collaboration between Brown University\u2019s Tara Nummedal <\/strong>and Columbia University\u2019s Donna Bilak. Combining the format of the scholarly edition with that of a critical anthology, Nummedal and Bilak\u2019s Project Atalanta <\/em>will bring a multimedia seventeenth century text to life in digital form. The digital publication will produce a dynamic, enhanced digital edition of Michael Maier\u2019s extraordinary text,\u00a0Atalanta Fugiens\u00a0<\/em>(1617\/18). An alchemical emblem book, Maier\u2019s Atalanta fugiens\u00a0<\/em>re-casts the myth of Atalanta\u2014the fleet-footed virgin\u2014as a series of fifty emblems that outline the creation of the philosopher\u2019s stone. With its combination of text, image, and music, the\u00a0Atalanta fugiens\u00a0<\/em>represents an early multimedia work. In\u00a0Project Atalanta<\/em>, this historic text will be represented in dynamic digital form and be accompanied by newly written scholarship that will help elucidate the Atalanta fugiens\u2019 <\/em>many layers.<\/p>\n

These proposals by were selected by the Digital Publications Advisory Board<\/strong>, which is made up of Brown faculty members and administrators reflecting a broad range of disciplines, interests, and areas of expertise. These proposals were selected not only for their scholarly promise, but also for their innovative approaches to digital forms of research and presentation.<\/p>\n

The Digital Publishing Initiative is a joint project of Brown\u2019s Office of the Dean of the Faculty and the Brown University Library.<\/strong> Funded by the Mellon Foundation<\/strong>, this Initiative aims to extend the University\u2019s mission in supporting scholarship of its faculty through engagement with new and emerging forms of digital publication. Each year for the duration of the grant, faculty members at the University will be invited to submit proposals for digital publication projects to be made in partnership with members of Brown\u2019s Center for Digital Scholarship, which provides design and editorial support, and technical expertise.<\/p>\n

In April, 2016, Professors Riva and Nummedal will speak in the Brown University Library about their Mellon-supported digital projects. The exact date and location of this talk will be announced soon. Later this spring there will be a new call for proposals issued to the Brown community, with proposals to be evaluated in the 2016 fall semester. For more information about the Digital Publishing Initiative, please contact the Digital Scholarship Editor, Liz Glass at elizabeth_glass@brown.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Digital Publications Advisory Board Members for 2015-2016:<\/strong><\/p>\n