If you’re based in the Middle East and have an interest in the digital humanities, there’s a promising new initiative being organized at the American University of Beirut:

Digital Humanities Institute – Beirut
American University of Beirut
2-6 March 2015
#DHatAUB

The humanities in the twenty-first century have taken a decidedly digital turn. In some cases this means traditional questions are addressed with new digital skills or new modes of scholarly communication, in others, entirely new research questions are emerging with technology.

The main goal of the Institute is to create an environment where different stakeholders in the academic communities of Lebanon and the region learn together about new computing technologies and their impact on the humanities. This institute comes at a time when a number of experiments in digital approaches to the humanities have already been launched at local and regional levels.

DHI-Beirut is designed as a meeting place, between departments, between units of the university, between universities and research centers. It features courses, presentations and lectures, conceived with a collegial spirit of collaboration in mind. The courses bear no credit and there are no exams, just learning and experimentation. They should provide graduate students an introduction to selected digital skills for research for their theses. They are designed with students, faculty, IT and staff in mind. They will be taught by MA and PhD students, librarians, instructors and professors.

Courses will run from 2-6 March 2015. On 7 March 2015, we will hold the Arab World’s first ThatCamp, an unconference designed to bring those interested in humanities and technology together to discuss common goals. All are welcome at this event, if you have attended the institute or not.

DHI-Beirut is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI), the Departments of Arabic, Computer Science and English as well as the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR), the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) and the Orient Institut – Beirut.