Digital Humanities and Digital Communication: New Approaches to Core Questions

Modena, 6-10 June 2022

Use of digital tools in the humanities dates back to the early days of computers. As the technology evolved, and as computers began driving communication itself (spoken, written, and visual), researchers increasing applied digital approaches in their quest to understand the multiple channels through which people express themselves. These same tools made possible an explosion of new forms of interaction, from digital classrooms to digital publishing, from online social networks to information instantly accessible online, from free translation tools to sophisticated computer software for identifying authorship.

Underlying many of these developments has been the remarkable progress in artificial intelligence. Deep neural networks, coupled with massive databases, have transformed the level of analysis we can perform, the novel text we can generate, and potential partnerships between humans and computers. While the potential of AI is far-reaching – from powering self-driving cars to predicting the next pandemic – AI-driven programs already touch the lives of all of us as readers, writers, and speakers.

The 2022 Summer School of the UNIMORE Doctoral Program in Human Sciences will explore how newly emerging AI digital tools are being applied to questions at the core of both the humanities and communication. Among the topics to be included in the Summer School are:

  • Natural language generation
  • AI and translation
  • Digital publishing and “google readers”
  • Authorship identification, stylometry
  • AI and forensic linguistics
  • Digital (public) history
  • Digital classrooms, robotics, and learning
  • Social media and online communication

The sessions will include both lectures by prominent researchers and hands-on workshops in which participants will be able to work with a variety of program applications.