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News Release

Last modified: Monday, February 23, 2009

Exhibit of digital work marks opening of Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 23, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities (IDAH) will celebrate its official opening on Wednesday, Feb. 25, with a reception in the Wells Library, at 4 p.m.

The institute, supported by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and led by Associate Vice Provost for the Arts Ruth Stone, is part of the Research Commons now being developed in the East Tower of the library to enable collaborative work across disciplines.

The Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities links scholarly and technical experts who work together on developing appropriate tools and methods for the study and analysis of varied collections. IDAH Faculty Fellows receive two years of support from the institute during which they work to enhance their understanding of digital tools, prepare prototypes of major projects, and develop and submit grant proposals for external funding. During the Feb. 25 reception, projects created by current IDAH Faculty Fellows will be on exhibit.

"Within this new space situated at the heart of campus, faculty fellows are being stimulated to collaborate in unexpected ways with scholars and technical specialists from across the university," Stone said.

IU Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson noted that the synergies generated through IDAH will benefit the entire university campus.

"The Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities will help to make Indiana University a leader in digital scholarship and creative activity," Hanson said. "As the IDAH faculty and staff make use of the best Indiana has to offer in human expertise and technological tools, they also expand the traditional boundaries of research and artistic creativity."

Current projects by IDAH Fellows range from 3-D virtual reality art to computerized analysis of language patterns in the poetry of Victorian poet Algernon Swinburne to composing music that links sound, dance and light through computer manipulations.

Vice Provost for Research Sarita Soni calls the collaborative partnership behind IDAH -- which joins OVPR, University Information Technology Services, and the Digital Library Program at the Wells Library -- "very special."

"The Office of the Vice Provost for Research has invested in the creation of the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities as a special initiative to spur faculty who work in the arts and humanities to compete more successfully in the new realities of collaborative, interdisciplinary inquiry," Soni says. "This effort links faculty, staff and students across campus and among schools in new and interesting ways."

The opening reception takes place in Wells Library E170 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Along with a display of work from IDAH Faculty Fellows, the opening will include remarks from Bradley C. Wheeler, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO, Provost Hanson, Vice Provost Soni, and Pat Steele, the Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries .

For more information, see www.indiana.edu/~idah.

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