Call for Papers: Computational Humanities Research Conference 2024

In the arts and humanities, the use of computational, statistical, and mathematical approaches has considerably increased in recent years. This research is characterized by the use of formal methods and the construction of explicit, computational models. This includes quantitative, statistical approaches, but also more generally computational methods for processing and analyzing data, as well as theoretical reflections on these approaches. Despite the undeniable growth of this research area, many scholars still struggle to find suitable research-oriented venues to present and publish computational work that does not lose sight of traditional modes of inquiry in the arts and humanities. This is the scholarly niche that the CHR conference aims to fill. More precisely, the conference aims at

1. Building a community of scholars working on humanities research questions relying on a wide range of computational and quantitative approaches to humanities data in all its forms. We consider this community to be complementary to the digital humanities landscape. We actively seek, welcome, and encourage people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities to join. This includes, but is not limited to, scholars from underrepresented groups, different academic paths, and those who are contributing novel perspectives to the computational humanities landscape.

2. Promoting good practices through sharing "research stories". Such good practices may include, for instance, the publication of code and data in order to support transparency and replication of studies; pre-registering research design to present theoretical justification, hypotheses, and proposed statistical analysis; or a redesign of the reviewing process for interdisciplinary studies that rely on computational approaches to answer questions relevant to the humanities.

TOPICS OF INTEREST

We invite original research papers on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to:

• Applications of statistical methods and machine learning to process, enrich, and analyze humanities data, including new media and cultural heritage data;
• Hypothesis-driven humanities research, simulations, and generative models;
• Development of new quantitative and empirical methods for humanities research;
• Modeling bias, uncertainty, and conflicting interpretations in the humanities;
• Evaluation methods, data sets, and development of standards;
• Formal, statistical, or quantitative evaluation of categorization/periodization;
• Theoretical frameworks and epistemology for quantitative methods and computational humanities approaches;
• Translation and transfer of methods from other disciplines, approaches to bridge humanistic and statistical interpretations;
• Visualization, dissemination (including Open Science), and teaching in computational humanities;
• Potential and challenges of AI applications to humanities research.

To gain further insight into paper topics, please also refer to the proceedings of previous years:  CHR2020,  CHR2021,  CHR2022,  CHR2023.

VENUE

The 2024 edition of the Computational Humanities Research conference will be hosted by DIGHUMLAB and the Center for Humanities Computing, Aarhus University. The conference will be a hybrid event with options to attend in person in Aarhus, virtually, or a combination of both. More details will follow soon on the conference website.

IMPORTANT DATES

• Submission deadline: 8 July 2024
• Notification to authors: September 2024
• Final papers ready: October 2024
• Conference: December 4 - 6, 2024

SUBMISSION TYPES

• Long Papers: Up to 5000 words (approximately 10 pages, excluding references, abstracts, and tables/illustrations). Long papers should report on completed, original, and unpublished results. Brevity of argument is preferred. The use of appendices or other supplementary information is encouraged.
• Short Papers: Up to 3000 words (approximately 6 pages, excluding references, abstracts, and tables/illustrations). Short papers report on focused contributions and may present work in progress. These papers are presented either as short oral presentations or posters.
• Lightning Talks: Submit an abstract of up to 750 words, excluding references, tables, and illustrations. These talks are intended for a 5-minute presentation during a lightning talk session, well suited for reporting work in progress, introducing new ideas, preliminary results, or focused question-answer research.
• Workshops: Up to 1500 words. Workshops are intended to be more interactive than the main conference sessions and will take place on December 3, before the main conference events. Workshop proposals should include:
  • The aims and setup of the workshop.
  • The academic background relevant to the workshop topic.
  • Proposed duration (e.g., half-day or full-day).
  • An outline of the day's activities.
  • The expected key outcomes from the workshop.
  • A short biography of each organiser or presenter, including their name, affiliation, and email address.
  • A plan for promoting the workshop to attract participants.
  • Specific requirements, such as special equipment (e.g., audio/video), software, or physical space arrangements.
  • Any technical knowledge, skills, or experience required of participants prior to attending the workshop.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS AND REVIEW PROCESS

Submissions must be written in English and formatted according to the CHR LaTeX template. Submissions are to be made anonymously and refereed through a double-blind peer review process. Papers should be submitted as PDF documents via the EasyChair conference management system. At least one author of each accepted submission must register for the conference and present the paper or poster. Accepted papers will be published online; details on the publication venue will be added soon.

Submission deadline: 8 July 2024

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAPER ANONYMISATION

To ensure anonymity during the review process, please adhere to the following guidelines to prevent any information that might help identify the authors:

• Do not include authors' names and affiliations in the submission.
• Use placeholders for code and data repositories, e.g., https://anonymous.4open.science/, https://zenodo.org/record/xxxxx.
• Avoid self-references that reveal your identity, e.g., instead of saying "We previously demonstrated (Smith, 2002)," use "Smith (2002) previously demonstrated."
• Leave the acknowledgements section blank until the final version is submitted post-acceptance.

ANONYMITY PERIOD

The anonymity period runs until the notification of acceptance in September 2024. Preprints may be published after this date.

QUESTIONS?

For any inquiries, please contact the organizers at info@computational-humanities-research.org or visit the discourse forum.