Advanced Computing in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
The proliferation and accessibility of massive online databases of textual, visual and aural resources have brought new complexity to the study of history, languages, civilizations, and human activities. More than ever before, advanced computational systems, tools and techniques are required to visualize, display, analyze, manage and preserve digital resources.
TACC staff collaborate with researchers from colleges at the University of Texas at Austin – including the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Communications, Architecture, Social work, McCombs School of Business and the LBJ School of Public Affairs – to discover new ways that advanced computing may be applied in these areas.
We work with researchers at all levels of technology expertise, from beginner to the most advanced, and provide access to systems, technical support, training, and other services associated with advanced computing and visualization technologies.
For more information, contact Rob Turknett.
Featured Collaborations
Institute for Classical Archaeology (ICA)
The Institute for Classical Archaeology at The University of Texas at Austin is using TACC's storage resource Corral to manage, preserve and disseminate two dynamic datasets to the wider academic community and the public: an intensive field survey of ancient sites in the territory of Metaponto in South Italy and excavations in an area of the Greek, Roman and Byzantine city of Chersonesos in Crimea (Ukraine). These spatial and contextual datasets also contain extensive data produced in the course of specialist research into forensic anthropology and ancient agriculture and technology. For more information, visit ICA.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
The task of the archivist has grown exponentially more difficult with the proliferation of digital materials. For the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), this problem is especially acute. NARA turned to TACC's digital archivists and data experts to explore new solutions to this pressing problem.. In the context of big data, collaborations like the one between NARA and TACC are very important; the solutions they produce may form the basis for the archiving systems of the future. For more information, visit NARA.
Blanton Museum of Art
TACC has begun a collaboration with the Blanton Museum of Art to explore archival methods for digital art. This emerging area of research is crucial to capturing the metadata and technological specifications of works of art in a rapidly changing environment.
School of Architecture
TACC is working with the School of Architecture on several projects, including the construction of a render farm that will allow students and faculty to create photorealistic renderings of their 3D models in a fraction of the time that it would take on a single computer. We are also making plans to host architectural exhibitions and student reviews in the Visualization Lab.
Learning Technology Center, College of Education
The ability to analyze and visualize large datasets is a skill that is becoming increasingly important as technology allows us to capture more and more data digitally. TACC is working with the College of Education to construct a new visualization lab in the Learning Technology Center that will be used to teach students how to model, visualize and analyze data across a number of domains.
Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies, Department of English
Computational search and analysis techniques have made it possible to explore literature in entirely new ways. TACC is partnering with the Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies (TILTS) to develop tools to discover how prescriptivism – society's rules for correct language use – influences English language usage over time.
Events
For a full listing of upcoming and past TACC activities, please visit our Events section.
Images by Trey Ratcliff displayed on Stallion at TACC's first Digital Arts Showcase: "Exploring Creativity in Digital Space." |
"PRESENCE / ABSENCE," April 7 & 9, 2011
PRESENCE / ABSENCE, a collaboration between Gallery Shoal Creek and The Texas Advanced Computing Center, presents new works from local and national artists, including: Nicholas Dertien, Marcy Freedman, Francesca Samsel, and Sally Weber in the Visualization Laboratory, a new venue for digital art in Austin. The exhibition explores the work of artists using digital media to transform the content and experience of their work.
"Bug in the Machine," March 25, 2011
The one-day digital art exhibition "Bug in the Machine" examines the ways in which organic life sometimes slips in and gets stuck inside inorganic spaces, codes, technologies, and media. Organized by the Vital Arts and Theories Group and inspired by the first bug to get debugged, this exhibition considers the interaction between living things and the things we build.
"Visualizing our Future: Space, Media and Web Exploration," March 14, 2011
TACC hosted an official SXSW Interactive mini-talk and Vislab reception sponsored by SIGGRAPH-Austin. The event included a NASA-JPL keynote and presentations on diverse topics related to data-visualization, UX design and web-based visual media technologies and techniques with a panel-style Q&A at the end.
"Digital Humanities: Teaching and Learning," March 10, 2011
TACC hosted the plenary address and a Vislab reception for the Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies (TILTS) symposium "Digital Humanities: Teaching & Learning". TACC's Maria Esteva spoke about her research at the symposium panel titled "A Googleplex of Books: Changing Libraries and Archives".
"Emerging Communities for Advanced Digital Technologies," Sept 10, 2010, 1-5pm AVAYA Auditorium, ACE 2.302
Advanced computing is increasingly penetrating all fields of study. Whether creating digital editions of Walt Whitman's work, analyzing high-resolution satellite imagery to discover lost archeological sites, using visualization to understand how students learn, or applying data mining techniques to infer the organization of digital archives, advanced computing can inspire new insights and suggest new directions for study. The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) will lead a workshop to explore the role of new technologies, new research, and new educational opportunities using advanced computing.
"Methods of Entanglement," Sept. 9, 2010, 7-10pm, ACES VisLab
"Methods of Entanglement" presents the work of eight artists who use scientific programming, custom software, hacked video games, and the web as raw materials to respond to rapid advances in technology and to address questions of beauty, pop culture, and digital omnipresence.
"Exploring Creativity in Digital Space," April 29, 2010
TACC has begun to test out different uses of our Visualization Laboratory in the ACES building. Our first event, "Exploring Creativity in Digital Space," was held in the Vislab. Six digital media and video artists provided materials to showcase the capabilities of our visualization technologies in new and exciting ways.
HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory)
As a virtual hub for the HASTAC 2010 conference, TACC presented the video: "Now What? Rethinking the Digital Media Participation Gap," an interview with Dr. Craig Watkins, associate professor of Radio-TV-Film at The University of Texas at Austin.