Collaborative Digital Humanities Program

2023-24 Collaborative Digital Humanities Fellows Competition Winners

1. “Music Theory After Hours”: Storytelling through Podcasting with the UTSA Music Theory Club

 Our project embodies both the spirit of the Public Music Theory Movement and the UTSA COLFA Digital Initiatives’ focus on digital storytelling. We launch and enhance our podcast idea: “Music Theory After Hours.” This pod will document our club’s interests and experiences as music majors, reaching out to current and future music majors both close to and far from home.

Advisor, PI: Jennifer Beavers, Associate Professor of Music Theory

Faculty Fellow: Stacey Davis, Professor of Music Theory, Acting Director for School of Music

Student Fellow: Alexis Valles, UTSA Undergraduate, President of Music Theory Club

2. “Cultural Histories in Exhibition”

 In this project, graduate students in art history, studio art, and other COLFA disciplines who are enrolled in the seminar Cultural Histories in Exhibition will a create digital humanities program in the form of an arts and culture magazine that will explore a range of themes that will introduce public and campus audiences to the UTSA Art Collection and Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC) collections and provide opportunity for engaging with critical and creative approaches to exploring visual culture.

Advisor: Arturo Almeida, UTSA Art Specialist and Curator

 Faculty Fellow, PI: Dr. Scott Sherer, Professor of Art History and Criticism, Director of Galleries, Coordinator of COLFA Museum Studies Minor

 Student Fellows: Isaac Grigar and Bri McDonald, MFA students

3. “Amplifying Identity: Digital Soundscapes and Storytelling in San Antonio”

 This project takes an innovative path in the realm of digital public humanities, harnessing the evocative potential of soundscapes and the human voice to deeply and tangibly connect people with place. Through digital practices, Amplifying Identity dismantles conventional archival and academic power dynamics, while simultaneously envisioning local communities as integral participants in the scholarly production process.

Advisor, PI: Miles Friday, Assistant Professor of Digital Music, Music,

Faculty Fellow: Priscilla Martinez, Post Doctoral Fellow, History,

 Student Fellow: Brandon Davis, Music

Student Fellow: Keturah Escobar, Anthropology

4. “Stories of Women’s Digital Practices for Safety in San Antonio”

 This project will collect and publish stories from San Antonio women about their use of digital technologies to keep safe while moving about the city. These stories will be published in an online, open-access repository and made accessible to the public. This project emerges from the need to better understand how digital technologies—used for safety—shape mobilities, perceptions of safety, and actual safety in urban spaces. It also responds to material and social conditions within San Antonio that impact women’s mobilities and their sense of personal safety.

Advisor: Dr. Melissa Stone | Assistant Professor of English, Appalachian State University

 Faculty Fellow, PI: Dr. Ragan Glover | Assistant Professor of Communication, UTSA,

 Student Fellow: Victoria Riojas | Graduate M.A. Student in Communication, UTSA

2022-23 Winners’ Project Links

1. Creating Interactive 3D Worlds to Tell the Stories of Past Lives in Ancient Peru
2. This is our classroom: Interdisciplinary collaborations in a study abroad setting
3. The Museum of Texan Cultures Reimagined: Interdisciplinary Stories with Integrated Arts in South Texas History, Heritage, Migration and Immigration
4. Concientizando Comunidades: Alternative Archives of Leadership and Activism in Texas
5. Honest Abe’s Information Emporium

Other possible ideas for projects

1. San Antonian Digital History Project in Partnership with Museums
2. Lives of Teachers in Challenging Times
3. Poverty, Equity, and Justice in Modern Texas
4. Short Videos on Inspiring Music in Urban Communities
5. A Metaverse Village of UTSA
6. Building Black San Antonio through Digital Storytelling
7. Interdisciplinary Stories with Integrated Arts in South Texas
8. Digital Stories on Texan immigrants
9. Digital Storytelling of Health Data for Underserved Population in San Antonio
10. The Creation of Digital Collections on Political History in Texas
11. Analytical Linguistics Database on Marginalized Groups
12. Visualizing San Antonio History
13. Data Visualization of Military Health
14. Podcasts Project on Latinx Immigrants in San Antonio

The program period is from October 2023 to May 2024. COFA DI plans to award up to four teams. Each fellows team consists of one advisor (can be COLFA faculty or from other colleges, universities, or communities), one faculty fellow (COLFA only), and one student fellow (COLFA only). Each team may have more than one member in each position if the additional member’s role is inevitable. The team develops one project and completes it by the end of the program in May 2024.

The advisor receives $500 as compensation. The advisor supervises and guides the team for a successful project outcome. The faculty fellow receives $500 as a stipend. The student fellow receives $500 as a stipend. Only COLFA faculty (TT and FTT) and students (graduate and undergraduate) can participate in the competition. If there are multiple members in each position, the allocated fund to the position will be split equally (e.g., two-student fellows: $250 each).

COLFA DI will host 1) multiple training workshops, 2) colloquium sessions, and 3) networking events for the teams during the program. At the end of the CDHF program in May 2024, COLFA DI will host a symposium to showcase the teams’ complete projects.

Process

1. Only COLFA faculty and students can participate in this program, except for the advisor.
2. Advisors can be from COLFA, other colleges, universities, academic fields, or communities.
3. Fellows are not required to submit a budget.
4. Two information sessions will be held in September 2023.
5. COLFA DI invites workshop trainers and guest speakers. They receive honoraria for their contributions.

Review Committee*

1. Nazgol Bagheri (POL)
2. Hejin Shin (LIB)
3. Seok Kang (COM)
4. Sue Hum (ENG)
5. Amy Rushing (LIB)
6. Joe Roy (ASEE)
7. Omar Valerio-Jimenez (HIS)
8. Red Madden (COM)
9. Jessica Nowlin (PHI)
10. Sylvia Fernandez (MLL)

*If review committee members participate in the competition as advisors or fellow applicants, they are not eligible to stay on the review committee.

Timeline

1. August 2023: Call for application
2. August-September 2023: Two information sessions (one in August and one in September)
3. September 9, 5 p.m. 2023: Application deadline
4. October 3, 2023: Fellow team selection
   1. In selection, the Review Committee puts the best effort to equally distribute the fellow teams to the nine Departments (AAH, ANT, MLL, COM, HIS, POL, ENG, PHI, MUS).
5. October-November 2023: One training workshop, one colloquium
6. December 2023: Networking event
7. January – March 2024: One training workshop, one colloquium
8. April 2024: Networking event
9. May 2024: Symposium to showcase Fellows’ complete projects

Fellow Requirements

1. Eligible to COLFA faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students only.
2. Apply as a team (one advisor, one faculty member, and one student).
3. Attend and participate in workshops and colloquia.
4. Attend and participate in informal networking events.
5. Present projects and discuss with other teams at colloquia or happy hours.
6. Present projects at the final symposium.

Application Process

1. Each team (one advisor, one faculty member, and one student) submits a short version of 2-page CV for each member (advisor and fellows) in one file.
2. Proposal (2-3 pages, single-spaced, 12 -point font type, 1-inch margins). Proposal page limit excludes title page (title, applicant names, and information), endnotes, and references.
   1. Introduction
   2. Project details
   3. Expected outcomes
   4. Contribution
   5. Timeline
3. Submit the proposal package as one pdf file, including proposal and CVs, via CAYUSE
   1. Complete an intake form (Notice of Intent)
   2. Submit your application to
4. Intake Form: The Intake form asks basic information about your application and assists us with planning across investigators/submissions. As appropriate, the RSC will develop a checklist of required documents for your application and will help you shepherd your application through cayuse.
5. CAYUSE: Cayuse delivers a hosted Web solution created specifically for Grants.gov and the complex federal grant proposal process. Cayuse helps organizations of all kinds collaborate on, manage, apply for federal funding, streamline proposal development and protect research funding with the industry’s leading Web-based proposal development platform.
6. 5:2: The 5:2 rule was put in place to help ensure your proposal is submitted on time. The 5:2 rule refers to the number of business days required for proposals to be routed and finalized. Five business days before the proposal deadline, the PI is required to upload non-technical documents to Cayuse (i.e., budget justification, bio sketches, current/pending support, references cited, letters of support). Two business days before the proposal deadline, technical documents are due (i.e., routing form, internal approvals in Cayuse, abstract, project description, research strategy, etc.). Plan to process proposals in CAYUSE in advance to avoid missing the submission deadline.
7. Upon CAYUSE approval, submit the application package to the One Drive Form
8. The submission file should be labeled as full_name.pdf.
9. Deadline: September 9, 5 p.m., 2023.
10. Contact Seok Kang (kang@utsa.edu) for any questions.