About

Computational Humanities: A Definition

The computational humanities utilize digital tools like AI and machine learning to further humanities research. Rather than using AI as a replacement for foundational humanities skills like critical thinking, argumentation, literary analysis and translation, computational humanities scholars use digital tools to enhance their research and make their scholarship more accessible to other researchers, as well as communities outside of academia. 

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Vision & Values 

The cultures humanists study are increasingly affected by algorithms, digitization and AI. The computational humanities are not here to replace the traditional humanities but rather to expand their possibilities and educate a new generation of scholars who are equipped to interpret our present and preserve our past in a moment of rapid change. 

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Research & Scholarship

Computational humanities research runs the gamut from digitizing the civil war pension records to AI tools that enhance writing instruction to using VR to immerse an audience in a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our work is based on preservation and expansion. The humanities shape our past, our present and our future, and digital tools play a role in understanding all of it. 

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Campus Partnerships 

Formal and informal partnerships across four Dietrich College humanities Departments (English, History, Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics, Philosophy), as well as the Department of Statistics & Data Science and the Information Systems Program. Outside of Dietrich, we partner with the CMU Libraries, Language Technologies Institute (LTI), Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), the Entertainment Technology Center, the Block Center for Technology and Society, and the K&L Gates Initiative on Ethics and Computational Technologies offer our students an unusually rich environment for interdisciplinary work.