We’re delighted to welcome you to ACH 2021, the biennial conference of the Association of Computers and the Humanities. ACH is the United States-based constituent organization in the Alliance for Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO). The ACH 2021 conference, in partnership with the University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) program and University Libraries, Texas Southern University, Rice University, Texas A&M College Station, Texas A&M Prairie View, UH Clear Lake, UH Downtown, and Houston Community College, provides a forum for conversations on an expansive definition of digital humanities in a broad array of subject areas, methods, and communities of practice.
When we first began planning ACH 2021, shortly after the conclusion of our 2019 conference, we expected an in-person meeting — in fact, none of us had had any experience that might point us in another direction. But then, not long after we’d accepted a bid from the Houston team and made our first public announcements about the conference, the world changed. And while we wanted to believe that things would be back to something like “normal” by summer 2021, we couldn’t be certain enough to be comfortable moving forward.
We’re enormously grateful to the Houston team for not only being willing to delay their much anticipated in-person meeting to 2022, but also being willing to work with us on this online event. The planning for this conference has been led by a stellar steering committee, program committee, and infrastructure committee, all of whose members are named below. Together, we’ve developed a program that includes two days of synchronous Zoom-based events as well as an array of asynchronous presentations and discussions hosted through Humanities Commons.
We want to remind you that all participants and attendees of ACH 2021 have agreed to the terms of our Code of Conduct; we are committed to working together to create a welcoming space in which all of us can work together in the creation of an equitable, just, and collaborative future for our fields.
We encourage you all to think of the Humanities Commons space not just as a way to discuss specific presentations but of a way to pursue new potential collaborations, as well as new possibilities for ACH to explore as an organization. We’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts about the conference, and to talking with you as it unfolds.
Program Committee
Co-chair: Lorena Gauthereau, University of Houston
Co-chair: Tanya Clement, University of Texas at Austin
Taylor Arnold, University of Richmond
Mackenzie Brooks, Washington and Lee University
Arun Jacob, University of Toronto
Lisa Spiro, Rice University
Toniesha Taylor, Texas Southern University
Gabriela Baeza Ventura, University of Houston
Vika Zafrin, ACH / Akamai Technologies
Steering Committee
Co-chair: Jennifer Guiliano, IUPUI
Co-chair: Roopika Risam, Salem State University
Gabriela Baeza Ventura, University of Houston
Tanya Clement, University of Texas at Austin
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Michigan State University
Lorena Gauthereau, University of Houston
Santi Thompson, University of Houston
Infrastructure Committee:
Chair: Kathleen Fitzpatrick (ACH President), Michigan State University
Santi Thompson, University of Houston
Linda Garcia Merchant, University of Houston