This report covers the activities of the Program Committee (PC) and Local Organizers (LOs) for the ADHO DH conference in August 2024 hosted by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia.
The PC Co-Chairs were Jajwalya Karajgikar and Andrew Janco, who were appointed in April 2023. The full PC additionally consisted of Tully Barnett, Alex Wermer-Colan, Nadezhda Povroznik, Kyle Dase, Arjun Ghosh, Rooweither Mabuya, Jan Horstmann, Daniel Alves, Peter Stokes, Chifumi Nishioka, Wonhee Cho, Adán Lerma, and Richard Tzong-Han Tsai.
The LO Chair was Jessica Otis and the LO team additionally consisted of Bridget Bukovich, Donna Baker, Kristin Jacobsen, Alison Langford, Amanda Madden, and Luz Mueller.
The conference was largely a success, with significant positive feedback from attendees, especially with regards to the innovative and hybrid elements of the conference.
This is a reminder that early bird registration at the discounted rates for DH2024 will close on May 15th. Conference registration at regular rates will remain open until July 15th. To avoid spamming people’s inboxes, conference update emails will be sent to registered conference participants only going forward.
If you are not registered and wish to see future updates on the conference, please go to: https://dh2024.adho.org/ for the latest information. Both our hotel blocks are currently open and the website also has useful information about travel and the local area.
We are also seeking student volunteers to support DH2024 online and in person. Student volunteers will receive compensated registration for their time served volunteering at the conference. For more information or to sign-up as a student volunteer, please go here: https://form.jotform.com/240815298901056
You can also now upload your updated, final, and “camera-ready” abstracts in Conftool. For the final uploads we will use DH Convalidator, which will generate a .docx or .odt template for you to enter your final abstract.
Use your Conftool login for DH2024 and the tool will automatically show you the contributions which you have submitted as an author.
Please keep in mind that only the submitting author of a contribution will be able to run this process!
DH Convalidator will then provide you with the templates. When filling out these templates, please stick to the paragraph styles provided by the templates and carefully read (and follow) the text submission guidelines.
Once you are done, please upload the thus created file into DH Convalidator again, which will then generate a standardized TEI-XML document that we can process further.
Download the .dhc file
Upload it in Conftool using the “Final Upload” link next to your submission.
Please make sure to observe the word limits for the submission types:
Posters: up to 750 words
Short Presentations: up to 750 words
Long Presentations: up to 1000 words
Panels: up to 500 words + 250 words for each individual panelist’s paper
Workshops and Tutorials: up to 1500 words
References/Bibliography do NOT count towards the word limits!
Registration is open for DH2024! To register for the conference, you will need to complete two steps:
Log into the ConfTool for DH2024 and fill out the registration form. Participants who created an account to submit a proposal should use the account. You will be able to edit your free registration add-ons (swag, workshops, tours) even after you submit your registration.
Pay for your registration through GMU’s Mason Marketplace. The link is provided to you within the ConfTool system and in the ConfTool confirmation email.
After you register, you will still be able to log back into ConfTool to edit some aspects of your registration, such as adding and dropping workshops, noting whether you plan to attend the opening registration, opting in or out of the conference swag bag, and adding or dropping tours. Please do update your registration as needed, to ensure that we have accurate numbers for planning purposes. In particular, some of the tours only allow for a restricted number of participants–if you end up being unable to attend, modifying your registration will open up that space for someone else.
The fully scheduled conference program is expected to become available in late May. In the meantime, you can still visit our website to see the general outline of the program, information on our three keynote speakers, and a list of the pre-conference workshops.
As you make you travel plans, be sure to check out our website pages on accessibility, transportation and accommodations to help you figure out how to get to and where to stay in the area. Of the two official conference hotels, the Hilton Arlington hotel block is already open for registrations and the conference rate is good for August 6-10th. This hotel is right on top of a metro stop and the closest hotel to campus. The Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston hotel block will open soon, with extra days. It is slightly further away but at a lower rate.
We will once again be using the WHOVA conference app, which will become available for registered attendees in June.
The notifications for acceptances have been sent out on March 5th. Congratulations to all who will be joining us in August. Thank you to the Program Committee members who have taken the time and energy to make difficult decisions during what we are calling, the Secondary Review process.
We received a large number of proposals (543) of excellent quality. The acceptance scores are as follows:
– Long Papers: 94 of 152 submissions accepted (61%)
– Short Papers: 120 of 214 submissions accepted (56%)
– Posters: 77 of 112 submissions accepted (69%)
– Panels: 28 of 40 submissions accepted (70%)
– Workshops: 15 of 22 submissions accepted (68%)
The overall acceptance rate (across all submission formats) is 72%.
Image Credits: Dr. Andy Janco
One of the most important tasks of the PC is to make a determination to accept or reject submissions where reviewers have differing opinions. This document outlines our approach to this important task and documents our processes.
In line with Alex Wermer-Colan’s work and Roopika Risam’s documentation for ACH Conference, we aimed to conduct manual qualitative analysis of each of the reviews in January-February before we come to a final list for accepted submissions. The review response phase is not in the timeline of events this time around, in favor of the qualitative analysis of reviews approach. We want to be mindful of the labor that reviewers are volunteering for the DH community, as we deliberate on the acceptances. The number of submissions’ reviews to be evaluated also was manageable since it is back to the scale of the pre-pandemic conference this year (https://dh2024.adho.org/dh2024-submissions/)
The intention with the Secondary review process was to exert qualitative as well as quantitative evaluation of the reviews. Conftool allows for sorting by the average of the points given for each submission, as well as the consensus span score that indicates the differing opinions between reviewers. While this was the jumping off point for the higher level view of the submissions, the PC was asked to go through a number of submissions by reviews each. Similar to the review process, we tried our best to match the multilingual secondary reviews for the submissions with PCs who were knowledgeable of the language and the subject matter as much as possible. Submissions which did not have abstracts, file uploads, or incomplete information were filtered out of this process. These were often in the lower bound (red) in the sorting. PC decisions were especially important for the submissions placed in the middle in the yellow. The steps included making note of the new review criteria, submission type, and making comments on the Conftool Online Forum for the Program Committee. We developed a vocabulary for evaluating reviews in Subject Header of Online Forum Board:
AGREE WITH (AW)
DISQUALIFIED (DQ)
TIE-BREAKING (TB)
When reviewer gives informed opinion and PC member agrees with that opinion: Agree with Thoughtful Reviewer identified by their Reviewer Number
When a reviewer does not provide enough information to be a valid review: Disqualified review
When a reviewer is overly critical to a disproportionate degree: Disqualified review
When all reviewers’ reviews are disqualified: PC Reviews
When 2 reviewers vs 1 reviewer: Tie-breaker
When reviews are not clear in the content of their review: PC goes in reviews the submission itself & makes a decision
For example:
Dr. Andrew Janco has created a new message to contribution ###: "DH Submission ###"
Created at: 30th Jan 2024, 08:40:52am
Vote: Maybe reject
AW 1,2; TB 29-70
Review 3 overly-generous, 4 critical, 1+2 note lack of specifics
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Acceptance numbers
A note to those who received rejections: It is always unpleasant to receive notes on our work. We recognize that peer review is a hard process. We appreciate you sharing your work with the Digital Humanities community. While we’re unable to change decisions, we highly encourage you to submit to ACH and / or submit again in the future, making note of your specific considerations.
We’re delighted to announce that acceptances for the DH2024 conference have been sent. Check your email (and your spam filters) and keep an eye out for a forthcoming post from the PC chairs with more details and data on the program committee’s work.
Registration for the conference is expected to open March 18th. Registration will be handled through ConfTool (so if you applied to be on the program, you already have an account) with payments made through GMU’s Mason Marketplace. Early bird registration will run until May 15th and regular registration will be open until July 15th. If you need a letter of invitation, please email us at dh2024@gmu.edu with your name as you wish it to appear in the letter and will we send you one promptly.
The two conference hotels are the Hilton Arlington ($176/night + 8.25% taxes) and the Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston ($149/night + 8.25% taxes). Instructions on how to reserve your room at the conference rate will be posted to this website by mid March.
We’re also looking ahead to an exciting social program. More details on how to register for tours will be forthcoming but just to give you a sneak peek: online participants can join our virtual private tour of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, while onsite tour options range from wining & dining around town to a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture or the newly reopened Folger Shakespeare Library.
But there’s no reason to let the fun stop at formal tours! We are building a long list of self-guided tours and recommendations of “must see spots” around town for your free time. Check out the DC National Mall using RRCHNM’s Histories of the National Mall project as your guide or tour the famous Arlington National Cemetery. The list will include details like location, cost (mostly free!), and other logistics you might need to know to visit some of the more restricted DC area tourist draws like the White House and Pentagon.
The fun will also continue online using the same Whova app as DH2023. Who’s up for another photo competition???
Lastly, while you’re making your travel plans, be sure to check out our page on transportation options with information on everything from which airport you want to fly into to the expected costs of local transportation to/from the airport and around town.
DH 2024 is just six months away, so we hope this logistics update will help you as you begin making your summer travel plans.
Thanks to everyone who participated in our peer review process this winter.
The DH2024 Program Committee would like to thank the 585 volunteers who wrote reviews. This work is essential to the success of the conference. Without your input, we could not create the conference program.
Each submission was assigned an average of four reviewers. The highest score was 98.7, and the lowest was 0. The average score was 75.
Please keep in mind that we are not using the scores alone to determine the acceptance or rejection of a submission. We are currently starting the qualitative process of reviewing the reviews. Notifications of acceptance will be sent on March 5th.
We’re also excited to announce the official registration rates for DH 2024.
Online
Early Bird On-Site
Regular On-Site
ADHO member
$100
$225
$325
non-ADHO member
$150
$325
$425
ADHO student
$50
$100
$150
non-ADHO student
$75
$125
$175
Early bird registration will open in mid March and run until May 15th.
Regular registration will be open until July 15th.
Anyone who originally registers for on-site attendance, but later needs to switch their registration to online attendance, may do so and receive a refund of the difference in registration rates up to July 15th.
If you need a letter of invitation, please email us at dh2024@gmu.edu with your name as you wish it to appear in the letter and will we send you one promptly.
Thank you again to everyone who submitted proposals or helped in the peer review process. The Program Committee is now deliberating on the program and we look forward to seeing the results of all your hard work.
This is a preview of the longer Nov/Dec update that will come next week, but we wanted to make sure everyone heard the good news that the CFP deadline was extended to Sunday, December 10th, 11:59pm EST! Review assignments will still go out circa December 18th.
Check back here for more information on the reviewing process and conference updates next week.
We want to thank the Program Committee (PC), especially PC Chairs Andrew Janco & Jajwalya Karajgikar, for all their hard work on the CFP. We’re all excited to build on the work of DH2023 and bring you ADHO’s first intentionally hybrid conference. You can present your work onsite or online, as well as try out our experimental “flipped” format where you pre-record your presentations as videos that other attendees watch before the conference, enabling you to use all of your synchronous time for Q&A and live discussion.
You will notice the CFP does not indicate a conference language. There is no official language of the United States, although English is currently our dominant language. In that same spirit, there will not be an official language of DH2024, though we recognize that English is currently the dominant language of our international DH community. We welcome both proposals and presentations in any of the official ADHO languages of English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. We also would like to take this moment to thank the people named at the bottom of the various CFPs for their translation efforts.
ConfTool will open for proposal submissions on November 1st and the deadline for submissions is December 5th. After that point, we will need reviewers! A call has already gone out to past reviewers so please check your spam filters and sign up to review.
ADHO has revised its Code of Conduct to cover all aspects of DH2024, including online conference activities. This means reviewing activities will be subject to the ADHO Code of Conduct. The expanded Code of Conduct will be available at https://adho.org/code-of-conduct/ by December 1st.
And last but never least, we’re looking for keynote nominations! We would love it if the keynotes could speak to the conference theme of “Reinvention and Responsibility.” In keeping with our hybrid modality, speakers can be onsite or online, so feel free to nominate people who would make great speakers even if they can’t travel. The PC is accepting nominations at http://bit.ly/dh24-keynote
We’re hard at work preparing for next summer’s DH 2024! At the end of last month, we did a tour of some of the spaces that we’ll be using on our Arlington campus and wanted to give you all a sneak peek as well.
Our classroom spaces are all fully set up with the technology necessary to support hybrid sessions and have sections of physically accessible seating that can accommodate wheelchairs and scooters.
There is plenty of hangout space for coffee/tea breaks, including open spaces for large groups as well as smaller areas (with a variety of seating types) for quieter socializing. For those of us who are still taking precautious against infectious disease, we have a great outdoor space in the adjacent plaza, which has also been reserved for the conference.
And last, but certainly not least, we will have some special-purpose spaces set up and participants will be able to take advantage of existing purposed spaces such as the nursing mother’s room on the 3rd floor of the conference venue.
Have any accessibility concerns about DH 2024? Please feel free to contact Jessica Otis jotis2@gmu.edu
The LO Chair was Jessica Otis and the LO team additionally consisted of Bridget Bukovich, Donna Baker, Kristin Jacobsen, Alison Langford, Amanda Madden, and Luz Mueller.
