What happens to the letter when writing becomes computational and, from there, when computation becomes generative? Beginning with the apparently simple question of what the letter “A” is, this talk follows the historical concept of the letter through the strange metaphysics of digital writing, suspended as it is among code points, character encodings, glyphs, fonts, bitstreams, tokens, and now AI systems. Along the way, the letter becomes less a stable object than an explosive assemblage of numerical identities, graphical forms, technical standards, and material instantiations.
DH Events at Price Lab
Your gateway to DH events at Penn, this list features events sponsored by both the Price Lab and our many partners at Penn. Register here for any Price Lab event, or click through to the event page for more information. For events from our sponsors, please click through each listing for more information.
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Christopher Jimenez: The Letter A, as in AI
Christopher Jimenez
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Critical Making Working Group
We are a collaborative, interdisciplinary group sharing evolving research encouraging deeper discourse in critical making. We hold biweekly meetings to read relevant literature, discuss methodologies, explore campus resources, and learn by making together. We also hold open making hours to provide a supportive environment for communal making, transferring knowledge, giving feedback, brainstorming, sharing drafts, and peer-reviewing ongoing projects. All are welcome and encouraged to join any time!
Check out our Github repository for more information.
Price Lab for Digital Humanities; The Wolf Humanities Center; The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts; Fisher Fine Arts Library; Penn’s Department of History of Art
Tinkering with Text Technologies: How Pop-Up Books Are Made
Kelli Anderson
In this workshop, graphic designer and paper engineer Kelli Anderson will demystify how pop-up books come together. The workshop will begin with a lecture and Q&A during the morning (10:30am - Noon). During the afternoon session(1pm - 3pm), which is limited to 20 participants, Anderson will lead participants to engage in direct, hands-on building activities. She’ll present her design process for 3-D elements: how to build ‘blanks,’ how to envision 2-D design on 3-D surfaces, how to set up a print file for a dimensional project, and how to most effectively work with a printer. Each participant will receive a kit of laser-cut paper pieces, which we’ll assemble into a “sliceform” pop-up—taken directly from Anderson’s new book, Alphabet in Motion (2025).
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Critical Making Working Group
We are a collaborative, interdisciplinary group sharing evolving research encouraging deeper discourse in critical making. We hold biweekly meetings to read relevant literature, discuss methodologies, explore campus resources, and learn by making together. We also hold open making hours to provide a supportive environment for communal making, transferring knowledge, giving feedback, brainstorming, sharing drafts, and peer-reviewing ongoing projects. All are welcome and encouraged to join any time!
Check out our Github repository for more information.
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Gus Hurwitz
The Law and Tech of AI Ethics: A Perspective
How do technologists think about AI Ethics? Do technologists think about AI Ethics? When technologists think about AI Ethics, are they concerned about ethics or something else? This discussion will explore the particular (and peculiar?) ethical perspectives prevalent in the AI industry, and filter them through the perspective of law and regulation.
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Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Critical Making Working Group
We are a collaborative, interdisciplinary group sharing evolving research encouraging deeper discourse in critical making. We hold biweekly meetings to read relevant literature, discuss methodologies, explore campus resources, and learn by making together. We also hold open making hours to provide a supportive environment for communal making, transferring knowledge, giving feedback, brainstorming, sharing drafts, and peer-reviewing ongoing projects. All are welcome and encouraged to join any time!
Check out our Github repository for more information.
Penn Libraries RDDS Division
Fun with #DHMakes
One of several workshops in the "Digital Humanist's Help Desk" series.
Do you love hands-on crafts? Have you been curious about “digital humanities” and want to learn more? This hour-long workshop will introduce the #DHMakes movement, which combines digital humanities interests with physical making/arts and crafts. We will play with paper and thread to make cool things with data, like zines, bookmarks, and more and learn about the resources on campus to continue making after the workshop is over. Open to all, no previous experience required!
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Critical Making Working Group
We are a collaborative, interdisciplinary group sharing evolving research encouraging deeper discourse in critical making. We hold biweekly meetings to read relevant literature, discuss methodologies, explore campus resources, and learn by making together. We also hold open making hours to provide a supportive environment for communal making, transferring knowledge, giving feedback, brainstorming, sharing drafts, and peer-reviewing ongoing projects. All are welcome and encouraged to join any time!
Check out our Github repository for more information.
Price Lab for Digital Humanities
Douglass Day 2027
Douglass Day is an annual celebration of Frederick Douglass's birthday in which participants from institutions around the country gather in-person and virtually for a transcribe-a-thon of Black historical objects. This year's theme is "A Press of Our Own" and commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Black press. Please join us for an afternoon of community scholarship! Additional details forthcoming.
For more information on the organization, visit douglassday.org.