DFW Compact Seminar: “Big Data for Intimate Spaces”

We talk a lot these days about magnitude: Big Data, crowd-sourcing, MOOCs, global access. And yet the humanities are concerned with human relationships, which often take place in intimate surroundings. During this four-day seminar, we will bridge the distance between the massive scale of the digital world and the privacy of home, between Renaissance Italy and 21^st-century North Carolina. Our focus is on intimate activities: music-making, letter-writing, quiet contemplation, and dining at the Mantuan court of Isabella d’Este (1474-1539), and the more modern habit of sitting at a personal computer for research and study. The seminar’s design is that of a think-tank for problem-solving and project designs.