#AAS2019 Special Event: Digital Technologies Expo

In recent decades, increasing numbers of scholars have explored ways to utilize new technological tools as they carry out and present academic research. In recognition of the growing prominence of such work in the field of Asian Studies, the AAS has introduced a new event at the 2019 annual conference in Denver: the Digital Technologies Expo (DTE).

Nearly 50 members of an informal Digital Technologies Working Group met at the 2018 conference in Washington, D.C. and put together a proposal for the DTE, which the AAS Board of Directors then approved on a trial basis last May. Presentations at the 2019 DTE primarily come from attendees at last year’s working group meeting who have volunteered to share their research with the AAS conference audience; if the event continues in future years, there will be an open call for proposals and selection process.

The format of the DTE is modeled on that of the highly successful Film Expo that the AAS and Asian Educational Media Service have been running in partnership since 2011. On Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, DTE sessions will take place in Governor’s Square 16 (Plaza Building) at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. Sessions will begin at 9:00am both days, with Friday’s schedule ending at 5:30pm and Saturday’s concluding at 7:00pm. DTE sessions do not take place on the same timetable as regular conference sessions. Please consult the online program or see pages 24-25 in the print program for DTE session times.

There will be three sessions on each day of the DTE, featuring between three and eight presentations per session. Friday’s sessions are “Cyberinfrastructure and Platforms,” “Tools for Text Analysis,” and “Database Building”; on Saturday, the sessions are “Virtual Worlds,” “Social Network Analysis,” and “GIS and Spatial Analysis.” Some DTE presenters will demonstrate how they have carried out research using different technological tools, while others will give brief training sessions in such tools for audience members interested in learning how to employ them in their own work.

Saturday’s DTE program will conclude with an open planning discussion from 5:30 to 7:00pm. Everyone is invited to attend and share their thoughts on prospects for future digital technologies initiatives at the AAS.

The Digital Technologies Expo is open to the public and does not require conference registration.

The AAS thanks the members of the 2019 DTE organizing committee for their work in putting together this event: Peter Bol, Harvard University (chair); Gil Ben-Herut, University of South Florida; Thomas Chandler, Monash University; Mark Ravina, Emory University; and Donald Sturgeon, Harvard University.