Instructors
Lisa Baer-Tsarfati (she/her | University of Guelph)'s doctoral research examines how authority, legitimacy, and moral judgment are constructed and enforced through language, focusing on early modern Scotland. The project combines close reading and discourse analysis with a digital humanities pre-study using corpus analysis and semantic modelling to recover historically specific meanings from within textual environments. Alongside their doctoral work, she has developed a focused body of self-directed and applied work on AI ethics, data governance, and responsible technology use. This includes a forthcoming peer-reviewed chapter on feminist epistemologies, AI, and digital humanities with De Gruyter; public writing on AI, pedagogy, and governance; and applied consulting and policy work in industry and civic-tech contexts. Lisa is teaching Humanities Pedagogy in the Age of AI: Critical Frameworks & Practical Strategies
Jon Bath (he/him | University of Saskatchewan)'s field of specialization intersects between digital humanities, graphic design, the visual arts, and the creation and use of textual objects. Despite their degrees in English Literature studies, Bath studies the visual appearance of books, and other textual forms including video games and mobile applications, and how their forms influence the way these “texts” are received and used by various communities. Bath is also deeply invested in ensuring that research outputs created by artists and scholars are available and beneficial to the publics we serve, and to breaking down the divide between academia and broader publics through research creation and knowledge co-creation methodologies. Jon is co-teaching Introduction to Database Design.
Ahlam Bavi (she/her | University of Regina) is an industrial designer, digital artist, and design educator specializing in digital design, cultural heritage preservation and accessibility. With expertise in 3D technologies, computational generative design, and digital humanities research, she's dedicated to making heritage more accessible, particularly for Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities. As a visual artist, she utilizes 3D printing to craft captivating sculptures, while as an educator, she empowers students with digital media and gamification skills, employing creative thinking and user-centred design methods. Through innovative approaches like 3D printing and interactive media, Ahlam fosters inclusivity and engagement among diverse audiences, striving for a world without barriers. Ahlam is teaching UX for Digital Humanities: Designing Inclusive and Engaging User Experiences.
Danica Evering (they/them | McMaster University) is a Research Data Management Specialist grounded in curiosity and a deep commitment to ethics. Danica helps students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. With an MA in Media Studies, Danica fosters active interest in RDM across disciplines, with a knack for engaging researchers who might not even realize they have data to manage. Outside of work they sing in a choir, play PC games, maintain an art writing practice, grow a garden, contribute Wikipedia articles, and run. Danica will be co-teaching Intro to Soundscapes: Listening, Scoring, Field Recording, and Remixing.
Arun Jacob (he/him | University of Toronto) is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Information. Arun’s work unites media genealogy, intersectional feminist media studies and critical university studies to explore how contemporary university data management techniques and information management systems shape our socio-cultural relations, experiences, and knowledge. Arun’s publications have appeared in Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities (IDEAH), Digital Studies/Le Champ Numérique, The College Quarterly and Alternative Historiographies of the Digital Humanities. Arun is co-teaching Dead Media, Living Data: Hacking the Archive.
Diane Jakacki (she/her | Bucknell University) is Digital Scholarship Coordinator and Associated Faculty in Comparative and Digital Humanities at Bucknell University. She researches DH pedagogy and early modern drama, chairs the Board of the Text Encoding Initiative, and directs the REED London project on CWRC as well as the Bucknell installation of the Linked Editing Academic Framework. Diane is teaching TEI and Digital Edition Production with LEAF Commons.
Yadira Lizama-Mué (she/her | Western University) is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of Languages and Cultures. Her teaching and research focus on the hands-on application of AI and computational methods in the humanities. She regularly teaches practice-based Digital Humanities courses that introduce scholars to programming approaches for working with text, structured data, images, sound, maps, and networks. Yadira’s research applies AI-driven and agent-based methods to cultural analysis, peace research, and digital humanities, emphasizing ethical, critical, and imaginative uses of emerging technologies. Yadira is teaching Building Multimodal Generative AI Agents for Humanities.
Kim Martin (she/her | University of Guelph) is an Associate Professor in History and Culture & Technology Studies. She works to create a community around digital humanities by organizing workshops, speaker series, and hands-on events (like Programming Historian meet-ups and Wikipedia Edit-a-thons). Martin is the Associate Director of The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration Lab (THINC Lab), a research space in the McLaughlin Library that provides space and expertise for graduate students and faculty working on digital, interdisciplinary projects. Martin's research focuses on serendipity in digital environments, feminist maker-practices, and oral history. Kim is co-teaching Making: A Feminist Praxis (Theme: Refusal and Complaint).
Kim McLeod (she/her | University of Guelph) joined the School of English and Theatre Studies at U of Guelph in 2016 and teaches courses in contemporary performance practices, including devising and approaches to digital performance. Her research focuses on the intersection between political performance and participatory forms of media. Her current book project, Performing Digital: Publics, Politics and Participation (advance contract MQUP) uses performance theory and critical media studies to investigate how live performance and activism can work with new media tools to facilitate political engagement. Kim will be co-teaching Intro to Soundscapes: Listening, Scoring, Field Recording, and Remixing.
Chelsea Miya (she/her | University of Guelph) is an Assistant Professor in the Culture and Technology Studies program and the School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing. Her research focuses on questions of ethics, gender, and sustainability in the context of data cultures and digital design. She is a Research Affiliate of the SpokenWeb Network and a member of Strategies for Intersectional Gender Justice, Networked Action, and Liberation (SIGNAL). You can hear her podcast episodes “Academics on Air” and “Sounds of Data” on the SpokenWeb Podcast as well as the forthcoming Expanded Data podcast. Chelsea will be co-teaching Intro to Soundscapes: Listening, Scoring, Field Recording, and Remixing.
Paula Nunez de Villavicencio (she/her | University of Waterloo) is currently working at the Waterloo's TRuST Network as a Provost Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Her research focuses on the historical and political dimensions of media technology used for the governance, subjectivation, and surveillance of select populations. Her current project investigates trust in artificial intelligence and wearable technologies. Paula is co-teaching Dead Media, Living Data: Hacking the Archive.
Kiera Obbard (she/her | University of Waterloo) is a poet and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo where she studies the feminization and denigration of women’s writing and associated publishing technologies, from the poetess tradition to social media poets. Obbard’s current book project, The Instagram Effect (forthcoming WLU Press), argues against critics who dismiss Instagram poetry for its association with femininity and instead takes Instagram poetry seriously so as to critically evaluate the economic, technological, literary, social, and cultural risks of a globally popular literature being shared and read on third-party proprietary platforms. Kiera is co-teaching Making: A Feminist Praxis (Theme: Refusal and Complaint).
Harvey Quamen (he/him | University of Alberta) is a Professor of English and Digital Humanities and is currently the Academic Director of the Digital Scholarship Centre located in Cameron Library, as well as the President of the Canadian Society for Digital Humanities. Quamen has been a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College, London, and has participated in several large digital humanities research teams, including Editing Modernism in Canada, the Canadian Writers Research Collaboratory, and the Implementing New Knowledge Environments Project. My research interests include "big data" humanities, including text mining, social network analysis, and humanistic data visualization. Harvey is co-teaching Introduction to Database Design.
Subhanya Sivajothy brings a background of research in data justice, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities. She is currently thinking through participatory data design which allows for visualizations that are empowering for the end user. She also has experience in Research Data Management—particularly data cleaning and curation. Subhanya will be co-teaching Intro to Soundscapes: Listening, Scoring, Field Recording, and Remixing.
TIKA is an Academy Award–winning composer, interdisciplinary artist, Creative Wellness practitioner, and Founder/CEO of Iverna Island—an arts innovation and healing-centered production studio. Her work spans film scoring, cultural leadership, community-based arts, somatic practices, and trauma-informed facilitation. She has led workshops, keynotes, and creative wellness sessions across Canada and internationally, including at the University of Alberta, Fyrefly Institute, REKH Conference, and national arts and equity-centered organizations. Her research and teaching foreground Black feminist praxis, embodied storytelling, and community liberation frameworks. TIKA is teaching Rest as Resistance: Embodied Digital Humanities for Collective Liberation, and is also this year's keynote speaker!!!