Fitchburg State University faculty members received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that will allow them to pursue a project that blends computer science, art history and philosophy.
This Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant will fund a project seeking to develop a digital image analysis tool for studying paintings. Once completed, this tool — called WAIVS (Workflows for Analysis of Images and Visual Stylometry) — would touch upon a new research field that intersects digital humanities, empirical aesthetics, and computer science.
“There is a growing interest in applications of data analysis tools within disciplines traditionally associated with the humanities,” said FSU faculty member Catherine Buell, who is part of the team working on the project.
The $40,000 grant is part of $21.1 million in grants announced for 248 humanities projects across the country. Fitchburg Art Museum will contribute to the project by providing access to their digital collection and using WAIVS as an interactive tool in their learning commons exhibitions.
