O'Donnell, Dan
Department Chair/Faculty
- Phone
- (403) 329-2377
- Fax
- (403) 382-7191
- daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca
Office Hours
English; Dutch; French; German; Italian
About Me
I am a Professor and Department Chair of English at the University of Lethbridge, and co-PI of the Humanities Innovation Lab with Barbara Bordalejo. My university website is at http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/.
In the department, I am responsible for teaching most of our courses on Digital Humanities, medieval literature, the History of the Book, History of English, and the English language/grammar. I also share responsibility for our first year introductory course, English 1900.
As a researcher, I work for the most part in the Digital Humanities, focussing particularly on the representation of Cultural Heritage, Globalisation and Diversity Studies, and Scholarly Communication. I am interested in working with graduate students in any aspect of the Digital Humanities, but particularly the above areas. I have served as supervisor or committee member on several M.A./M.Sc. and PhD projects in English, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Computer Science. Recent students have worked on the History of English in Bangladesh, language resources for Punjabi, the ethics of fact checking in Africa, the meaning of love discourse in Chaucer, and Chaucer and gaming. Previous studies by graduate students have included contemporary literature, editorial theory and practice, Cultural Heritage Interpretation, Creative Non-fiction.
I have been active for the last decade or so in academic and research administration and the academic labour movement. I am past president of both the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) and the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), a former chief negotiator for ULFA, a member of the CAUT Bargaining and Organising Committee, and a former director or chair of numerous scholarly societies and research projects: Digital Medievalist, Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (GO::DH), the Canadian Society of Digital Humanities/Société canadienne pour les humanités numériques, Force11, and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). I am Editor in Chief of Digital Studies / Le champ numérique, and former Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Medievalist Journal.
In the department, I am responsible for teaching most of our courses on Digital Humanities, medieval literature, the History of the Book, History of English, and the English language/grammar. I also share responsibility for our first year introductory course, English 1900.
As a researcher, I work for the most part in the Digital Humanities, focussing particularly on the representation of Cultural Heritage, Globalisation and Diversity Studies, and Scholarly Communication. I am interested in working with graduate students in any aspect of the Digital Humanities, but particularly the above areas. I have served as supervisor or committee member on several M.A./M.Sc. and PhD projects in English, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Computer Science. Recent students have worked on the History of English in Bangladesh, language resources for Punjabi, the ethics of fact checking in Africa, the meaning of love discourse in Chaucer, and Chaucer and gaming. Previous studies by graduate students have included contemporary literature, editorial theory and practice, Cultural Heritage Interpretation, Creative Non-fiction.
I have been active for the last decade or so in academic and research administration and the academic labour movement. I am past president of both the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) and the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), a former chief negotiator for ULFA, a member of the CAUT Bargaining and Organising Committee, and a former director or chair of numerous scholarly societies and research projects: Digital Medievalist, Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (GO::DH), the Canadian Society of Digital Humanities/Société canadienne pour les humanités numériques, Force11, and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). I am Editor in Chief of Digital Studies / Le champ numérique, and former Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Medievalist Journal.
Biography
Education
- PhD. Department of English. Yale University (Andrew W. Mellon Fellow; SSHRC Doctoral Fellow; Yale University Fellow). 1996.
- Dissertation Title: "Manuscript Variation in Multiple Recension Old English Poetic Texts: The Technical Problem and Poetical Art."
- Supervisor: Fred C. Robinson.
- Reviewed: Linguistica e Filologia 9 (1999): 156.
- MA. Department of English. Yale University (Andrew W. Mellon Fellow; Yale University Fellow). 1991.
- B.A. (with distinction). St. Michael's College, University of Toronto (Various Prizes). 1989.
- Specialisation: English Language and Literature.
- Minor: Medieval Latin (I also met the requirements for a minor in Celtic Studies).
Languages
- Modern: English (Native); Dutch (fluent L2); French (strong reading, some aural and spoken); German (strong reading, some aural and spoken);
- Medieval: Old English (very strong); Latin (moderate); Old Frisian (moderate); Old Norse (weak); Gothic (weak).
Academic Employment
- Professor of English (Tenured). University of Lethbridge. 2010-.
- Associate Professor of English (Tenured). University of Lethbridge. 2002-2010.
- Assistant Professor of English. University of Lethbridge. 1997-2002.
- Tutor. Department of English and Related Literatures. University of York. 1997.
- Visiting Assistant Professor. Department of English. Louisiana State University. 1994-1995.
- Teaching Fellow, Department of English. Yale University. 1991-1992.
- Research Assistant. Dictionary of Old English. University of Toronto. 1987-1989.
Current Research
| Title |
Location |
Principal Investigator | Co-Researchers | Grant Agency |
Grant Amount |
Grant Time Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investigation Keying Discounts as a Membership Benefit for the TEI | Daniel O'Donnell | John Unsworth, University of Illinois | Mellon | $35,000 USD | 1 year | |
| Investigation Keying Discounts as a Membership Benefit for the TEI | Daniel O'Donnell | John Unsworth, University of Illinois | ||||
| The Visionary Cross Project | Scotland, England, Italy and Lethbridge | Daniel O'Donnell | Catherine Karkov, Leeds; Roberto Rosselli Del Turco, Turin; James Graham, U of L; Wendy Osborn, U of L | |||
| The Visionary Cross Project | Scotland, England, Italy and Lethbridge | Daniel O'Donnell | Catherine Karkov, Leeds; Roberto Rosselli Del Turco, Turin; James Graham, U of L; Wendy Osborn, U of L | University of Lethbridge CREDO | $23,000 | 2 years |
Publications
Book
- Cædmon's Hymn: A Multimedia Study, Edition and Archive. SEENET A.7 (Cambridge: Medieval Academy of America and D.S. Brewer, 2005). xxii + 261 pp. + CD-ROM.
- Prize: Honourable Mention, 2007 Modern Language Association Prize for a Distinguished Scholarly Edition (2005-2006).
- Reviews: e-data&research 1 (2006): 1; Medium Aevum 75 (2006): 356-357; Old English Newsletter 40.1 (2006); Speculum 82 (2007): 223-224; The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 58 (2007): 120-121; Early Medieval Europe 15 (2007): 466-469; Textual Cultures 2 (2007): 139-42; JEGP 107.2 (2008): 248-251; Digital Medievalist 5 (2009). The edition is also one of two discussed at length by Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe in "The Architecture of Old English Editions," Probable Truth: Editing Medieval Texts from Britain in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Vincent Gillespie and Anne Hudson, 73-90. Turnhout: Brepols.
Journal editorship
- Digital Studies/Le champ numérique vv. 3 (2012-). Editor-in-Chief. SSHRC ASJ funded (2014-).
- Digital Medievalist vv. 5- (2009-). Associate Editor.
- Digital Medievalist vv. 1-2 (2005-2006). Founding Editor-in-Chief.
Selected articles (2005-2015)
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul, Heather Hobma, Sandra Cowan, Gillian Ayers, Jessica Bay, Marinus Swanepoel, Wendy Merkley, Kelaine Devine, Emma Dering, Inge Genee. 2015. "Aligning Open Access Publication with the Research and Teaching Missions of the Public University: The Case of the Lethbridge Journal Incubator (If 'if's and 'and's were pots and pans)." Journal of Electronic Publishing 18.3. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0018.309
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul, Alex Gil, Katherine Walters, Neil Fraistat. Forthcoming. "Digital Humanities in a Global Context." Blackwell Companion to the Digital Humanities.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2014. "The Credit Line." Digital Humanities Now, Editors' Choice, , July. http://digitalhumanitiesnow.org/2014/07/editors-choice-the-credit-line/.
- Leoni, Chiara, Marco Callieri, Matteo Dellepiane, Daniel Paul O'Donnell, Roberto Rosselli Del Turco, Roberto Scopigno. 2014. "The Dream and the Cross: a 3D scanning project to bring 3D content in a digital edition." Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2013. "'I certainly have subjects in my mind': The Diary of Anne Frank as Bildungsroman." Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies 32: 49-88. http://www.caans-acaen.ca/Journal/issues_online/Volume_32_Issue_2_2011/O%27Donnell%20CJNS%2032-2%20pp%2049-88.pdf
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2012. "'There's No Next about It': Stanley Fish, William Pannapacker, and the Digital Humanities as Paradiscipline." Digital Humanities Now, Editors' Choice, September. http://digitalhumanitiesnow.org/2012/09/editors-choice-theres-no-next-about-it-stanley-fish-william-pannapacker-and-the-digital-humanities-as-paradiscipline-dpod-blog/.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2012. "Move Over: Learning to Read (and Write) with Novel Technology." Scholarly and Research Communication 3.4. http://www.src-online.ca/index.php/src/article/view/68
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2010. "Different Strokes, Same Folk: Designing the Multi-form Digital Edition." Literature Compass. 7.2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2009.00683.x
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2009. "Byte me: Technological Education and the Humanities." Heroic Age 12. http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/12/em.php
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2009. "Back to the future: What digital editors can learn from print editorial practice." Literary and Linguistic Computing 24: 113-125.
- Lee, Stuart and Daniel Paul O'Donnell. 2009. "From Manuscript to Computer." Pp. 253-284. Gale R. Owen-Crocker, ed. Working with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts. Exeter: Exeter UP.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2008. "Resisting The Tyranny of the Screen, or, Must a Digital Edition be Electronic?" Heroic Age 11. http://www.heroicage.org/issues/11/em.php
- Bodard, Gabriel and Daniel Paul O'Donnell. 2008. "We are all together: On publishing a Digital Classicist issue of the Digital Medievalist journal." Digital Medievalist 4.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2007. "Disciplinary impact and technological obsolescence in digital medieval studies." In: A Companion to Digital Literary Studies. Ed. Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman. Cambridge: Blackwell.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2007. "Material differences: The place of Cædmon's Hymn in the history of Anglo-Saxon vernacular poetry." In: Cædmon's Hymn and material culture in the world of Bede. Ed. Allen J. Frantzen and John Hines. Morgantown VA: West Virginia University Press. 15-50.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2007. "If I were "You": How academics can stop worrying and learn to love "the encyclopedia that anyone can edit." Heroic Age 10. http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/em.html.
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2005. "The Ghost in the Machine: Revisiting an Old Model for the Dynamic Generation of Digital Editions." HumanIT 8.1: 51-71. Commissioned reprint (with retrospective introduction) of my 1998 webpage, "The Electronic Cædmon's Hymn: Editorial Method."
- O'Donnell, Daniel Paul. 2005. "O Captain! My Captain! Using technology to guide readers through an electronic edition." Heroic Age 8. http://www.heroicage.org/issues/8/em.html.
Degrees
PhD (1996), Yale University, Department of English; MA (1991), Yale University, Department of English; BA with Distinction (1989), St. Michael's College, University of Toronto (English Literature with minors in Medieval Latin and Celtic Studies)
Research Interests
Current projects
- The Visionary Cross Project (www.visionarycross.org). This is an international project studying the "Visionary Cross" cultural matrix in Anglo-Saxon England, particularly as it is represented in the Ruthwell Cross, Bewcastle Cross, Brussels Cross, and the Vercelli Book poems The Dream of the Rood and Elene. We are currently in the process of digitizing the Ruthwell Cross, funded by SSHRC and the AHRC.
- The Lethbridge Journal Incubator (http://www.uleth.ca/lib/incubator/ and http://www.journalincubator.org/). This project addresses the problem of sustainability in the publication of scholarly journals by aligning its costs with university educational missions. Work on this project involves developing robust and generalisable XML-based workflows for journal production and training material for student assistants. The result is an open source production process and business model that will able to encourage academics to experiment with new forms of scholarly publication.
- Global Outlook::Digital Humanities (GO::DH http://globaloutlookdh.org/). This is a Special Interest Group dedicated to bridging the divide that separates high income economies from mid- and low-income economies in the practice of Digital Humanities.
- Force11 (http://Force11.org) is a community of scholars, librarians, archivists, publishers and research funders that has arisen organically to help facilitate the change toward improved knowledge creation and sharing. Individually and collectively, we aim to bring about a change in modern scholarly communications through the effective use of information technology.
Selected funding (2005-2015)
Awarded only. PI unless otherwise noted. Excludes internal awards under $5,000 (except the Teaching Development Fund) and internal student fellowships.
- The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. (Organisation Vice President) Force11.org US$424,000 2015
- Mitacs GlobalLink summer student programme (for 2015): Visionary Cross project. In-kind 2015
- Gaming and Art History. University of Lethbridge CREDO. Co-applicant. $22,642 2015-2017
- University of Lethbridge CFI Allotment. What goes around: The Visionary Cross Digital Library. $16,500 2015-2019
- CFI John R. Evans Leaders Fund - Partnerships. What goes around: The Visionary Cross Digital Library. $29,000 2015-2019
- SSHRC Insight. What Goes Around: Editing the Anglo-Saxon Visionary Cross Cultural Matrix. $233,224 2105-2019
- SSHRC Aid to scholarly Journals. $46,225 2014-2017
- The New Humanities Project. University of Lethbridge, Internal SSHRC. $6,500 2014
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Co-applicant (Organisation Vice President). Force11.org. US$150,000 2014-2015
- DigiCultH: Digital Cultural Heritage Objects for Meaningful Scholarly Engagement. GRAND Startup Funding. Co-PI. $9,640 2014-2015
- SSHRC Insight. Canterbury Tales Project, Phase 2. Co-applicant. $471,000 2013-2017
- "The unessay: A contructivist approach to developing student writing (formalisation and dissemination)." Teaching Development Fund. $2,700 2013-2014
- Global Outlook::Digital Humanities. Internal SSHRC. $5,000 2012
- SSHRC SRG. Visionary Cross Project. Principle Investigator. $62,430 2010-2014
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Unrestricted Research Funds. $5,000 2010
- Blackfoot digital dictionary. University of Lethbridge CREDO. Coapplicant. $20,000 2009-2011
- Graduate RAShip (Lethbridge Journal Incubator). University of Lethbridge, School of Graduate Studies. (2 awards of $7300). $14,600 (in-kind) 2009-2010
- Visionary Cross. University of Lethbridge CREDO. $23,000 2008-2010
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Scholarly Communications Program. US$30,723 2008
- SSHRC ITST. $27,490 2005-2006
Creative Works
- Editor, Producer, and Technician for "Within the Hollow Crown: A Sad Story of the Death of Kings." A Radio Adaptation of William Shakespeare's Richard II and Henry IV parts 1 and 2. Adapted for Radio and Produced by Dan O'Donnell. Directed by Ralph Joneikeiss. Technical Production, Dan O'Donnell. Broadcast on CIUT-FM (Toronto), March 22 and April 5, 1987. (http://bit.ly/a6wqIh).
In The Media
Journalism by or about me
- "Historic cross given close-up treatment." Annandale observer (Scotland). Friday, April 20, 2012. p. 6.
- "Centuries-old tale gets modern twist." Dumfries and Galloway Standard. Friday, April 20, 2012. p. 9.
- "Why isn't the Internet Obsolete." Lethbridge Herald, Saturday, 18 February 2012. http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/public-professor/why-isnt-the-internet-obsolete-21812.html
- "Gun-list debate way off target." Globe and Mail. Opinion. September 14, 2010. A15. http://bit.ly/cxjGGZ.
- "The copy-and-paste generation." National Post. Opinion. September 7, 2010. A15. http://bit.ly/bMl5Nw.
- "Humanities, not science, key to new web frontier." Edmonton Journal. Technology. July 21, 2010. http://bit.ly/aApodN.
- "More Research Money Needed For Social Science & Humanities." [radio broadcast]. Commentary. CBC Radio One. Broadcast March 15, 2004. Transcript available at: http://bit.ly/akgKs9.
- "Restoring Pages to a Sacred Text [The Diary of Anne Frank]." Globe and Mail. Tuesday November 17, 1998. Arts and Leisure, pp. A17-A18.
Interviews with me
- Priego, Ernesto, and Daniel Paul O'Donnell. 2013. "Bringing Diversity of Experience Together: An Interview with Daniel O'Donnell." 4Humanities. Accessed May 9. http://4humanities.org/2013/05/interview-daniel-o-donnell/. Also translated into Spanish (http://4humanities.org/2013/06/diversidad-y-experiencia-una-entrevista-con-daniel-odonnell/) and Japanese (http://www.jadh.org/godh).
- My article on the "Cut and Paste Generation" (National Post) was the subject of a television interview for Shaw, Lethbridge. September 22, 2010.
- My article "Gun-list debate way off target" (Globe) was the subject of a radio interview on the CBC Radio One National show, Cross-Country Checkup. September 19, 2010. http://bit.ly/cFsK8B Podcast: http://bit.ly/d1EN3h (at about 32')
- My article "Gun-list debate way off target" (Globe) was the subject of a radio interview on the CBC Radio One (Winnepeg) morning show, Information Radio. September 15, 2010.
- My article on the "Cut and Paste Generation" (National Post) was the subject of a radio interview on CFAX 1070. September 8, 2010.
- My work on academics and the Wikipedia was the subject of an interview and call-in session on the CBC Radio One (British Columbia) programme BC Almanac, March 3, 2008.
- My work on academics and the Wikipedia was the subject of an interview on the CBC Radio One (Alberta) programme Wild Rose Country, February 12, 2008.
- My work on Cædmon's Hymn and for the TEI was the subject of an interview on the CBC Radio One programme Wild Rose Country, December 21, 2006.
- My teaching on media was the focus of a Lethbridge Herald story on media/military relations in Gulf War. "Iraq War Coverage More Balanced than 1991: Prof." Lethbridge Herald, April 3, 2003.
Research Areas
Theories of Markup
Economics of the Digital Humanities
Scholarship and Web 2.0
Multimedia and editorial theory
the Visionary Cross in Anglo-Saxon England
Previous Research Areas
Manuscript reception
Anglo-Saxon Scribal Practice
Cædmon's Hymn
Editorial Theory and Practice
Digital Humanities
Anglo-Saxon Scribal Practice
Cædmon's Hymn
Editorial Theory and Practice
Digital Humanities
Languages
English; Dutch; French; German; Italian