THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
Issue 93, Volume 79
N E W S PA P E R
O F
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
H O U S T O N
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
TECHNOLOGY
Programs unite for digital humanities Javi Salazar Staff writer
Initiatives in the rapidly growing field of digital humanities are popping up in universities across Texas, and UH will host a meeting for a state-wide digital humanities consortium. The Texas Digital Humanities Consortium will hold its inaugural Texas Digital Humanities Conference from April 10 to 12 at UH. The consortium’s website names UH, Rice University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas, University of North Texas and UT-Arlington as founding members.
“Traditional humanities have always sought to answer questions about things such as art and literature,” said Casey Dué Hackney, professor and director of the Classical Studies program. “Digital humanities seeks to use techniques derived from computer science to answer new questions, whereas before, scholars of the humanities would be limited (to) their own knowledge and readings they had done throughout the course of their life.” Two examples of computer
science-based techniques involve searching for textual patterns in immense digital archives and using algorithms that span information systems across the globe. “For example, UH just joined this organization called HathiTrust, which has access to over 11 million digitized volumes,” said CLASS postdoctoral fellow Cameron Buckner. “Our (Consortium) conference’s opening keynote lecturer, Erez Lieberman Aiden, was a part of founding the digital humanities tool Google Ngram Viewer, a tool available for everyone
to easily use. We at CLASS welcome all undergraduates and graduates to attend the keynote lecture.” Digital humanities project leaders tend to be experts in one field — the humanities or computer science — who have picked up an interest in the other. Another model of work is collaboration between a humanities expert and someone skilled in computer science, according to Hackney. “Humanists are getting trained in computer science techniques, whether it’s learning something basic like XML or MarkUp to actually learning how
BASEBALL
to code and learning how to use algorithms,” Hackney said. “There are even ‘camps,’ or gatherings, not conferences per se, that humanists attend to pick and learn specific computer science and/or information system technology skills.” The main issues facing digital humanities initiatives include managing multi-disciplinary expertise and making the sheer amount of raw information accessible and useful to the general public, Buckner said. DIGITAL continues on page 3
ENERGY
Cougars capture elusive Silver Glove Law prof tackles climate change Michelle Iracheta Contributing writer
over here for the first time in a long time.” The turning point of the game occurred early by baseball standards, when, after Rice scored two runs in the top of the first, UH got a second chance in the bottom of the
Climate change is a controversial topic in the political scene, but in scientific communities and in the legal field, climate change is undeniable. Law professor Tracy Hester deals with climate-change issues and environmental law on a daily basis, is a proponent of emerging technologies and climate change research and has written numerous publications on the subject. T h e White House recently announced the development of a new website Hester designed to monitor the effects of climate change and its impact on American communities. Hester said there are a number of “irreducible axioms” in regard to climate change that he wants to bring awareness to and instill in his students. “Virtually every climatologist will agree that climate change is occurring. We currently do not have law written specifically to address
GLOVE continues on page 8
CLIMATE continues on page 3
Freshman third baseman Jordan Stading missed home plate on his first slide after Rice junior catcher John Reeves missed the tag. Stading scampered back before to the bag before Reeves could get him out and scored a run during a 6-2 win that allowed UH to earn the Silver Glove. | Caitlin Hilton/The Daily Cougar Harrison Lee Senior staff writer
When Rice’s Ford Stainback hit a weak ball toward UH’s third baseman, Jordan Stading, the casual relay from third to first finished off the game and brought the Silver Glove back to the University of Houston for the first time in 14 years.
Then came the audible bedlam. The yelling and waving of skyward-extended paws against the backdrop of a scoreboard that read 6-2 in UH’s favor was the reaction to UH’s 20th win of the season against No. 10 Rice. “This team’s got a lot of heart, and this meant a lot to them
tonight. You can downplay it all you want, but it’s a big deal,” said head coach Todd Whitting. “It’s hung over our head for a while, and I’m really happy for our kids and our fans. The fans have been wanting this for a long time, and I’m proud for this group that they get to bring that trophy back