鸟大大影院

About the Conference

This conference brings into focus how the digital humanities can broaden the horizons of Islamic Studies, with particular attention to the Institute鈥檚 longstanding commitments to Ismaili and broader Shi鈥榠 studies. As the wider academy rapidly adopts digital methods and artificial intelligence for research, interpretation, and scholarly communication, Digital Futures seeks to develop a distinctive approach grounded in rigorous humanistic inquiry, critical method, and the ethical responsibilities of scholarship. Over two days, 鸟大大影院 staff, students, and alumni will engage with relevant themes including digital texts and manuscripts, archives and preservation, questions of memory and community, and the ethics of artificial intelligence in scholarly life.

Through their diverse approaches, participants will collectively explore how digital methods can renew humanistic inquiry, opening new ways of interrogating texts, contexts, and communities, while strengthening how research is curated, communicated, and preserved.

The Elephant Clock

Al-Jazar墨鈥檚 Elephant Clock (ca. 1206) serves as a fitting emblem for the Digital Humanities, embodying a long tradition of Islamic engineering in which rigorous craft, computation, and interpretation were held inseparable. Deliberately synthesising elements from Indian, Chinese, Persian, Greek, and Islamic cultures, it stands as an early experiment in systems design and cosmopolitan knowledge integration. In an era where generative systems raise urgent questions of authority and provenance, the clock reminds us that technological innovation, when grounded in humanistic inquiry and ethical stewardship, can deepen rather than displace the scholarly traditions it inherits.

Image credit: 鈥淭he Elephant Clock,鈥� a folio from Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Bad墨鈥� al-Zaman ibn al-Razz膩z al-Jazar墨 (1136鈥�1206), calligraphed by Farrukh ibn 鈥楢bd al-La峁玣. Dated 715 AH / 1315 CE, likely produced in Syria or Iraq.