Open lecture on Distant Viewing by Dr Lauren Tilton on 5th November @HDSM
We are pleased to announce an upcoming lecture by Dr. Lauren Tilton, introducing new methods for computational image analysis. Lauren will discuss key insights from her open-access book, co-authored with Dr. Taylor Arnold, Distant Viewing: Computational Exploration of Digital Images. This work presents a new theory and methodology for applying computer vision to visual materials, moving beyond traditional annotations to offer fresh perspectives on digital image analysis in cultural research.
Through case studies such as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, advertising, and Dorothea Lange’s photography, Distant Viewing connects film and media studies, data science, and visual culture, providing an accessible framework for interdisciplinary analysis.
The book has been published in open access by the MIT Press and available here
To attend the lecture online, please book your spot here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/distant-viewing-an-open-lecture-by-dr-lauren-tilton-tickets-1063568194099

Lauren Tilton is E. Claiborne Robins Professor of Liberal Arts and Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of Rhetoric and Communications at the University of Richmond. She directs the Distant Viewing Lab and the Center for Liberal Arts and AI. Her research focuses on analyzing, developing, and applying digital and computational methods to the study of 20th and 21st century visual culture with the generous support of the ACLS, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mellon. Her most recent works include the co-authored Distant Viewing (MIT Press, 2023) and edited volume Computational Humanities(Minnesota, 2024). She is currently the co-President of the ACH: Association for Computing in the Humanities, the scholarly association for digital humanities in the United States, and President-Elect of ADHO: Association of Digital Humanities Organizations.
The abstract of the talk is as follows:
How can we draw on fields such as media studies and visual culture studies to understand computer vision? The talk will introduce the concept of distant viewing as a theory. Then, we will turn to how to engage in DV to pursue areas of inquiry in the humanities. Finally, I’ll briefly introduce some latest work with multimodal LLMs.

OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
nadezhdapovroznik (October 30, 2024). Open lecture on Distant Viewing by Dr Lauren Tilton on 5th November @HDSM. HDSM. Retrieved May 16, 2025 from https://hdsm.hypotheses.org/4008