HKADH 2027 | Model/Making: Toward Generative Humanities
Hong Kong Association for Digital Humanities Annual Conference
Dates: 21–24 January 2027
Host: The Education University of Hong Kong
Contact: hkadh2027@hkadh.org
Important Dates
- Abstract Submission: 1 September 2026
- Decisions: 1 October 2026
- Conference Dates: 21–24 January 2027
About the Conference
The concept of the model has been core to digital humanities, taking shape through standards, statistics, prototypes, and analytical practices. Building on this longstanding tradition, HKADH 2027 explores how digital, computational, and analytical frameworks also become engines for cultural production.
Alongside established analytical practices, the event will highlight emerging horizons coming into view. The theme, Model/Making, expands the discipline by embracing the generative, artistic, and applied dimensions of models and modelling. HKADH 2027 welcomes submissions that explore how models and modelling shape digital humanities as analytical practice, cultural production, artistic experimentation, and applied public work.
Keynote Speakers
Maria Antoniak
University of Colorado Boulder
Research in natural language processing, cultural analytics, healthcare, online communities, and computational humanities.
Hilde De Weerdt
KU Leuven
Research in Chinese history, early modern global history, information history, and digital methods for East Asian texts.
Richard Tzong-Han Tsai
National Central University / National Taiwan University / Academia Sinica
Research in natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and computational language technologies.
Call for Papers
We welcome submissions on all relevant topics and invite different kinds of contributions, including creative work, hands-on workshops, posters, papers, panels, and roundtables.
Areas of Particular Interest
- Generative & Artistic Practices: The use of models to create narratives, music, art, games, data modelling as artistic practice, algorithmic composition, and procedural rhetoric.
- Digital Models & Materialities: Printing, weaving, robotics, VR/AR environments, and storytelling forms.
- Simulations & Performance: Simulations and performances of events, dynamics, and spaces; synthetic data in humanities contexts.
- Archives & Preservation: Archive, heritage, and preservation implications of data models, corpus constructions, metadata standards, semantics, and ontologies.
- Human-AI Collaboration: Collaboration between humans and AI in the production of cultural artifacts, and collaboration between DH practitioners and others within or beyond the academy.
- Theoretical Frameworks: Theoretical lenses on the generative capacities of models, including philosophy of technology, media theory, and infrastructure studies.
- Ethics & Societal Impact: Authorship, ownership, intellectual property, societal impact of data, data modelling, and AI, including reliance or overreliance on generative media in DH contexts.
- Pedagogy: Computational modelling and generative media in humanities curricula.
Submission Types
| Type | Format & Requirements | Abstract Length |
|---|---|---|
| Posters | Presenting work-in-progress and receiving immediate feedback. Full posters should not be submitted at this stage. | 750 words |
| Papers | Research results. Presentations are 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion. | 750 words |
| Workshops | Hands-on demonstrations and exercises involving technology, software tools, and projects (half- or full-day formats). Describe participant contributions and event components. | 1,000 words |
| Roundtables | Expert discussion on a shared topic through a collective submission (60 or 90 minutes). Describe participant contributions and event components. | 1,000 words |
| Organized Panels | Several papers focused on a joint theme through a collective submission (60 or 90 minutes). Include component paper descriptions and an overall summary. | 1,500 words |
| Creative Work | Creative work engaging models, modelling, or digital humanities in any medium. Provide access to at least part of the work (e.g., via a walkthrough video). | 500 words |
Submission Guidelines
- Abstracts and Proceedings: A book of abstracts will be prepared for participants before the event. HKADH 2027 will not publish full proceedings.
- Submission Instructions: Submit by 1 September 2026 via Microsoft CMT. Input your contribution’s title and abstract, then upload a PDF file containing your title, abstract, and contributor name(s) and affiliation(s).
- Reference Sections: Abstracts should ground the contribution in relation to previous work and must be followed by a references section. References are not included in the word count.
- Evaluation Criteria: Submissions will be assessed based on four criteria:
- Originality (25%)
- Quality (25%)
- Significance (25%)
- Thematic Relevance (25%)
Special Events
Art Showcase
Featured Artist: Hung Keung (The Education University of Hong Kong)
The art showcase is planned as a conference event alongside the cultural tour. It will feature Hung Keung and may also include selected creative works submitted to the conference.
Cultural Tour
Title: Modeling Memory: Digital Heritage, Urban Change, and Kowloon City in Hong Kong
This cultural tour explores how digital humanities can transform places into models and models into new forms of cultural knowledge. Centered on Kowloon City, participants will visit sites including Kowloon Walled City Park and the historic market district while engaging with digital reconstructions created through photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and immersive storytelling. Drawing on the Digital Kowloon project, led by the Education University of Hong Kong, the tour examines how disappearing shops, objects, and urban spaces can be documented, reconstructed, and reinterpreted through digital technologies.
Organizers & Sponsors
“Model/Making” is the third annual conference of the Hong Kong Association of Digital Humanities (HKADH).
The conference is organized and sponsored by the following units at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK):
- Faculty of Humanities, EdUHK
- Department of Culture and Creative Arts, EdUHK
- Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, EdUHK
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, EdUHK
- MA in Digital Humanities for Cultural Professionals, EdUHK