Michael Widner is in the joint employ of the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and the Stanford University Libraries, where he works as an Academic Technology Specialist. He works with faculty and their research assistants as consultant or collaborator in DLCL-based digital humanities and instructional technology projects.
Featured lab member
Featured project
The practice of interpretation is one of the key features in Jewish learning and teaching. It is the basis of the Jewish canon, as it created an ongoing engagement with ancient texts, forging connections between them, and creating new meanings. Today, there is an increase in number of online platforms that make Jewish history, thought, philosophy, religion, and education more accessible. The goal of this research is to better understand how learners use and experience the collaborative interpretation of Jewish sacred texts through online platforms.
Astronomical Data Collection in the Medieval/Early Modern Islamicate world: The influence of the Zijs (Star Catalogs) on European Astronomy
Astronomical Data Collection in the Medieval/Early Modern Islamicate world: The influence of the Zijs (Star Catalogs) on European Astronomy
This project aims to research the praxis of practical astronomy in the Islamicate world. There are a plethora of manuscripts, Zijs (Astronomical Star Catalogs), that need to be studied, researched, edited, and translated. The goal of the research is to analyze the reasons for the astronomical data collected by Arab astronomers. To serve this purpose, an interactive tool—a Finding Aid—will be developed for the Oriental Astronomical Star Catalogs studied by 17th century Oxford English Astronomer John Greaves—one of the first Europeans to travel to the Orient on a scientific expedition. This tool will also be a teaching aid, an educational resource for students and researchers who want to study Arabic Astronomy in the Medieval and Early Modern era. It has only recently become apparent that the past historians of science focused mainly on advances in sciences in Europe, inadvertently overlooking the achievements and the influence of Astronomy from the Islamicate world.
Primary Investigators: