HASTAC

HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, pronounced "haystack") is a virtual organization of more than 14,000 individuals and institutions dedicated to innovative new modes of learning and research in higher education, K-12, and lifelong learning. HASTAC network members contribute to the community by sharing work and ideas with others via the open-access website, by hosting HASTAC conferences and workshops online or in their region, by initiating conversations, or by working collaboratively with others in the HASTAC network.

HASTAC administers the annual $2 million MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition. The 2011 Competition, “Badges for Lifelong Learning,” launched in collaboration with the Mozilla Foundation, focused on digital badges as a means to inspire learning, confirm accomplishment, or validate the acquisition of knowledge or skills.

Since its inception, HASTAC has been funded by Digital Promise, the National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Duke University.

HASTAC was founded in 2002 by Cathy N. Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Co-director of the PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge at Duke University and co-founder of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, and David Theo Goldberg, Director of the University of California's statewide Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI).

At a meeting of humanities leaders held by the Mellon Foundation in 2002, it was clear that Davidson and Goldberg had each, independently, been working on a variety of projects with leading scientists and engineers dedicated to expanding the innovative uses of technology in research, teaching, and electronic publishing. They resolved to contact others who were building and analyzing the social and ethical dimensions of new technologies and soon formed the HASTAC consortium with a dozen or so other noted educators, scientists, and technology designers.

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