Mak discusses materiality of texts at the University of Copenhagen

Bonnie Mak
Bonnie Mak, Associate Professor

Associate Professor Bonnie Mak is an invited speaker at Literature and Formats, a symposium on the materiality of texts, which will be held at the University of Copenhagen on November 15-16. Organized by the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, the event will bring together an international slate of speakers to examine the complex relationship between text and format. Mak's paper, "Scholarship and Its Formats: Documenting the Humanities," explores the enduring features of humanistic scholarship in different technological contexts.

"In a world in which productivity is increasingly gauged by data-driven metrics, we must articulate the distinctive contribution of humanistic research in its own terms," Mak said. "Thinking about the materiality of the humanities—how humanistic scholarship is performed and instantiated—may offer a different way to engage in campus conversations about quality and impact."

Mak holds appointments in the iSchool, History, and Medieval Studies at Illinois. Her areas of research include the history of information practices and the aesthetics of information. A forthcoming publication explores the manuscript as a technology of information visualization, while another examines the logic of the card catalog. Mak is currently collaborating with graphic designers to develop digital interfaces that encourage alternative ways of interacting with the plant collections at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia. Her first book, How the Page Matters (University of Toronto Press, 2011), examines the interface of the page as it is developed across time, geographies, and technologies.

Research Areas:
Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Tibebu joins the School

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Haileleol Tibebu joined the faculty as a teaching assistant professor on January 1, 2025. His research and teaching interests include responsible AI, AI policy and governance, algorithmic fairness, and the intersection of technology and society.

Haileleol Tibebu

Rhinesmith joins the faculty

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Colin Rhinesmith joined the faculty as a visiting associate professor on January 1, 2025. His position will become permanent following approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. He previously served as founder and director of the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council.

Colin Rhinesmith

SafeRBot to assist community, police in crime reporting

Across the nation, 911 dispatch centers are facing a worker shortage. Unfortunately, this understaffing, plus the nature of the job itself, leads to dispatchers who are often overworked and stressed. Meanwhile, when community members need to report a crime, their options are to contact 911 for an emergency or, in a non-emergency situation, call a non-emergency number or fill out an online form. A new chatbot, SafeRBot, designed and developed by Associate Professor Yun Huang, Informatics PhD student Yiren Liu, and BSIS student Tony An seeks to improve the reporting process for non-emergency situations for both community members and dispatch centers.

Yun Huang

New digital collection sheds light on queer nightlife in Champaign County

Adam Beaty decided to pursue an MSLIS degree to combine his love of history, the arts, and community-centered spaces. This combination of interests culminated in a 244-item digital collection that showcases digitized materials depicting nearly thirty years of queer nightlife in Champaign County. 

Adam Beaty_headshot

Hoiem receives Schiller Prize for “Education of Things”

Associate Professor Elizabeth Hoiem has won the 2025 Justin G. Schiller Prize from The Bibliographical Society of America for her book, The Education of Things: Mechanical Literacy in British Children's Literature, 1762-1860 (University of Massachusetts Press). The prize, which recognizes the best bibliographical work on pre-1951 children's literature, includes a cash award of $3,000 and a year's membership in the Society. 

Elizabeth Hoiem