Taking place now! #AAS2026

Such a cool poster!

A full second conference day, part of which included discussing the future of Japan Studies, and how we can network better to strenghten the field and future chances for our students! #AAS2026 #JapanStudies #AreaStudies #Networks

An excited researcher under the AAS2026 arch holding the booklet

The AAS2026 arch at the Vancouver Convention Center

And so it begins! #AAS2026

Could be worse! It was snowing yesterday morning 😄🥶❄️

Sat 10:30am: Poster: "Drawing from the Crowd", on our citizen science platform for georeferencing #ukiyo-e prints via 3D topographical models.
Prints, maps, computer vision: happy to talk about any of it! If you're here in Vancouver, find me. 🐱
#AAS2026 #JapanStudies #DigitalHumanities

Fri 7:15pm: IUC alumni reception at the Pan Pacific Hotel. If you studied at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, come say hi!

Fri 9am, Roundtable: "Building Global Networks to Address the Challenges Facing #JapanStudies" with Bochorodycz, Hayes, Ström & Tsutsui (supported by The Nippon Foundation). What does it actually take to keep area studies alive: institutionally, professionally, globally?

Harbour view in Vancouver, under blue skies

street art showing a cat smiling

1/4
First time at #AAS2026, and #Vancouver is delivering — today's sleet taking turns with blue skies over the last couple of days. Three things on my schedule this week: 🧵

Project website: landscapes.theprintlab.org
Participate on: smapshot.heig-vd.ch/contribute/?...

For us, that means reaching #Japan -based audiences who might just recognise the mountain or shoreline in a two-hundred-year-old #ukiyo-e print.

Participation happens on #Smapshot, and from today, you also find us on 🌱
colabfield.org/project/draw...

#CitizenScience #Ukiyoe #DigitalHumanities

How do you find volunteers for a #CitizenScience project in an internet built for consumption?

#DrawingFromTheCrowd is now featured on #CoLabField — a platform connecting #DigitalHumanities research across #Japan and Europe.

Fri Jan 23 @ Rekihaku (National Museum of Japanese History): Seminar on "AI, Japanology, and Education"—I'll talk about adapting AI_d for Japanese educational settings, alongside Prof. James Morris on kuzushiji education in the AI age.
Register by Jan 21: forms.office.com/r/MjTcyVcigU

Two talks in Japan this month—join online! 🎌
Jan 19 @ Chuo Uni:
Keynote "Making Computational Boundaries Visible", presenting "Drawing from the Crowd" citizen science georeferencing project + AI_d chatbot for creating AI use policies in teaching.
Info/register:
sites.google.com/view/chuodala2025

Here Naruto whirlpool aligned with the background, with creative liberties in the foreground. There is plenty more for those of you interested in doing this yourself: you can engage directly on the platform, just select one and click on 'geolocalize'!
This one had inspired me to study#JapaneseArt!

Here Naruto whirlpool aligned with the background, with creative liberties in the foreground. There is plenty more for those of you interested in doing this yourself: you can engage directly on the platform, just select one and click on 'geolocalize'!
This one had inspired me to study#JapaneseArt!

You're very welcome, and there's many more if you feel like it ☺️

Thank you for your contribution! I just validated it - your alignment shows how the scenery in the foreground seems to be distorted for visual effect - interesting! smapshot.heig-vd.ch/visit/363598

Great start! Following the workflow will allow you, or other participants, to map it in detail 🙏

Seems likely! On the platform you can narrow the 'somewhere' to a specific viewpoint by geolocating the print against a 3D model of the topology - it then calculates the hypothetical point of the viewer. I'd be intrigued to see what you find out! 🖼

Your insights help us discover how selected prints blend reality with imagination, and impact how we perceive Edo-period (1603-1868) landscape.

🔗 Project: landscapes.theprintlab.org
🔗 Start: smapshot.heig-vd.ch/contribute/?owners=19

#CitizenScience #DigitalHumanities #ukiyoe #浮世絵 #OpenScience

Think of it as a visual detective game: compare historical prints with 3D terrain models to figure out where these scenes were "seen" from.
No Japanese language or art history degree needed. Just curiosity, sharp eyes, and 15–30 minutes.

Utagawa Hiroshige, "Seven-Mile Beach in Sagami Province," 1837. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Where would you stand to see this view?

That is the puzzle at the heart of Drawing from the Crowd—a citizen science project exploring how Edo-period Japanese prints depicted landscapes.

We'd love your help solving it 🧵

Just published at UZH Teaching Tools (available in EN/DE):
📚 teachingtools.uzh.ch/en/good-practice/ai_d
✍️ digitalorientalist.com/2025/09/09/think-tasks-not-tools-teaching-ai-literacy-in-east-asian-art-history/

#HigherEd #AIinEducation #Teaching #DigitalHumanities

When students understand the cognitive rationales, they engage more thoughtfully with AI tools and their own learning. Thanks to ULF micro_innovation funding & my students who inspire this work.

Instead of blanket bans or vague "use responsibly" guidelines, AI_d helps develop differentiated policies that explain *why* certain AI uses work or don't work for specific learning objectives.

Stephanie Santschi at her desk at the University of Zurich. She has opened her laptop on whose screen appears the Tag "AI_d", and projects a finished sample of the chatbot output on the sceen above it.

How do you create AI guidelines that support rather than undermine student learning?

I've developed AI_d—a prompt-activated chatbot that guides course instructors through creating pedagogically sound AI policies using learning frameworks like Bloom's Taxonomy, SAMR, and Cognitive Apprenticeship.

The DO was started with the idea of brining to a wide audience developments and topics in the #DH worlds of Asian, N. African and Middle Eastern fields.

It is currently the only platform that does so, as open-access resource.

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Home-English Welcome to theInternational Symposium of The Association for Early Modern Japanese Literature (Nihon kinsei bungaku kai 日本近世文学会)Early Modern Graphic Narratives (kusazōshi): Making the Most of Digit…

nihonkinseibungakukaicambridge2025.wordpress.com/home-english...

Off to the University of Cambridge! Really excited to take part in this Symposium. #graphicnarratives #earlymodernjapan #kusazoushi