thorsten ries

Blog

  • GSA Seminar CfP: Artificial Intelligence and German Studies (GSA 2026)

    Please consider participating and contributing to the GSA seminar:

    Artificial Intelligence and German Studies: Critical Methods and Pedagogy

    (sponsored by the Digital Humanities Network)

    at the German Studies Association conference GSA 2026.

    The 50th German Studies Association Conference in Phoenix, AZ, from September 24–27, 2026 will again host a series of seminars in addition to panels and roundtables (for general conference information, click here).


    Seminar Conveners:

    • Thorsten Ries, University of Texas at Austin
    • Fabian Offert, University of California, Santa Barbara
    • Patrick Fortmann, University of Illinois Chicago

    Abstract:

    More and more projects in Digital Humanities and German Studies are integrating large language and multimodal models into their workflows, “Critical AI” has emerged as a new subfield of the Humanities, and academic newsfeeds are filled with concerns about the future of Higher Education in the age of AI. The seminar “Artificial Intelligence and German Studies” takes stock of these trends and surveys the state of AI adoption and resistance. It brings together current research perspectives on 1) Critical AI methods in Digital German Studies, 2) AI Cultures (e.g. the “German history” of AI, the formation of creative communities around AI in the DACH region, and the intersection of German and Media Studies related to AI), as well as 3) pedagogical developments and efforts in program building in German Studies impacted or inspired by AI (SLA, Literature, Culture, Area Studies; History, others: impact evaluation, mitigations, innovation concepts and best practices).

    Format:

    The seminar features participant presentations dealing with research questions, case studies, grouped around a main topic per day, discussion of research, also hands-on experiments with AI methods and culture examples are invited. The main discussion is framed by a seminar reader (60 pp, early August) distributed beforehand (not including contributions). Auditors permitted with pre-approval, space permitting.

    How to Apply:

    To apply, please go to the GSA’s OpenWater submissions portal and share an abstract (500 words max), as well as a short biography (300 words max).

    Please remember: In order to apply, you have to become a GSA member first, please make sure that you are a member in good standing first!

    The deadline for the application is 11:59pm PST on February 18, 2026.

    If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email the conveners!

  • new book dropped

    My new book Hybride Textgenese und digitale Forensik. Philologische, textgenetische und digitalforensische Modellstudien zum literarischen Schreibprozess bei Thomas Kling und Michael Speier has been published with Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg.

    I am so excited to see it finally out there!

    Thorsten Ries

    Hybrid Textual Genesis and Digital Forensics
    Philological, Text-Genetic, and Digital-Forensic Model Studies of the Literary Writing Process in the Works of Thomas Kling and Michael Speier

    What is it about?

    In his new book, Thorsten Ries connects genetic criticism and digital forensic analysis of born-digital archives to reconstruct hybrid writing processes, bridging the disciplines philology, digital humanities, digital forensics, information science, and archival science.

    Digital media have fundamentally transformed both the literary writing process and the materiality of the draft manuscript. In two methodologically oriented case studies of the hybrid dossiers génétiques of Thomas Kling (Rhapsoden am Sepik, Larven III) and Michael Speier (September St. Nazaire), this book demonstrates the philological reconstruction of hybrid writing processes with analog and digital writing phases using digital forensic methods. The case studies present previously unpublished draft material and insights into the authors’ writing strategies: The digital forensic perspective on the born-digital portions of these dossiers génétiques (files, data fragments, hard drives, etc) enables a philological and “genetic” reconstruction of the writing processes as well as aspects of the authors’ writing methods and writing process management.

    In the methodological chapters, the book delivers a foundational rationale of the materiality of the born-digital dossier génétique and the forensic trace of digital traces, also briefly addressing hybrid AI writing.