SpecLab: Speculative Computing at UVA
Our Name
We use the technical term speculative computing metaphorically:
Speculative computing is a technique to improve the execution time of certain applications by starting some computations before it is known that the computations are required. A speculative computation will eventually become mandatory or irrelevant. In the absence of side effects irrelevant computations may be aborted. However, a computation which is irrelevant for the value it produces may still be relevant for the side effects it performs.
(from the proceedings of the 1992 Parallel Symbolic Computing Workshop at MIT)
Context
Since 1993, the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities has developed and supported some of the most important work in the area of applied humanities computing anywhere. IATH has become internationally recognized for its development of new models for digital humanities scholarship. A special feature of this work has been the way it has consistently responded to theoretical questions with practical applications. IATH (and the other electronic and digital centers at UVA) have produced a new model of humanities scholar whose critical thinking is intimately involved with the making and building of things (archives, collections, tools, interfaces, and other materials) in collaborative environments. Soon, a master's degree program in Digital Humanities will begin at UVA under the auspices of the new Media Studies Program. The Master's Program will formalize the training and experience of a decade's worth of scholarship at IATH and UVA into a curriculum designed to train humanists with technical and conceptual skills in digital humanities.
Laboratory
SpecLab was formed at a crucial moment, fueled by the intellectual excitement generated by a maturing field of Digital Humanities, the new MA program, and activities in Media Studies. Like all successful research, projects developed through IATH and the Media Studies program regularly spawn unexpected ideas for new and even more challenging opportunities. Some of these are open-ended and exploratory in ways that don't fit the mission of IATH and other existing entities. SpecLab is an informally constituted group of scholars - graduate students, faculty, and staff - who organize workshops and discussion groups around specific projects and ideas. The SpecLab working groups serve to define and explore theoretical and technical problems of speculative computing projects and establish a focal point for their support.