Dr. Tula Giannini -  Former Dean, 2004-2017, and tenured Professor in the School of Information (SI), Pratt Institute, and in 2015 was the founding Dean of SI. Her academic degrees represent her work across disciplines, holding a PhD in musicology from Bryn Mawr, an MLS from Rutgers University and MM and BM from the Manhattan School of Music in flute performance focusing on contemporary music from the 20th century music to present which compliments her research and publications on period wind instruments and performance practice. Giannini received a Whiting Foundation grant for one year to research in France to finish her dissertation. During this time mostly in Paris, she worked extensively in archives and special collections which led to her appointment as Curator of Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress, recently featured by mainstream news, and getting her MLS from Rutgers University, where she taught in the MLS program, all of which support her current work. Professors Giannini and Jonathan Bowen, co-editors, are under contract with Springer Nature for the book, Handbook of Arts and Computational Culture to be published early 2024. 

My Research - focuses on digital and computational culture, museums, information science, musicology, contemporary music, performing arts and period musical instruments and practice. From 2017 to present my publications and courses bring focus to critical concerns and issues of our postdigital world, and look to the future of the information and cultural heritage fields, such as digital culture and its impact on human behavior and identity, activism, computational culture and artificial intelligence, as they converge with social justice movements embodying key values of the field. For example my paper on Art and Design Activism in Museums in a Postdigital World, and the book chapter in Museums and Digital Culture, Contested Space: Activism and Protest. The programs, courses and grants I developed at Pratt serve as pillars of Pratt's School of Information, for example its Archives Certificate and fellowship programs with NYC's leading cultural institutions, reflecting the social and cultural values embedded in my contributions to the filed. 

My teaching focusing on digital culture and the heritage sector across museums, libraries and archives, curating the arts, the social impacts of computing and AI on human identity and activism in the arts, and creating new narratives through digital research. My book, Museums and Digital Culture: New Perspectives and Research, co-edited with Prof. Jonathan Bowen, is published by Springer Nature, spring 2019 in their Cultural Computing Series and has been highly reviewed, by Prof. Koslow who describes the book as “a tremendous resource for students, scholars, staff, and artists who work in museums and related cultural heritage organizations ...” My current research is cross-disciplinary between art, information and computer science, and looks at computational culture beginning with the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Alan Turing, published in two papers presented virtually in 2020, at EVA Florence, followed by a paper at EVA London.  

In musicology, my work concerns French musical wind instruments and performance practice in their sociocultural contexts  Currently, I am working on the book - Pioneers of Wind Instrument Making and Playing in France, 1624-1900, based on newly discovered archival documents, period instruments, music collections and iconography in Paris.  My book, Great Flute Makers of France: the Lot and Godfroy Families is considered a seminal work and "model of archival research" (Choice)  

Transforming the School of Information -  During my tenure as founding Dean of the School of Information (SI), from 2015, I transformed the School for the 21st century from being a singular MS degree in LIS, to the School of Information by introducing three new innovative master of science programs: MS Museums and Digital Culture, the first such program, MS Information Experience Design and MS Data Analysis and Visualization. I gained membership in the iSchools organization, and aligned with the Institute's focus on the arts, humanities, digital arts and culture. Prior to this, I introduced an Advanced Certificate in Archives 2004; Advanced Certificate in Museum Libraries 2005 (the first such program), a Dual Master's with Digital Arts (MSLIS & MFA DA) 2008 (received and innovation award from NASED). In 2015, I also introduced three Advanced Certificates: Conservation and Digital Curation, Digital Humanities and User Experience. To promote experiential hands-on learing, I introduced the 2-semester student fellowship program based on my IMLS grants which has become a center-piece of student success.    

Grants Awarded - From 2008 to 2015 I wrote four major IMLS grants for Pratt's School of Information totaling more than three million dollars. (see links below). This funding supported fellowships and internships and curriculum for Pratt students in NYC museums, libraries and archives: GATEWAI (Graduate Archives Training and Education, Work and Information- M-LEAD-I (Museum Library Education and Digitization) with the Brooklyn Historical Society, and M-LEAD II with the Brooklyn Museum - further with Brooklyn Museum, and CHART (Cultural Heritage: Access, Research and Technology). This project produced the Brooklyn Visual Heritage website housed at the Brooklyn Public Library and was an innovative partnership grant between Pratt and BPL, Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Heritage Society - the first to use API and interoperability across collections and search. And in 2017, for BPL's Librarians of the Future grant, partnering with BPL partnering with Pratt, I designed the grant's workshop program "on digital literacies that build upon teen information behaviors" their participation in the library profession. 

Pedagogy: To support these programs and projects, I promote hands-on experiential learning pedagogy, changing the School's lecture classrooms into seminar/labs including the iLab for Digital Culture, the Cultural Informatics Lab and the Research Seminar Lab.  I feature learning onsite in museums and libraries which students draw upon to create their projects. 

International programs:  I created and coordinated two international programs: 1. the London Summer Program -  The Arts and Digital Culture in partnership with King's College London (KCL), Department of Digital Humanities DDA) which grew out of our shared educational and research interests and that of our students, and in collaboration with the EVA London Conference, and 2. Florentine Art, Culture and Conservation with SACI in Florence for museum studies and conservation.

Experience - Before coming to Pratt in 1998, I was a full-time Assistant Professor at Catholic University, Washington DC, 1993-1998, where I led their programs in archives and special collections. I also served on the faculty of Rutgers University and the University of Hawaii, Manoa.  I was Curator of Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress, Director of the Talbot Music Library at Westminster Choir College, and Head of Collection Management at Adelphi University.    

An interdisciplinary researcher across the fields of information science, arts, humanities and musicology -  I focus on digital culture and human digital behavior in museums and other cultural institutions. An important aspect of my work, studies users of information in real and virtual environments, art and digital information and their intersections and interactions. My recent publications are concerned with digital life and culture, connecting art and information, and the digital self as expressed in my papers, "Digitalism: The New Realism "and, "Curating Digital Life and Culture: Art and Information." I am internationally recognized researcher and scholar in French musical wind instruments and performance, an expertise that contributes to my teaching and research in terms of performing arts, archival and special collections. My publications in musicology include: some 24 articles in The New Grove Dictionary of Music (Grove Music Online), the book, Great Flute Makers of France, described in Choice as "a model of archival research for all graduate students," first published in English and then in Japanese in 2007, the book chapter, "Frédéric Triebert (1813-1878), Designer of the Modern Oboe," Pendragon Press, 2006, and the JAMIS article, The Raoux Family of Master Horn Makers in France: New Documents and Perspectives, 2014.  

In fall 2020, my teaching featured the Practicum/Seminar, and serving as a Center for Teaching and Learning Fellow. (CTL Fellow)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

Global Cultural Conflict and Digital Identity: Transforming Museums  T Giannini, JP Bowen     Preprints   2023

Digital Experience in Art and Identity: The Metaverse Calls

JP Bowen, T Giannini    SocArXiv

Vignettes of Computer-based Museum Interactive and Games Software through the Years  S Boiano, A Borda, JP Bowen, G Gaia, T Giannini  BCS Learning & Development   2022

Digital art and identity merging human and artificial intelligence: enter the metaverse  T Giannini, JP Bowen, C Michaels, CH Smith   Proceedings of EVA London 2022, 1-7

More Than Human: Merging real and virtural states of being from the arts and culture to wellness in a post-Covid world. Preceedings, EVA London, July 2022.  https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2022.24

Giannini, T and Bowen, J.P.  Computational Culture: Transforming Archives Practice and Education for a Post-Covid World. Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage, ACM, March 2022.   https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/349334

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P. Museums and Digital Culture: From Reality to Digitality in the Age of COVID-19. MDPI Journal of Heritage, 5(1): 192-214, Janurary 2022.      DOI: 10.3390/heritage5010011

Giannini, T. and Bowen J.P. The Digital Renaissance from da Vinci to Turing Museologia & Interdisciplinaridade Vol. 10, nº Especial, dez. de 2021 https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/museologia/article/view/37241/31901.  Museologia & Interdisciplinaridade Vol. 10(nº Especial, dez. de 2021) December 2021.

Giannini, T. and Bowen J.P.  The Digital Renaissance from da Vinci to Turing, Museologia & Interdisciplinaridade  Vol. 10, nº Especial, dez. de 2021

Giannini, T and Bowen, J.P.  Museums at the Crossroads: Between digitality, reality and Covid-19.    Symposium, EVA Florence 2021 https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/2g567/

Bowen, J.P.  and Giannini, T.  Digitality: A Reaity Check.  EVA London 2021.  Computer Arts Society, BCS. https://www.scienceopen.com/document/read?vid=a265e7ec-a396-4bd7-a5ad-2ddf321f6400

Bowen, JP, Beyond Human: Arts and identity between reality and virtuality in a post-Covid-19 world.  J.P., Giannini, T., Falconner, R., Magruder, T., and Marconi, E.  Processing of EVA London 2021, Computer Arts Society, BCS. https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2021.2

Bowen, J.P. and Giannini, T.  Computational Culture and A.I.: Challenging human identity and curatorial practice. EVA London 2020 Conference.  Conference Proceedings. https://www.scienceopen.com/document_file/bb0670c5-3aa1-4f0d-9612-f38408707415/ScienceOpen/001_Bowen.pdf

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P.  The Digital Renaissance from da Vinci to Turing. EVA Florence 2020 Conference, May 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340000301_The_Digital_Renaissance_from_da_Vinci_to_Turing ;   https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/h5fm4/

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P.  Computing the Future: Digital Encounters in art and science when da Vinci meets Turing.  EVA London, 2020.  https://www.scienceopen.com/document_file/42deecde-573f-483f-b55e-928b689f35df/ScienceOpen/016_Giannini.pdf; https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/729ds/

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P.  Art and Design Activism at Museum in a Post Digital World.  EVA London Conference, July 2019, BCS.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334642864_Art_and_Activism_at_Museums_in_a_Post-digital_World

Bowen, JP and Giannini, T. et al.  Digital Art, Culture and Heritage: New constructs and Consciousness.  EVA London Conference, July 2019.

Giannini, T. and Bowen, JP.  Museums and Digital Culture Digital Culture: New Research and Perspectives.  Springer, 2019.  Review: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09647775.2019.1661098?journalCode=rmmc20; https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/729ds/

Giannini, T. and Bowen, JP.  Of Museums and Dgitial Culture: A Landscapte View.  EVA London Conference, July 2018, BCS.  

Bowen, J.P., Giannini, T., et al.  States of Being: Art and Identity in Digital Time and Space.  EVA London, 2018. Symposium. BCS.

Giannini, T.  Museums and the Evolving Digital Landscape. MATCONS 2017, Matter and Materials for Heritage Conservation), Conference paper, Craiova, Romania. 18-22 September 2017.  Published proceedings, pp.55-61.

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P.  Life in Code and Digits, When Shannon Met Turing. Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) Annual Conference Proceedings, British Computer Society, London, July, 2017.

Bowen, J.P. Giannini, T. and Polmeer, Gareth. Coded Communication: Digital Senses and Aesthetics, Merging Art and Life.  Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) Annual Conference Proceedings, British Computer Society, London, July, 2017.

Giannini, T and Bowen, J.P.  Curating Digital Life and Culture: Art and Information. Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) Annual Conference Proceedings, British Computer Society, London, July, 2016.

Giannini, T and Bowen, J.P.  Galois Connections: Mathematics, Art, and Archives.  Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) Annual Conference Proceedings, British Computer Society, London, July, 2015.

Giannini, T.  Through digital culture, museums share scholarship and augment experience to engage visitors and build community.  Kings College London, Department of Digital Humanities, Symposium on Public Engagement, June 2015.

Giannini, T. and J.P. Bowen. A New York Museums and Pratt Partnership: Building Web Collections and Preparing Museum Professionals.  Museums and the Web 2015, Chicago.  Conference Proceedings. 

Giannini, T. and J.P. Bowen. The Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website: Brooklyn's Museum and Libraries Collaborate for Project CHART." Museums and the Web, Baltimore, April 2014. Conference proceedings. http://mw2014.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-brooklyn-visual-heritage-website/

Giannini, T. and J.P. Bowen.  Digitalism: the New Realism?  Electronic Visualization and the Arts (EVA) Annual Conference, British Computer Society, London, July 2014. 

Giannini, T. Showing Documents, Telling History: Creating New Narratives from Archival Discoveries.  Strand Conference, Kings College London, Department of Digital Humanities.  June 27, 2014. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ddh/eventrecords/2014/Symposiumpratt.asp

Giannini, T.  The Raoux Family of Master Horn Makers in France: New Documents and Perspectives. Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society.  2014.  (see pdf below)

Giannini, T. and Bowen, J.P.   The Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website, Brooklyn's Museum and Libraries Collaborate for Project CHART.  Conference proceedings. Museums and the Web, Baltimore, April 2014,  http://mw2014.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-brooklyn-visual-heritage-website/

Giannini, T. Making Connections: Collaboration in Research and Practice. King's College London sponsored by the ARHC, Friday 10th January, 2014,  "Pratt Institute Partners with Brooklyn’s Museums and Libraries for Research, Education and Creating th Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website"

“The Raoux Family of Master Horn Makers in France.” Oxford University, Galpin Society Conference, July 25, 3013, and the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society (JAMIS) 2014.

Giannini, T. Visualizing Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website. EVA (Electronic Visualization and the Arts) London 2013 Conference at the British Computer Society, July 29, 2013.   Link to the EVA conference paper.

Giannini, T.   Pedagogy for Cultural Institutions and Corporations: New Contexts and Perspectives for the Digital World.  Ravensbourne Conference on Research and Pedagogy, July 10, 2013. 

Giannini, T. How Brooklyn’s Libraries and Museums Collaborate to Create a new Digital Cultural Heritage Resource: The Brooklyn Visual Heritage Website.  Strand Symposium, Kings College London, June 27, 2013.  

Giannini, T. Brooklyn’s Museums and Libraries Collaborate to Grow the Arts and Information Digital Landscape, Computers and History of Art (CHART) Conference, November 15, 2012.