MATRIX: The Center for Humane, Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University seeks to advance critical understanding and promote access to knowledge through world-class research in humanities technology. Humanities technology brings together the humanist’s quest for deeper understanding of human nature, thought, expression, and behavior with the tools, methods and applications of computer science, engineering, and information and library sciences. MATRIX researchers use networked technologies to advance, mediate, and inform the humanist disciplines of history, literature, language, philosophy, as well as disciplines within the arts, social sciences, and education. At MSU, MATRIX partners in music, speech and audiology, history, education, international studies, museum studies, and libraries are building new, global, networked resources and services that give life to the metaphor of “matrix” as the multiple intersections and applications of interdisciplinary research. MATRIX therefore applies humanities technology to all the elements of MSU’s mission: research, education, outreach, and service to multiple public and professional communities. Guided by basic scholarly and humanist values of excellence, education, access, and inclusiveness, and conducted according to proven, collaborative, scientific methods and principles, MATRIX aims to be one of the top humanities technology centers in the world.

To this end, the mission of MATRIX, The Center for Humane, Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online is…

…to serve as a catalyst for and incubator of the emerging fields and disciplines resulting from the integration of the humanities with information technologies.