Digitizing Vietnam is an inter-institutional center dedicated to advancing Vietnamese Studies through digital and AI tools and technologies. Our aims are fourfold: 1) to provide a home for digital collections focused on Vietnam; 2) to innovate new digital humanities and AI tools for the advancement of research on Vietnam; 3) to gather an archive of pedagogical materials to facilitate teaching about Vietnam at the secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels; and 4) to develop an outreach portal to spread knowledge and appreciation of Vietnam to the general public. In each of these four domains–Collections, Research, Pedagogy, and Outreach–we seek to share all our materials with other aligned initiatives, to mirror and amplify the work of others, to create an “Indra’s Net” of digital tools and resources, to advance, innovate, and empower the study of Vietnam in a new age.
Lien-Hang Nguyen
Ph.D. in History
Associate Professor, Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
John Phan
Ph.D. in East & Southeast Asian Language History
Associate Professor of Vietnamese Humanities, Director of Undergraduate Studies, EALAC, Columbia University
Tram Phuong Nguyen
Ph.D. in Ethnology
Digital Curator, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Van Le
M.A. in French
Digital Humanities Librarian, Vietnam Studies Center, Fulbright University Vietnam
Phuc Hoang Le
B.S. in Computer Science
Web Developer, Columbia University
Albert Errickson
MPhil in East Asian Languages and Cultures
Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University
Hoang Minh Vu
Ph.D. in History
Faculty member in History and Vietnam Studies, Fulbright University Vietnam
Nam Nguyen
Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Professor, Director of the Vietnam Studies Center, Fulbright University Vietnam
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (1999–2018) served as the predecessor to the Digitizing Vietnam Project, laying crucial groundwork through its pioneering efforts in Unicode standardization, digitization, and public access to Hán-Nôm texts.
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (1999–2018) was a pioneering U.S.-based nonprofit formed by Vietnamese and American scholars to preserve and promote the Chữ Nôm literary tradition. It was founded by James Đỗ Bá Phước, Ngô Thanh Nhàn, John Balaban, and was later joined by Ngô Trung Việt.
The Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation (VNPF) advanced the preservation and study of Hán-Nôm literature through five key areas: standardizing Nôm characters and fonts for digital use; digitizing and conserving physical texts in collaboration with the National Library of Vietnam and the Thắng Nghiêm and Phổ Nhân temples; and expanding accessible Hán-Nôm materials with searchable, annotated texts like "Truyện Kiều", "Lục Vân Tiên", "Chinh Phụ Ngâm", and "Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư". It also published essential reference tools—including dictionaries and digital editions—and promoted scholarship through conferences, awards, and educational workshops in both Vietnam and the U.S. After nearly two decades, the VNPF board concluded that its mission had been fulfilled and dissolved the foundation in 2018. Its website remains online as a lasting resource.
In 2018, the Vietnamese Nôm Preservation Foundation donated its entire archive of sources and digital collections to the Digital Library Collections at Columbia University, providing a vital foundation for future digital scholarship. In 2023, the development of the Digitizing Việt Nam platform became possible through the support of a Luce Foundation grant, awarded to the project Digitizing Vietnam: The Virtual Future of Global Vietnam and the Vietnamese Studies Project. These collections are now being further enhanced through the application of digital humanities tools, developed using the foundational data provided by the VNPF.
The Digitizing Việt Nam Project extends its deepest gratitude to the VNPF for their generous donations, longstanding contributions, and continued support.
In August 2023, the Weatherhead East Asia Institute at Columbia University was awarded a LuceSEA grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support Digitizing Vietnam: The Virtual Future of Global Vietnam and the Vietnamese Studies Project.