Matthew Butler is a Research Manager and Senior Developer at the University of Iowa’s Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio, where he works at the intersection of data visualization, machine learning, and humanities research. With over 20 years of experience in academic libraries, he collaborates with faculty to develop machine-assisted research workflows, design scalable data pipelines, and implement custom software tools for text analysis and visualization. 

Since 2011, Butler has contributed to digital scholarship projects at the UI Libraries, starting with DIY History. This participatory archive earned widespread scholarly and public acclaim and has been adopted by multiple institutions worldwide. His work in AI research started in 2013 with a presentation on computer-generated information and autonomous agents. In 2017, he trained the University of Iowa Libraries’ first neural network, exploring computational methods in research and scholarship and even wrote the world's first novel using GPT in 2019. From 2018-2020 he served on the faculty writing systems working group CASSANDRA, where he introduced writing and translation faculty to generative AI years before campus adoption and lead discussions on the potential of LLMs in student writing.

His work also includes contributions to an NSF-funded study on AI-driven transcription of U.S. presidential campaign ads, as well as two philosophy visualization projects:

Principia Mathematica Maps and Table Site, an NEH-funded platform that maps relationships within Whitehead and Russell’s Principia Mathematica.

Tractatus Map, an interactive tool for exploring Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

MFA, Intermedia & Video Art – University of Iowa, School of Art & Art History
Bodine Fellow | Graduate Certificate in Library and Information Science

BA, Speech/Drama & Art – Mount Mercy University
Drama Club President | Co-founder, Improv & Storytelling Group

Breuer, A., Dietrich, B. J., Crespin, M. H., Butler, M., Pyrse, J. A., & Imai, K. (2025). "Using AI to transcribe & summarize a new dataset of US presidential campaign TV ad videos, 1952-2012." Scientific Data (submitted, under review). 
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.22589

Manuscript Reviewer, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (2023) – Provided peer review for the edited volume Digital Humanities and Intelligent Computing of Cultural Heritage: Global Development and Chinese Solutions, evaluating its scholarly contributions and publication potential.

Butler, M. (2019). Ghost Ops Family Planning. Intermedia Writing Systems.
ISBN: 9781646068593
ASIN: 1646068599

Scates Kettler, H., Tsai, J., Butler, M. T., Hercher, T., Schmitt, P., & Warren, L. (2017). Modelling participatory design in digital humanities pedagogy and research. Digital Media and Learning Conference, Irvine, CA.

Averkamp, S., & Butler, M. (2012, December 4). The care and feeding of a crowd. 2012 Code4Lib Conference.

Butler, M. (2010). Gravitation at the Jet Realm. Chicago Art Department.

Butler, M. (2010). Writing Open Source Software in Libraries: phxEventManager. Macalester College.

Butler, M. (2009). Intermedia Writing Systems (3rd ed.). Intermedia Writing Systems.

Butler, M. (2002). ALLOY >KIND TRICKS and BODILY REALITIES in the VANGUARD PARTY. Printed Matter, Inc.

HathiTrust TORCHLITE Hackathon 2024 – Linguistic Visualization Using HTRC Extracted Features API: Demonstrated a prototype for visualizing linguistic patterns in large-scale textual datasets. Held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, School of Information Sciences.

Digital Library Federation Forum 2018 – Mapplication: Presented on a project exploring spatial visualization in digital humanities research.

Digital Library Federation Forum 2017 – Transcribing Fanzines: Discussed approaches to crowdsourced transcription and text analysis of historical fan-created materials.

Iowa NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute 2017 – Applied Deep Learning in Libraries: Attended and contributed to discussions on integrating AI methodologies into digital scholarship.

Digital Library Federation Forum 2016 – DIY History: Examined the evolution of the DIY History project and its impact on digital collections, machine learning applications, and participatory archives.

DH2016 (Digital Humanities Conference, Kraków, Poland) – Using Crowdsourced Transcription Data for Machine Learning Applications: Explored how DIY History transcription data could be leveraged for machine learning-based research.

Digital Library Federation Forum 2016 – Big Data is History: Curating Explorer's Legacy at the University of Iowa

University of Iowa Libraries Code4Lunch Talk 2013 – The Rise of Generative AI and Autonomous Agents: A forward-looking discussion on the potential impacts of AI in research and digital collections.

Digital Library Federation Forum 2012 – Crowdsourcing in Libraries: Early discussion of public participation in digital archives and transcription projects.

Code4Lib 2012 – Developing Participatory Archives: Presented on the development and implementation of DIY History, focusing on user engagement and open-source infrastructure.

Principia Mathematica: A Critical Edition
Principal investigator: Landon D.C. Elkind
Funding Agency: National Endowment for the Humanities (Scholarly Editions Grant)
Grant Period: 2023–2025

Understanding the Evolution of Political Campaign Advertisements over the Last Century
Principal investigator: Bryce Dietrich
Collaborating Institutions: University of Iowa, Purdue University, University of Oklahoma, Harvard University
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Grant Period: 2023–2025

The Flint Water Disaster Public Archive
Principal investigator: Louise Seamster
Funding Agency: Humanities Without Walls (Grand Research Challenge)
Grant Period: 2023–2025

From Data Access to Data Justice: The Flint Water Disaster Public Document Archive
Principal investigator: Louise Seamster
Funding Agency: University of Iowa, Office of the Vice President for Research (Arts & Humanities Initiative Award)
Grant Year: 2023

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Principal investigator: David Stern, Professor, Department of Philosophy
Funding Agency: Arts & Humanities Initiative (AHI) Standard Grant, University of Iowa, Office of the Vice President for Research
Grant Year: 2021

2023 Arthur Benton University Librarian’s Award for Excellence