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Bewahrende Erneuerung: Europäische Friedensverträge online

von Fabian Cremer und Thorsten Wübbena1

In der Geschichte Europas markieren die in Konflikten und Bündnissen geschlossenen Friedensverträge Grundpfeiler des heutigen Europas und gehören zum kulturellen Erbe. Die Forschung zu Friedensprozessen hat am IEG eine lange und vielfältige Tradition. Eine der wichtigsten Ressourcensammlung wurde jetzt neu aufgelegt: Die Datenbank und Online-Edition Europäische Friedensverträge der Vormoderne. An diesem Vorhaben kristallisieren sich viele Entwicklungen in den Digital Humanities der letzten zehn Jahre: Forschungsdaten, nachhaltige Infrastrukturen, digitale Editionsstandards, und der Umgang mit einem digitalen kulturellen Erbe. „Bewahrende Erneuerung: Europäische Friedensverträge online“ weiterlesen

  1. According to the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT), the shares in this contribution are as follows: Fabian Cremer (Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing), Thorsten Wübbena (Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing). []

Sites of Memory VS Cultural Heritage: Urban Violence in Collective Narratives of Odesa Residents in Wartime

by Iuliia Iashchenko

Part I. The Why and The How: Practices of Documenting Urban Violence on Odesa City

The ongoing war in Ukraine has demonstrated with particular clarity that cultural heritage and urban life are not peripheral but central targets in contemporary armed conflict. Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, systematic attacks have affected not only military infrastructure but also schools, cultural institutions, and historically significant sites. According to international monitoring frameworks, including those of UNESCO, thousands of cultural heritage locations and urban infrastructures have been damaged or destroyed. Among the most emblematic cases in Odesa is the severe damage inflicted on the Transfiguration Cathedral, alongside numerous other historically and socially significant sites.

These developments highlight an urgent need to rethink both the preservation of cultural heritage and the documentation of lived experience during wartime. „Sites of Memory VS Cultural Heritage: Urban Violence in Collective Narratives of Odesa Residents in Wartime“ weiterlesen

“The last one leaves the light on”. Static service as a key to sustainable data provision

by Moritz Schepp and Thorsten Wübbena

The headline “Everything dies, including information”, published 2022 in MIT Technology Review, still resonates today. The article states that almost every project-based third-party funded project must store its data somewhere permanently, “but there are no overarching requirements about who must store the data or how long it must be saved.” While robust solutions exist for static data publications, the challenge of sustainability still applies to living systems, such as databases developed in our DH projects. And as Huculak and Davis (2024) so simply and accurately described: “Databases need periodic upgrading, which can break entire applications.” Consequently, one principle from the “Endings Principles for Digital Longevity” is: “No dependence on server-side software: build a static website with no databases, no PHP, no Python.” Yet, principles often falter when confronted with the realities of project implementation — and justifiably so. DH research often requires active, dynamic databases to function effectively. We feel that projects should have access to the best of both worlds here. In advancing our database system “ConedaKOR”, we reconciled the functions of a living database during the project period with a minimal computing approach and a “static version” for the long-term provision.

„“The last one leaves the light on”. Static service as a key to sustainable data provision“ weiterlesen

The DH Lab as a living oxymoron

by Fabian Cremer and Thorsten Wübbena

Newly established DH Labs in research institutions often find themselves in a field of tension – of simultaneous and contradictory expectations, goals and missions. We would like to discuss these contradictions within their context and their implementation in concrete work, based on experiences (both failures and successes) from our own DH Lab, as we aim to offer good practices (and unsolved challenges) from the strategical and operational levels of lab management. „The DH Lab as a living oxymoron“ weiterlesen

What is a Digital History Lab? Reflections from a trip to Lisbon

by Ian Marino and Demival Vasques Filho

Being part of a DH Lab involves questioning what constitutes this type of organism: who we are, what we do, how and why we do it. A recent workshop at the Digital Humanities Lab of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa has sparked a reflection regarding the question that entitles this blog post.1 The multiple nationalities and institutions of the researchers present there added ingredients that allowed such a question to cross European national borders and even the Atlantic Ocean. „What is a Digital History Lab? Reflections from a trip to Lisbon“ weiterlesen

  1. We would like to thank to all the researchers of the DH labs that were part of this experience: the IEG’s Digital Historical Research Unit, the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History, the Digital Humanities Lab, and the Center of Digital Humanities-Unicamp. Particularly, we would like to thank the researchers Agatha Bloch, Anita Lucchesi, and Joana Paulino. Finally, an especial appreciation to Daniel Alves, who received us at the Nova University’s Digital Humanities Lab. []

Workshop in Villa Vigoni

by Jaap Geraerts

There’s a wonderful phrase in Dutch: “het nuttige met het aangename verenigen,” which means something like “to unite that which is useful (nuttig) with that which is pleasant (aangenaam).”  Although in general academia tends to be firmly tilted towards the former, occasionally it does happen that the coveted combination of utility and pleasantness is achieved. The week I spent at Villa Vigoni in Menaggio, Italy, together with a number of colleagues in late February/early March 2023, is a particularly great example thereof. „Workshop in Villa Vigoni“ weiterlesen

60 Minutes of DH: eScriptorium for Handwritten Text Recognition in Humanities Research

by Sofie Sonnenstatter

In January, the DH Lab launched its series of (online) events “60 Minutes of DH” with a webinar on the automatic transcription tool eScriptorium.

The monthly events, planned as one-hour long afternoon sessions, are mainly intended for academic staff at the IEG and focus on joint discussions of tools, methods and literature from the field of Digital Humanities, as well as insights into the international project landscape. The goal is to encourage and support researchers when it comes to digital solutions supporting their history- and religion-related research. For this kick-off, however, the invitation was extended to a wider audience and was met with overwhelming interest by researchers from all over Europe.

„60 Minutes of DH: eScriptorium for Handwritten Text Recognition in Humanities Research“ weiterlesen

RESILIENCE – A Research Infrastructure for Religious Studies

by Sofie Sonnenstatter

The IEG is involved in RESILIENCE, a research infrastructure project for Religious Studies and related disciplines, involving twelve partner institutions from ten European countries.

The acronym stands for “REligious Studies Infrastructure: tooLs, Experts, conNections and CEnters in Europe” and the goal is a pan-European research infrastructure (RI) which provides access to sources, research results, expertise and tools for researchers and individuals interested in religion-related topics.

Digital Humanities have been transforming research in Europe and RESILIENCE aims for driving forward the digital turn in Religious Studies by stimulating the applicating of innovative methodological approaches in this field. Digital data and services designed for the needs of transdisciplinary research related to religions will be made available within a single ecosystem accessible for researchers as well as non-academics worldwide. „RESILIENCE – A Research Infrastructure for Religious Studies“ weiterlesen

Calling for data publication workshops in historical research

by Fabian Cremer

This September, an online workshop on the publication of research data in the fields of History, which we offered for the first time, exceeded our expectations. The overwhelming interest, the engaging participants and the smooth flow of the event led us to a better understanding and (three) notable thoughts we would like to share. „Calling for data publication workshops in historical research“ weiterlesen

ConedaKOR-as-a-Service. Über Kontext, Komplexität und Komplikationen

Von Fabian Cremer und Thorsten Wübbena

tl;dr

Der DARIAH-DE-Workshop zu ConedaKOR – einem graphbasierten Datenbanksystem zur Verwaltung und Präsentation von Objektsammlungen – führte neben neuen Entwicklungen der schnittstellenstarken und modular aufgebauten Software über die Anwendungsfälle in der Kunstgeschichte und Maya-Forschung zu grundsätzlichen Fragen in der Software- und Infrastrukturentwicklung für die Forschung:
1. Komplexe Software ist nur für komplexe Projekte sinnvoll.
2. Die Abwicklung der Infrastruktur wird zur Pflicht.
3. Die Voraussetzungen für Software-as-a-Service in der Forschung fehlen noch.
„ConedaKOR-as-a-Service. Über Kontext, Komplexität und Komplikationen“ weiterlesen