Annual Conference of the Data for History Consortium

Data for History 2021: Modelling Time, Places, Agents

Datum
13:15 - 17:45 Uhr
Ort
Online
Veranstaltet von
Data for History-Konsortium, Professur für Digital History (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes

The effects of the growing integration of digital tools and methods in historical research make the issues of interoperability of data produced in different projects and domains (archives, museums, etc.), and their reuse in the context of open science and FAIR principles (data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) ever more pressing. In fact, we are at a turning point in historical research: The change from a primarily analogue based to a primarily digital based working context requires a major reconsideration of the very foundations of our field. Historians have to consciously think through how this change affects their practices and determine the means to best form this new, digital working environment to facilitate the ends of historical research.

This question becomes particularly clear in the context of datafication, the conversion of analogue information into digital data. In this process, fundamental decisions are taken whose outcomes will determine not only the fidelity of the representation of the primary sources but the reusability of that data into the future. Data modelling decisions taken today will deeply shape and affect the kind of research that will or will not be feasible tomorrow. The challenge is, thus, to make modelling choices in such a way that the highest possible degree of data reusability and sustainability can be guaranteed, while respecting the particular source modelled as well as the specific nature of historical data, such as ambiguity, uncertainty, incompleteness, and change over time.

The objective of this year's conference therefore is to gain a better understanding of current ideas and practices in modelling time, space and agents as historical data and to assess the implications of these choices on the process of historical research and analysis. Throughout all of this, the focus is on exchange and building up a community.

The virtual conference will take place each Wednesday afternoon via Airmeet from May 19 to June 30, 2021. If you are interested to attend, please register here

 

Programm (June 30, 2021)

13:15 – 14:30 Session 13: Integrating Different Medialities

  • Faith Lawrence, Jone Garmendia (The National Archive, Kew), Adam Retter (Evolved Binary): Project Omega: Modelling an Archive Catalogue to Support Future History
  • Øyvind Eide, Zoe Schubert (University of Cologne): Space, Time, and Agents in Theatre: Digital Documentation of the Transience of Performances through Theatrical Agents in Time and Space
  • Zakiya Collier (Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY), Sarah Adams (Semantic Lab at Pratt, Pratt Institute School of Information, New York, NY): Jazz History as Linked Data: The Linking Lost Jazz Shrines Project

14:45 – 16:00 Session 14: Building and Visualizing Semantic Networks

  • Toby Burrows (The University of Western Australia, Perth), Mikko Koho, Jouni Tuominen (Aalto University), Eero Hyvönen (Aalto University/University of Helsinki), Kevin Page (Oxford e-Research Center), David Lewis, Doug Emery, Hanno Wijsman (Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes, Paris), Lynn Ransom, Emma Thomson (University of Pennsylvania, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies): Modelling the History of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts for the Mapping Manuscript Migrations Portal
  • Pavlos Fafalios, Korina Doerr, Athina Kritsotaki, Kostas Petrakis, Giorgos Samaritakis, Anastasia Axaridou, George Bruseker, Yannis Tzitzikas, Martin Doerr (FORTH-ICS, Heraklion): Challenges and Solutions Towards Creating a Semantic Network of Historical Maritime Data
  • Christopher Pollin (Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna): Mapping Semantic Constructs in Historical Domains to Visual Structures as Basis for Resource Discovery Using the Example of Historical Financial Records

16:15 – 17:45 Conclusion: Panel Discussion