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Inga Lange (Forschungsstelle für die Geschichte der Hanseund des Ostseeraums), Holle Meding, Nicole Dresselhaus, Noah Baumann, Philipp Schneider (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)Vorstellung des Whitepapers von PnDH4Memory “Digital-historisch Promovieren”

Promovierende historisch arbeitender Geisteswissenschaften, die mit digitalen Methoden und datengetrieben arbeiten wollen, sind nicht nur mit besonderen methodischen, sondern auch fachkulturellen und organisatorischen Herausforderungen konfrontiert, auf die die bisherige(n) Promotionskultur(en) der Teildisziplinen oft nicht vorbereitet sind. Im Vortrag wird ein White Paper vorgestellt, welches das Ergebnis eines 3-tägigen Retreats des NFDI4Memory Promovierendennetzwerks Digital History ist. Hierbei wird das Konzept einer digital-historischen Dissertation klarer umrissen (Teil 1), wird eine Orientierungshilfe für prospektiv oder bereits aktiv digital-historisch Promovierende gegeben (Teil 2) und werden Lösungsansätze für einige der offenen Fragen und Herausforderungen gegeben, die durch analoge Forschungskontexte und -traditionen geprägte Promotionsordnungen und Betreuungssituationen aufwerfen. Mit dem Vortrag sowie dem zugrundeliegenden White Paper möchten wir eine weitere Diskussion um digital-affine Promotionskultur(en) in historisch arbeitenden Geisteswissenschaften anregen.

Vortrag im Rahmen des „Digital History“-Forschungskolloquiums
Zeit: Mittwoch, 04. Februar 2026, 16-18 Uhr
Ort: Zoom-Konferenz (Zugang auf Anfrage oder via Mailingliste)

Sarah Lang: Tackling Data Gaps through Digital Humanities Practice

This talk explores how documentation and auditing can serve as powerful tools for positive change by making our research and datasets more transparent. Detailed documentation not only facilitates the effective and responsible reuse of datasets and algorithms but also promotes more inclusive scholarship and ethical research outcomes. Openness, access, and accessibility encompass both technical and ethical dimensions. These principles aim to democratize inclusive access to knowledge and advocate for community engagement to address pressing societal challenges and more specifically, challenges of the field, such as combating the epistemicide of non-Western ways of knowing, decolonizing digital humanities, and addressing (gender) data gaps.

„Sarah Lang: Tackling Data Gaps through Digital Humanities Practice“ weiterlesen

Whitney Trettien, Roberto Gonzalez: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons

In the 1880s, printing presses entered U.S. prisons. Since then, hundreds of newspapers have been written, edited, and printed inside prisons. These range from underground zines reproduced by hand to widely circulated magazines and newspapers. Together, these texts form a powerful counter-archive to the wash of dime novels, government forms, envelopes, and church circulars printed for pennies on the dollar by prison labor.

„Whitney Trettien, Roberto Gonzalez: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons“ weiterlesen

Offene Stellen: Die Digital History an der HU Berlin sucht Mitarbeitende

Die Digital History an der HU Berlin sucht neue Mitarbeitende

Fünf neue Stellen im Bereich Digital History an der HU Berlin

Die Professur für Digital History an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin sucht neue Mitarbeitende. Über den Sommer haben wir insgesamt fünf Positionen zu besetzen – in unterschiedlichen Projekten mit jeweils unterschiedlicher Ausrichtung und Stellenumfang. Bei allen Projekten geht es letztendlich immer um die Frage, wie man digitale Methoden für die Geschichtswissenschaften zielführend nutzbar machen kann – für die Community, in der Lehre und umgesetzt in konkreten geschichtswissenschaftlichen Forschungsprojekten.

Drei der Stellen sind bereits veröffentlicht, zwei weitere folgen in Kürze. Zur Stellenbeschreibung weiterlesen…

„Offene Stellen: Die Digital History an der HU Berlin sucht Mitarbeitende“ weiterlesen

Whitney Trettien: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons

(Muss leider ausfallen / Cancelled)

In the 1880s, printing presses entered U.S. prisons. Since then, hundreds of newspapers have been written, edited, and printed inside prisons. These range from underground zines reproduced by hand to widely circulated magazines and newspapers. Together, these texts form a powerful counter-archive to the wash of dime novels, government forms, envelopes, and church circulars printed for pennies on the dollar by prison labor.

„Whitney Trettien: Data Frictions in the History of Prisons“ weiterlesen

Shawn Graham: Do It Yourself Digital Golems. Experiments with various AI, neural networks, and other technologies for archaeology

The golem is a creature animated by the words in its head. Emerging from Jewish traditions, the words that did the animation had connections with divinity, but the golems themselves despite this spark of the divine toiled at mundane chores. But sometimes, the golems would get out of control, and become figures of terror. My none-too-subtle analogy is this: animated by the ‘words in their heads’, the anthropomorphized neural networks of contemporary ‘ai’ (and ‘agi’: artificial general intelligence) are similar figures, with similar connections to the divine (we are told: ‘agi’ will transcend us; ‘agi’ will bring about the singularity; ‘agi’ will make us all posthuman). In this talk, I will explore some of my experiments trying to teach these technologies ethically and critically. I will explore some of the ways I have been trying to raise my own digital golems for my mundane archaeological needs. This is a talk filled with failure and experimentation. But maybe, also, something useful.

„Shawn Graham: Do It Yourself Digital Golems. Experiments with various AI, neural networks, and other technologies for archaeology“ weiterlesen

Folgert Karsdorp & Mike Kestemont: The application of unseen species models in history: correcting registration bias in nineteenth-century police reports from Brussels

Researchers of the past – whether historians, literary scholars or archaeologists – depend on the sources that have stood the test of time. That sample of history is usually far from complete, however. There are numerous reasons for this, such as natural causes (e.g., fires or floods), decisions at the level of archival policy (what do we preserve and what do we not?), and biases in the formation of the archives themselves. Data representing lower classes were long considered less relevant, for example, and thus socioeconomic factors likewise play a role in the survival of sources. In a series of recent experiments, we have explored how statistical methods from ecology can help us identify such gaps and biases in our knowledge. Those methods all find their basis in “Unseen Species Models,” which were originally developed to estimate the number of unique species in an environment. Just as ecologists try to estimate biodiversity from an incomplete sample, we apply the models to incomplete historical archives to measure the actual cultural diversity.

„Folgert Karsdorp & Mike Kestemont: The application of unseen species models in history: correcting registration bias in nineteenth-century police reports from Brussels“ weiterlesen

Amanda Regan: Mapping the Gay Guides: Using Digital History to Explore LGBTQ Travel Guides, 1965 – 2005

Mapping the Gay Guides (MGG) relies on the Damron Guides, an early but longstanding travel guide aimed at gay men since the early 1960s. An LGBTQ equivalent to the African American “green books,” the Damron Guides contained lists of bars, bathhouses, cinemas, businesses, hotels, and cruising sites in every U.S. state, where gay men could find friends, companions, and sex. The online mapping project explores different dimensions of American gay life through time, from bars and nightlife, bookstores, cinemas, and churches. Users to the site are able to navigate and investigate the dynamic and sometimes disappearing nature of LGBT spaces over time.

„Amanda Regan: Mapping the Gay Guides: Using Digital History to Explore LGBTQ Travel Guides, 1965 – 2005“ weiterlesen

Moritz Feichtinger: Just a Little Bit? Historicizing Born-Digital Objects

The information age is intrinsically digital. Knowledge, culture, and communication are increasingly created, transmitted, processed, and stored in digital formats. Consequently, historical inquiry, particularly when engaging with the latter half of the 20th century and beyond, must grapple with digital artifacts. These artifacts, often termed “born-digital” objects, are created by and within digital environments. Their scale, diversity, and inherent technical and cultural characteristics present distinct challenges for historical research, requiring historians to adapt established methodologies, particularly source criticism, to address these nuances.

„Moritz Feichtinger: Just a Little Bit? Historicizing Born-Digital Objects“ weiterlesen

Studentische Veranstaltung: DH-FuckUp-Outing 2024/1

TL;DR: Donnerstag, 19.12., ab 18 Uhr c. t.;
Input, Austausch und Snacks; Anmeldung formlos via Mail.

»Ohne die richtige Einstellung ist erfolgreiches Scheitern unmöglich. Man muss Scheitern wollen – sonst wird es nur eine peinliche Niederlage.«
Alexander Florin, 2013: Erfolgreich Scheitern (via DWDS-Korpussuche)

Erzählen vom und Sprechen über das Scheitern – das ist die Idee hinter dem Konzept ‘FuckUp-Night’.1 Über die Kommerzialisierung dieser Idee und den Grund für den legally distinct Namen dieser Veranstaltung lässt sich streiten; das Konzept hat sich aber bereits seit mehr als zehn Jahren bewährt.
Dem gemeinsamen Sprechen über Scheitern wohnt eine radikale Kraft inne: Wir alle scheitern im Großen wie im Kleinen – meist eine sehr einsame Erfahrung. Aber genau diese Einsamkeit gilt es gemeinsam zu durchbrechen!

„Studentische Veranstaltung: DH-FuckUp-Outing 2024/1“ weiterlesen