Semantic Web and Linked Open Data in Historical Sciences – Jörg Wettlaufer, Bärbel Kroeger and Johanna Störiko
This full-day workshop offers an introduction to the topic of “Semantic Web and Linked Open Data” with a focus on historical studies. It aims at participants without prior knowledge in the field of Semantic Web/Linked Open Data. Semantic Web and Linked Open Data are highly relevant for knowledge representation in the Digital Humanities and especially important for collaborative processes of analyzing and sharing data. The workshop divides into four parts, with practical exercises taking up about two thirds of the time. At the beginning of the workshop, the basics of the Semantic Web, the Resource Description Framework as well as associated WWW standards are taught in an introductory presentation. Special attention will be paid to Wikidata and SPARQL , both of which will play a prominent role in the subsequent exercises. In the following parts of the workshop, participants will learn basics if SPARQL, explore the available tools in wikidata and also learn how historical data is modelled. Following on from this, the potential of Wikibase for the historical sciences will be discussed.
Transkribus Lite – Christel Annemieke Romein, Joost Oosterhuis and Bram Jacobs
This workshop introduces the web-based tool Transkribus Lite – which replaces the desktop-based version eXpert. The workshop will be a hands-on, data-driven workshop. The organisers warmly welcome the participants to bring their own images/ scans/ photos of archival or library materials; this is not limited to handwritten material as printed texts are welcomed too. This workshop consists of two parts. You can attend both parts, but you can also participate in just one of them, please have a thorough look at the program to fit your needs.
Meet kiara: computationally enabled digital literacy software – Lorella Viola and Sean Takats
The Digital History Advanced Research Projects Accelerator project (DHARPA) (https://github.com/DHARPA-Project) at the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH, University of Luxembourg) proposes a workshop to explore how software can enable reflection on research processes in digital humanities, introducing participants to the project’s data orchestration software, kiara. Whereas kiara incorporates several different digital research approaches such as data manipulation, data visualisation, text pre-processing, and topic modelling, its most innovative feature is how through its meta-documentation, it encourages users to critically reflect on their own research and data creation processes. Despite being a low-code software, kiara’s key aim is to move beyond button-clicking software and make digital research more transparent and open to commentary, replicability, and criticism.
We invite participants with basic to advanced experience with data management and digital tools (knowledge of Python and use of Jupyter notebooks or command line interface would be beneficial, but not essential) to take part in this three-hour workshop. Though a section of the workshop will focus on topic modelling, participants from a wider range of digital and methodological approaches are encouraged to take part. Indeed, the modes of thinking kiara prompts are applicable to a broad scope of research interests. More broadly, this workshop will encourage participants to consider their own experience with digital research with a specific focus on how they deal with data creation and transformation. During the session, participants will be led in a discussion on agency in digital research and how software can enable researchers to consider ‘ownership’ and their own impact on data and analysis.
Participants will then be introduced to several features of kiara and encouraged to experiment with building a topic modelling workflow. The workshop will consider how this process is constructed as a ‘workflow’, and encourage participants to construct their own research questions and processes in a similar way. This will help inform future iterations of the software, in ways that would work for the participants future use of it. It will also encourage participants to reflect more critically and constructively on their own research process in a digital setting.
To maximise interoperability, kiara is fully integrated within a Jupyter notebook environment. Participants will be therefore shown how kiara can be used as a Python library in Jupyter notebooks, and how more advanced users can write their own ‘modules’ for digital analysis. This workshop will therefore marry practical hands-on experience with the newly developed and innovative software created by the DHARPA team.
Prior to the workshop, participants will be asked to take part in a brief pre-workshop survey to determine research background, experience with DH tools and coding literacy, and encourage group work that mixes digital abilities and research interests. Participants will be asked to pre-install the software prior to the workshop and to provide the workshop coordinators with sample datasets from their research in advance, so that the results of their experimentations with kiara will be relevant to them. Technical support and up to date documentation including tutorials and access to the GitHub repository will be made available to the participants in advance. The language of the workshop is English. A detailed breakdown of the envisioned programme is provided below.
Thanks to funding from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), we are happy to announce that for our workshop participants we will be able to cover the conference fee (onsite only). This is on a first come, first serve basis as registration is limited. For further information, please contact the workshop organisers Lorella Viola (lorella.viola@uni.lu) and Sean Takats (sean.takats@uni.lu).
Workshop Schedule |
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PART ONE: Introductions and Reflections on Digital Humanities |
Presentation: introduction to the team and project, and outline of the workshop programme (25 mins) |
Row 2, Column 1Full group discussion: shared experiences of DH research, tools, and reflecting on the research process itself (35 mins) |
BREAK (10 mins) |
PART TWO: Topic Modelling workflow |
Experiments: small group ‘play’ with the Topic Modelling workflow on a user interface (35 mins) |
Full group discussion: questions, feedback and thoughts after the experiments (15 mins) |
BREAK (10 mins) |
PART THREE: Workflow creation |
Presentation: What is a ‘workflow’ and how this might aid the way we construct a research process in digital history (10 mins) |
Small group discussion: participants to consider how their own research steps might be planned as a ‘workflow’ (15 mins) |
Experiments: using a template, participants to construct a workflow – these will encourage participants to structure their research process, but will also be used by the DHARPA team to create more functionality in kiara for participants’ research in the future (25 mins) |
BREAK (10 mins) |
PART FOUR: kiara in Jupyter notebooks |
Presentation: working with kiara as a Python library in Jupyter notebooks to create more module options, with shared documentation. Participants may follow along should they desire to do so (20 mins) |
Full group discussion: closing conversation/comments and Q&A (30 mins) |
Assessing the attributes of heritage and their credibility and usability to improve the user experience on participatory platforms. – Khaoula Stiti and Samia Ben Rajeb
1 Context
This workshop is going to be part of the doctoral research of the first author focused on
participation via information and communication technologies (ICT) for heritage awareness (we
define heritage awareness as the first step of the heritagization process (becoming a heritage).
2 The Workshop
The workshop aims to (1) confirm or not whether information produced by “non-experts” can be
a knowledge bearer for heritage experts and (2) assess the heritage attributes of information
produced by “non-experts” based on its credibility and usability. The half-day workshop will have
a creative, generative character. It will consist of three parts described below.
Module 1: Introduction |
A presentation will be given by the first author, who will provide a theoretical framework on participation, participatory mobile systems, and historical urban landscapes as well as a presentation of the research project P@trimonia, a platform for the participatory management of spatialsemantic information related to architectural and urban heritage. |
Module 2: Mise en commun (in groups) |
After the presentation, the participants will be invited to work with the information produced by “non-experts”. This information is collected from (1) in-person interviews made with inhabitants of a historical urban landscape and (2) from users of social media who share information related to heritage on virtual groups and pages. Participants will be invited to assess the attributes communicated in the information provided and its credibility and usability in the future by the experts. Participants will work in groups of 2, 3 to 4 people (based on the number of participants) and have the tools to work with the information provided. |
Session 3: Identifying the needs (plenary session) |
Each group presents their own evaluation of the information they have been provided with as well as their own point of view on the credibility and utility of the information. These presentations will generate a debate regarding how information related to heritage provided by “non-experts” can be displayed in participatory platforms such as P@trimonia. |