The field of digital humanities opens up a host of new possibilities for advancing knowledge in traditional humanities disciplines. But the implementation of new digital infrastructures and technologies does not always keep pace with their initial development; often researchers are required to spend time exploring the potential of these tools and learning how to use them effectively. The aim of the “Digital History & Hermeneutics” Doctoral Training Unit (DTU) is to address these methodological and epistemological challenges.
Funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), the training unit offers a four-year research programme. “It’s not a traditional taught course; instead the DTU offers students an interdisciplinary space for experimentation,” explains Dr Tim Van der Heijden, Technical Coordinator of the DTU, which is directed by Prof. Andreas Fickers. Thirteen PhD students and one post-doc are working together to identify new methods to improve knowledge in the field of digital humanities. The group represents a wide range of academic disciplines and approaches, with historians being joined by philosophers, geographers, linguists, architects and information science specialists.
The focus of the DTU is the concept of “digital hermeneutics”, in other words the critical, self-reflective use of digital tools and technologies to identify new avenues for research, verify theories and develop scientific interpretations. While working on their own PhD projects, the members benefit from the methodological and epistemological activities carried out by the group as a whole, while also making their own active contribution to this joint effort.
The DTU runs training courses and workshops in digital techniques on subjects including text mining, digital source criticism, database structure and how to perform data analysis using the Python programming language. Other topics are planned for 2018.
Hybrid Visualisation of Dynamic Multilayer Graphs
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The “Age of Steel” in Luxembourg revisited. Technologies of utopian capitalism and the making of national identity
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Graph-based exploration and crowd-based indexation for multimedia collections
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How to leverage the vast potential of historical newspapers
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A microhistorical approach
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Digital source criticism in the 21st century
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A virtual exhibition on the Great War in Luxembourg
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