CLARIAH Tech Day 29 June: A Short Recap
For those who unfortunately missed the Tech & Data Day on the 29th on June.
Introduction to Tech & Data Days
The purpose of Tech & Data Days is to connect researchers: not only with CLARIAH but also with each other. It is valuable and essential to have regular discussions with other Digital Humanities projects and developers in the Netherlands working on similar topics about the technical solutions, possibilities, preconditions, and choices. Doing so helps us gain perspective when developing a joint infrastructure and allows us to use the enormous potential of knowledge and expertise in this broad field. This is why we invite various speakers from the comprehensive network of subjects – no Tech & Data Day is the same as the other. Additionally: they are freely accessible to everyone.
The recap of the latest Tech & Data Day
The Tech & Data Day on 29 June was all about data. The question of how to increase the implementation of new tools within the arts and humanities and increase their use was central. Both the panellists and attendees took part in the discussion, and while some agreed to disagree on specific topics, a consensus was reached. Almost all Tech & Data Day participants agreed that everyone would benefit from a basic level of digital literacy, but what that looks like is the next issue. What is the starting point, and where do we put the responsibility? It might be an idea to provide two compulsory subjects and expand on them in due time. It is essential to agree that there are different sets of skills and, in doing so, different digital literacy standards.
The aim of the Tech & Data Day is to improve collaboration between disciplines. Most developers and users have already noticed that there are a lot of data and tools, but researchers need to know that they are there and how to use them. In addition, developments are rapid and keeping up with them and staying relevant is demanding. These kinds of concerns are happily on everyone's mind, and it was cool to see how everyone thinks about and deals with them from their perspective on this interactive and exciting day.
Upcoming Tech & Data Day
Our next Tech & Data Day will also centre around Data & Tool Criticism. This event will be held on Thursday 28 September at KB, the National Library of the Netherlands. Keep an eye on our event calendar for more information. Please register and save the date, we hope to see there!
Testimonials
It was a great day; it was very nice to meet with researchers and discuss how to connect their data with tech solutions.
I think it is very important to bring different people together around this issue. There are a lot of bridges to be built between tech-data people and humanities people. I think we should especially look at each other's qualities and how we can complement each other. Software developers can play a big role in this; for example, researchers often want a comprehensive manual, but shouldn't we just develop software that is self-explanatory? It is interesting to see how we can bridge this gap. At Eyra this is our expertise. We do this mostly for social sciences now, but these kinds of solutions could empower humanities as well. This was a great opportunity for me to meet all these people together and learn what humanities scholars need.
I liked being around so many allies, so to speak. Sometimes you get the sense that you must defend your position regarding digital humanities and try to find like-minded people. Even though there is a room full of allies here, I still think we are still in the early stages of converting academia into becoming more digital. We are in the vanguard of digital humanities, which provides us with a certain kind of power to influence which direction we will take. This makes me enthusiastic and hopeful. We agreed on most of the major points, which also gives me hope that we can take the right steps.
What I liked about the event is that it shows that CLARIAH is really looking outwards. CLARIAH is genuinely reaching out to involve the whole digital humanities research community in the Netherlands.
I enjoyed the format of today. It was also lovely to meet with so many researchers from the Dutch environment. It's always nice to see how they interpret digital scholarship from their point of view, with their different competencies and tools from their centres and universities.
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