Digital Resources and Tools in Historical Research

in Kollmann, Stefanie; Müller, Lars; Reh, Sabine (Eds.) et al Picture archives and the emergence of visual history of education. ISCHE 40 pre-conference workshop. 3rd workshop "Pictura Paedagogica Online: educational knowledge in images (2018, December 21)

One of the characteristic features of modern life is the omnipresence of images - in public life as well as in the private surroundings. At latest with coining the term "Visual history" at the beginning ... [more ▼]

One of the characteristic features of modern life is the omnipresence of images - in public life as well as in the private surroundings. At latest with coining the term "Visual history" at the beginning of the nineteen nineties historical disciplines are dealing with this ever growing pool of pictorial sources. This is also true for educational history - especially when keeping in mind that the use of images in an educational context is common practice since early modern ages. This concerns the presentation practices, the design of didactic visual media and their use in educational practice as well as the illustrated traces of historical educational practice and historical educational knowledge (e.g. photographs of school buildings or educational scenes). There are various digital picture archives to address the research questions of many historical disciplines. These databases, though, differ widely in purpose and design - and of course they cannot serve every scientific demand. According to Gerhard Paul there should be at least four layers of information evaluation when analysing historical images (reality of depiction, genesis, use and impact). Thus, building up a corpus of image sources with sufficient accompanying information can be quite challenging. As major topic the Pre-Conference Workshop will focus on the impact of the discipline on developing and maintaining of a picture archive. (DIPF/Orig.) [less ▲]

#DHJewish - Jewish Studies in the Digital Age

in Medaon: Magazin für Jüdisches Leben in Forschung und Bildung (2018), 23

This article discusses the intersection of Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities (DH). It investigates the specific characteristics of Jewish Studies, in terms of both subject matter and sources, and ... [more ▼]

This article discusses the intersection of Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities (DH). It investigates the specific characteristics of Jewish Studies, in terms of both subject matter and sources, and reflects on how digital approaches can be harnessed to address them. What common digital challenges do Jewish Studies scholars face, if these can indeed be defined, and in what ways can the field benefit from developments in the area of DH? Even though Jewish Studies is arguably an umbrella term (as is DH), this article suggests that the field of Jewish Studies has several characteristics that are broadly shared by all the (sub-)disciplines that it incorporates. Conceptualising the encounter between Jewish Studies and DH is thus first and foremost about translating these characteristics into specific digital challenges. As will be argued, the key task is information retrieval and analysis from dispersed, multilingual and multiscriptual sources. [less ▲]

Digital picture archives in historical research and the visual history of education

Presentation (2018, August 28)

This proposal will discuss the use of digital picture archives and associated tools in historical research from the perspective of digital history with a focus on resources for the history of education ... [more ▼]

This proposal will discuss the use of digital picture archives and associated tools in historical research from the perspective of digital history with a focus on resources for the history of education. Our starting point will be threefold: • digital picture archives need to be seen as part of a wide range of digital resources that are currently available for historical research; while certain methodological, epistemological and technical questions are specific for digital picture archives, many pertain to digital resources in general; • similarly: discussing the prerequisites for a picture archive on educational history implies, first, to address the broader question of what prerequisites should be considered for digital archives more generally; and addressing the question of whether or not such general prerequisites can be formulated at all given the wide range of research questions and use cases researchers bring to the table With this broader contextualisation in mind we will focus on the possibilities and limitations of digital picture archives for the history of education through a brief discussion of the following points: • what are the characteristics of digital picture archives; technical and otherwise, and within that context, digital archives for the history of education; can specific characteristics be observed with regard to the latter or not? • what layers of information are currently embedded in digital picture archives for the history of education (taking Gerhard Paul‘s differentiation as a starting point); how can we improve the design, annotation and classification of images through metadata etc, to build corpuses that meet researcher‘s requirements? [less ▲]

Online Storytelling & Webdesign

Presentation (2018, June 26)

"Chosen Fighters of the Jewish People": Jewish volunteers in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War

Presentation (2018, April 05)

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) around 35000 volunteers from many countries fought in the so-called International Brigades that were created and organised by the Communist International. Roughly ... [more ▼]

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) around 35000 volunteers from many countries fought in the so-called International Brigades that were created and organised by the Communist International. Roughly 4000 of these volunteers were of Jewish descent. In december 1937, the Jewish Naftali Botwin company was formed within the 13th Polish Dombrowski Brigade as a result of lobbying efforts by Polish-Jewish migrant communists in Paris. In their daily newspaper, Naye Prese, the company’s existence became an important part of the propaganda battle waged on the ‘Jewish street’ in Paris in support of the Comintern’s post-1935 Popular Front tactic. But while the propaganda was unmistakably communist, the subtext became increasingly Jewish in the course of the war. Indeed, against a background of age-old allegations of ‘Jewish cowardice’, Naye Prese consistently emphasised that the fight of Jewish volunteers, symbolised by the Botwin Company, had an emancipatory dimension: Jews were worthy and equal fighters. Their participation simultaneously served as a model of Jewish action to be emulated by Jewish migrants in France as they sought to negotiate increasingly difficult living circumstances. After World War II and the Holocaust, the memory of Jewish volunteers became decisively shaped by debates on Jewish responses to fascism and Nazism; their participation was inscribed in a broader narrative of Jewish resistance that aimed to counter the myth of Jewish passivity in the face of the Nazi onslaught. To put it succinctly: ‘Spain’ served to prove that Jews did not go like “sheep to the slaughter” but already resisted Hitler in Spain. Based upon my scholarship on Jewish volunteers in the International Brigades, the aim of this paper, then, is to analyze the symbolic meaning of their participation, and show the various ways in which the qualification ‘Jewish’ was and has been imbued with meaning, both during and after the Spanish Civil War. Ultimately, I will show how volunteers of Jewish descent during the Spanish Civil War became Jewish volunteers after the Holocaust. [less ▲]

Closing reflections: EHRI Workshop Engaging New Generations: The Holocaust and Knowledge Dissemination in the Digital Age

Presentation (2017, November 09)

Jewish Volunteers in the International Brigades: What Drove Them?

Article for general public (2017)

Fighting fascism and the passivity myth

Article for general public (2017)