Building community and networks among those using digital research methods is an important part of our work: giving people the chance to meet others with similar interests, inspiring researchers and ensuring that our community has opportunities to hear from leading scholars. Over the years, the team has also built up our own expertise, and this year we were delighted to be able to share our work in a number of different venues.
This year's annual lecture was delivered by Professor Alex Gil, of Yale University. The Point is Still To Change It: On Doing Better Than Best Practices in Data Work for Culture and Society, explored a range of projects to examine how best practices can "serve as little else than alibis for rigid hierarchies and the imposition of North Atlantic forms of being that take for granted rich computational infrastructures" and how the Digital Humanities community might aim for 'better than best' in future.
| 12th Aug | The Systems Which Govern Us - Madhumita Murgia & Georgina Voss |
| 2nd Oct | Open Methods for Digital Conservation of Historic Musical Instruments - Matthew Hamilton |
| 8th Oct | Wikidata, Biographical Lives, and Linked Infrastructures of Women’s Work 1870-195 - James Baker |
| 30th Oct | The Politics of Numbers: Queer Data and the Counting of LGBTQ Communities - Kevin Guyan |
IASH Digital Research Postdoctoral Fellow Alexandra Huang-Kokina, whose fellowship CDCS supports, was given funding to host a conference that brought together scholars across her research field.
Martha Bohm, a PhD student at ESALA, received CDCS funding to host a workshop on how architects are using digital tools to respond to the climate crisis.
We supported our colleague Professor Arkotong Longkumer to host this event arising out of his Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project, Decolonising the Museum: Digital Repatriation of the Gaidinliu Collection from the UK to India (DiMuse).
Culture is Bad for You, written by CDCS Advisory Board member Orian Brook and colleagues, offers a powerful call to transform the cultural and creative industries by examining the intersections between race, class and gender inequalities in cultural occupations. This event marked the publication of a new, updated edition of the book. The authors and scholars from around the world discussed the mechanisms of exclusion in cultural work and how they are mirrored in other national and policy contexts.
In addition to the events we support and our seminars, which are open to the public, we host networking events and informal gatherings such as monthly fikas, community townhalls and PhD Socials. Over two thirds of those attending our events are staff and students of the University of Edinburgh. The external attendees to our seminars and research workshops come not only from other universities, but also from the private and third sector, government and galleries, libraries and museums.
Lucia Michielin, Inclusive Community Building through Digital Heritage Preservation in Times of Crisis: Strategies for Cohesive Resilience in the Face of War, Migration, and Climate Change (University of St Andrews and Charles University, Czech Republic)
Lisa Otty, UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association Conference (University of Glasgow)
Lisa Otty, Digital Research Conference (University of Edinburgh)
Lucia Michielin, Jessica Witte and Kenneth Fordyce, DH2025, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Lucia Michielin, DH2025, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Jessica Witte, DH2025, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Lisa Otty and Giota Alevizou (KCL), Digital Humanities Congress 2024 (University of Sheffield)
Jessica Witte and Lucia Michielin, UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association Conference (University of Glasgow)
Digital research is often interdisciplinary, and it can be hard to meet those working with the same methods in other disciplines. To help, we hold regular get-togethers including 'fikas' (coffee mornings), socials and of course community events such as the Digital Research Prizes award ceremony. Everyone is welcome to come along and join our welcoming network!
