Digital humanities (DH) is one of the more recently established areas of research in the humanities. This vibrant area is currently developing fast, with strong political and public financial support. In Germany, a number of independent academic structures have developed recently, particularly over the last decade and a half; these include associations, working groups, competence centres, courses of study, professorships, seminar series and publication forums. In addition, numerous networks and working groups have been set up in library studies and in the traditional humanities, too, which are now also engaging intensively with the DH.

As one of the country's central memorial institution, the German National Library is monitoring these developments closely, particularly in its role as

• a library infrastructure partner,
• a service provider,
• an employer,
• and not least as an archive of materials to which an exceptionally wide variety of research questions are directed.

The recently initiated series of workshops on the DH aims to showcase and analyse current developments, requirements, methods and perspectives in the field.

Motive

The background to this series of workshops is the aforementioned current boom in DH in Germany. Along with the establishment of a dedicated organisation (DHd), this is particularly evident from

• the foundation of numerous local DH institutions, cooperatives, networks and working groups in traditional humanities organisations, academies and memorial institutions,
• the creation of more than 60 professorships over the last ten years,
• the introduction of three or four new courses every winter semester, and
• changes to academic funding conditions, which now require applicants to implement digital humanities strategies.

German politics are also prioritising the DH, for example in the context of the current process of developing national research data infrastructures (NFDI). Moreover, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has elevated DH to the status of an independent academic discipline. Since March 2018, the new copyright law for the knowledge-based society (UrhWissG) (in particular § 60d UrhG on text and data mining) has opened up a new scope for action in the DH that can now be exploited by the German National Library in service of researchers.

Goals

The German National Library set forth the basic principles of its work in the digital humanities in its Strategic Compass “German National Library 2025” and Strategic Priorities 2017–2020. Its digital humanities workshops are now pursuing the following goals:

• Deeper understanding of the heterogeneous developments bundled under the term “DH”
  from the digitisation of analogue data and the collection of original digital data through the analysis of large data volumes to the long-term preservation of digital data. This also encompasses a deeper understanding of current institutional developments with the aim of determining their relevance and added value and exploring the challenges they pose for the German National Library in terms of the fulfilment of its legal mandate
• Development of a network of influential players in the field of DH
  initially focusing on the transfer of knowledge (academic dialogue, cooperative pilot research projects involving the German National Library's collections, dissertations and student work placements at the German National Library), while the medium-term goals include the establishment of research partnerships, e.g. to submit joint applications for external funding
• Raising awareness of the German National Library's open access digital holdings (metadata, tables of contents), the new possibilities for using the German National Library’s data scientifically by means of text and data mining in compliance with statutory regulations (in particular § 60d UrhG), and those of the German National Library's activities that are directly relevant to the DH (GND, nestor, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek)
• Deeper understanding of the humanities’ changing expectations of the German National Library as a partner and service provider in the field of DH

The German National Library invited a number of important stakeholders in the field of digital humanities (DH) to attend a series of workshops. Workshops I in Leipzig was attended by humanities organisations with a particularly strong interest in the German National Library's collection mandate and the focal areas of its collecting activities. The participants in workshop II in Frankfurt am Main were representatives of leading DH institutions. Care was taken to invite various types of DH institution for the purpose of obtaining a comparative overview of the nature and sustainability of the digital humanities in Germany. Workshop III in Leipzig dealt with the chances and risks of web-based data analysis. Finally, Workshop IV focused on DH and cultural heritage organizations, the aim being to facilitate discussion and comparison of stakeholder experiences with those of related memory institutions.

Image / Video 1 / 13

Pagination

: Konzentrierte Arbeit beim Digital Humanities Workshop in der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek in Fankfurt am Main …

Results

Workshop I and II: Digital Humanities in the context of traditional humanities

The initiative was greeted with great interest, praise and curiosity during both workshops. The introductory statements made by participants and the subsequent discussions furnished in-depth, differentiated insights into the current role of DH in the humanities (workshop in Leipzig) and the structure, institutional set-up and medium-term planning of the respective DH institutions (workshop in Frankfurt am Main). The German National Library was able to clearly communicate its position, potential, needs, and also the limits of its commitment to important players in the DH: from the German National Library as an employer to the NFDI process, from demands for expertise to data services.

Moreover, central expectations and hopes were addressed to the German National Library – for example on unsolved issues relating to the long-term preservation and usability of digital research data. Common interests and challenges were also identified, for example in the areas of long-term preservation, authority data, search engines, data quality standards, metadata enrichment and copyright. Initial steps have been taken towards setting up a network to facilitate ongoing dialogue. The first follow-up activities have already been initiated, e.g. with regard to open access data, work placements and the cooperative supervision of dissertations.

Workshop III: Radical change in evaluation culture? On the inconsistent collection, visibility, accessibility and cataloguing of cultural heritage in the digital domain

The third workshop focused on a challenge that is of central importance to scientific and memory institutions alike, i.e. the change in evaluation culture currently being observed in connection with all kinds of cultural information (e.g. works, documentation, public communication, research data) in the digital domain together with factors such as collectability, cataloguing, cross-linking, visibility, searchability, incompleteness, data quality, trustworthiness, conditions for use etc. The question of when and how selection decisions are made and by whom (keywords: legitimacy and procedure) is of paramount importance and was continually addressed from all directions throughout the workshop. This is true for example

• of the many different motives for selection, the complexity of the factors that influence selection decisions and the interactions between them,
• the heterogeneity of the primary selection bodies (from expert panel to self-regulatory grassroots crowd model),
• the unclear relationship between science and memory institutions in this process, which diverges from case to case (distribution of roles and competences?),
• the user’s expectation that the digital services provided by memory institutions will be complete,
• the need to disclose the criteria and decision-making processes applied to selection decisions.

Follow-up activities on the subject of “web archiving” have been agreed with the University of Passau; work on “image recognition and analysis” is to be carried out with the University of Frankfurt am Main. Moreover, plans have been made with co-organisers Prof. Dr. Feige and Prof. Dr. Becker to deepen and differentiate discourse in this area during a follow-up event on the “selection process applied to selective decisions on collection, cataloguing, presentation and reusability” that became the focus of discussion during the workshop.
One important insight gained during the third workshop was that the subject “Radical change in evaluation culture?” is not yet recognised as significant by many of the humanities disciplines affected. The German National Library is therefore not merely tracking an important development but also actively using it in discourse.

Workshop IV: Current developments and perspectives in the digital humanities: memory institutions

Workshop IV built on the content of the previous workshops. This time the focus was placed on exchange and dialogue between memory institutions and digital humanities centres.

Digital humanities need data. This alone explains why central memory institutions are following this development closely. As part of its legal mandate as Germany's central archive library for text, images and sound, both analogue and digital, the German National Library is heavily involved in developments in the field of German cultural heritage encompassing the past 100 years. The aim of the workshop was to determine the status quo and position of the DNB in the development of the digital humanities in direct comparison with other memory institutions in the cultural sector. Particular attention was paid to media such as images/photos, motion pictures/film, physical objects etc. which are not part or at the centre of the DNB’s collection mandate and with which it has therefore had very little DH experience to date.

Along with the key question “Digital humanities vs. transdisciplinary cooperation – which works better?”, the discussion focused primarily on the following:

• Which resources and competences are needed in research, science and the relevant institutions?
• What developments and findings in the digital humanities can be used to fulfil the German National Library's own legal mandate?
• What opportunities are there for cross-institutional work in the digital humanities?
• How can the heterogeneous expectations of users be fulfilled?
• Which data privacy and copyright requirements must be met?
• How is digitisation changing collection activities?

A detailed discussion of the results of all four workshops was published in ZfBB - Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie 67/3-4 (2020), pp. 213-230

Overview of the institutions invited

Workshop I – “Digital Humanities in the context of traditional humanities”

• Deutscher Anglistenverband (German Association for the Study of English)
• Deutscher Germanistenverband (AG Germanistik im digitalen Zeitalter) (German Association for the Study of German – working group on German studies in the digital age)
• Deutscher Romanistenverband (AG Digitale Romanistik) (German Association for the Study of Romance Languages – working group on digital studies in Romance languages)
• Deutscher Slavistenverband (German Association for the Study of Slavic Languages)
• Gesellschaft für Informatik (FG Informatik und Digital Humanities) (Society for Computer Science – computer science and digital humanities expert group)
• Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft (AG Daten und Netzwerke) (Society for Media Sciences – data and networks working group)
• Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (FG Digitale Musikwissenschaft) (German Musicological Society – digital musicology expert group)
• Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (Society for Cultural Studies)
• Mediävistenverband (AG Digital Mediävistik) (Society of Medievalists – digital medieval studies working group)
• Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (AG Digitale Geschichtswissenschaft) (Association of German Historians – digital history working group)
• Verband deutscher Kunsthistoriker (AK Digitale Kunstgeschichte) (Association of German Art Historians – working group on digital art history)

 Workshop II – „Digital Humanities Centres“

• CCeH Cologne
• GCDH Göttingen
• Trier Center for Digital Humanities
• DHd Association - Digital Humanities in the German-Speaking Countries
• CEDIFOR Frankfurt/Darmstadt
• Mainzed Mainz
• Institut für Deutsche Sprache Mannheim (Abt. Digitale Sprachwissenschaft) (Institute for the German Language in Mannheim, Department of Digital Linguistics)
• Netzwerk für digitale Geisteswissenschaften (Network Digital Humanities) Potsdam

Workshop III - Radical change in evaluation culture? On the inconsistent collection, visibility, accessibility and cataloguing of cultural heritage in the digital domain

• Donig, Simon, Dr. | Universität Passau (DH) (University of Passau)
• Eide, Øyvind, Prof. Dr. | Universität Köln (DH — Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Informationsverarbeitung) (University of Cologne, DH – Information Processing within History and Cultural Studies)
• Euler, Ellen, Prof. Dr. | FH Potsdam (Rechtswissenschaft) (University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Faculty of Law)
• Giesa, Felix, Dr. | Universität Frankfurt (Jugendbuchforschung) (University of Frankfurt, Children's and Young Adult Literature Research)
• Heyden, Linda | Wikimedia
• Klaus, Barbara, M.A. | Universität Wien (Publizistik) (University of Vienna, Journalism)
• Mischke, Dennis, Dr. | Universität Potsdam (Amerikanistik/DH) (University of Potsdam, American Studies/DH)
• Schilling, Samuel, M.A. | Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg (Medienwissenschaft) (Brandenburg University of Technology, Media Studies)
• Schmerbauch, Maik, Dr.| Archivar im Bundesdienst, Lehrbeauftragter für Geschichtswissenschaften (Archivwissenschaft) (Federal Archivist, Lecturer in History (Archival Studies))
• Schmid, Tabea, M.A. | Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd (Strategische Gestaltung/Informationsdesign) (University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd, Strategic Design/Information Design)
• Schmidt, Andreas, Dr. | Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns (Director General of the Bavarian State Archives)
• Stettler, Sabine, M.A. | Universität Zürich (Geschichtswissenschaft) (University of Zurich, History)
• Wagner, Sarah, M.A. | Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (Germanic National Museum Nuremberg)

External partners (concept/realisation):

• Becker, Thomas, Prof. Dr. | HBK Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (Philosophie, Kulturwissenschaft und Soziologie) (Braunschweig University of Art; Philosophy, Cultural Studies and Sociology)
• Feige, Daniel Martin, Prof. Dr. | Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart (Philosophie) (Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, Philosophy)
• Packard, Stephan, Prof. Dr. | Universität zu Köln (Medienwissenschaft) (University of Cologne, Media Studies)

Workshop IV: “Current developments and perspectives in the digital humanities: memory institutions”

Co-operation partners / partner institutions:

• Scheuer, Franziska; Klaus Bulle | Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
• Heftberger, Adelheid, Dr. | | Filmarchiv im Bundesarchiv Berlin (Film Archive in the Federal Archive Berlin)
• Neuburger, Andreas, Dr. | Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (State Archives of Baden-Württemberg)
• Louden, Carola | Stiftung Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv Frankfurt am Main (German Broadcasting Archive Foundation, Frankfurt am Main)
• Oberste-Hetbleck, Nadine, Jun.-Prof. Dr. | ZADIK – Zentralarchiv für deutsche und internationale Kunstmarktforschung (Central Archive for German and International Art Market Research)
• Fichtner, Markus | Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
• Niewerth, Dennis, Dr. | Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven (German Maritim Museum)
• Schmälzle, Christoph, Dr.; Trenkmann, Ulrike | Forschungsverbund Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel
• Lorenz, Jörg | Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster (University and State Library of Münster)
• Rißler-Pipka, Nanette, PD Dr. | Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen (Göttingen State and University Library)

Contact and further information