Digital Source Criticism

The combination of the three terms, ‘digital’, ‘source’ and ‘criticism’ refers to the need to apply a key principle for the professional historian - the critical assessment of the origin, authenticity and value of a historical source - to the digitised and digital born sources that are currently available on the web. This asks for a basic understanding of the transformation process from analog to digital, the creation process of digital born data, the publication of this information on the web, and the computational mechanisms to retrieve this information that are performed by search engines.

Wikipedia as a source of historical knowledge
EN
A lesson on Wikipedia as a born-digital source of history and how to apply digital source criticism to it. The lesson invites historians to adapt their critical approach to Wikipedia as a born-digital source for historical research. More specifically, it suggests ways to apply digital source criticism to Wikipedia's infrastructure and content and to explore potential uses of Wikipedia for historians. The lesson proposes a short introductory video and a set of five assignments. No specific technical skills are required to complete the assignments.
Authors
Petros Apostolopoulos
Exploring Historical Newspapers in the Digital Age
EN
Newspapers are imperfect recorders of history, yet they are a key asset for historical research. This lesson deals with how digitised newspapers that are available online change the way historians use newspapers as historical sources, and ask new skills for applying source criticism.
Authors
Marten Düring
Estelle Bunout
Digitization Workflow: Talk with Sorin Marti, a Data Steward's Perspective
EN
In this podcast, produced by virtualculture.ch, sociologist Jane Haller, Digitales Schaudepot president, is conversing with Sorin Marti, a data steward in the Research Infrastructure Support Entity (RISE) at the University of Basel to discuss aspects of data management for public consumption.
Authors
Vera Chiquet
Jane Haller
Sorin Marti
Digitization Workflow: Talk with Esaù Dozio, a Curator's View
EN
In this podcast, produced by virturalculture.ch, Jane Haller, a sociologist, digital project manager, and president of the Digitales Schaudepot, is in conversation with Esaù Dozio, a curator at the Antikenmuseum Basel. Within their chat, they discuss the process of selecting items for special exhibitions, and the mistakes and challenges that can arise.
Authors
Jane Haller
Esaù Dozio
Vera Chiquet
When Applied and Critical Digital Humanities Meets Democracy: the KT4D Project
EN
This webinar from Prof. Jennifer Edmond and Dr. Eleonora Lima at Trinity College Dublin discusses the Knowledge Technologies for Democracy (KT4D) project and its investigation into how democracy and civic participation can be better facilitated in the face of rapidly changing knowledge technologies, namely Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data.
Authors
Jennifer Edmond
Eleonora Lima
Has Anyone Cited A Woman?
EN
Women have long been under-represented in science, but their output appears to be often under-represented in citations. In this talk, presented as part of the DAIRAH Friday Frontiers webinar series, Sally Wyatt (Maastricht University) addresses how to achieve citational justice.
Authors
Sally Wyatt
Data Journalism and AI: New frontiers in investigation and storytelling
EN
Data is now an indispensable part of investigative work and storytelling for journalists and newsrooms. Computational methods and artificial intelligence are making their way to newsrooms more than ever before, and promise to open up new opportunities for journalists, as well as new challenges. This talk provides an overview of how data and Artificial Intelligence can be used in the journalism workflow, investigative reporting and storytelling.
Authors
Bahareh Heravi