THATCamp User Generated Unconference on Digital Humanities
Paris, 2010
Manifesto begins:
We, professionals or observers of the digital humanities (humanités numériques) came together in Paris for THATCamp on May 18th and 19th, 2010.
Over the course of these two days, we discussed, exchanged, and collectively reflected upon what the digital humanities are, and tried to imagine and invent what they could become.
At the close of the camp – which represents but a first step – we propose to the research communities, and to all those involved in the creation, publication, valorization or preservation of knowledge, a manifesto for the digital humanities.
The interactive Map of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's correspondence provides a geographic visualization of Rousseau's letters from the Collection complète des oeuvres, published in Geneva between 1780 and 1789.
Stanford Humanities Research Project
Mapping the Republic of Letters is an opportunity for a unique collaboration between the humanities and sciences to produce a model of a real world network, using rich and diverse examples from this historical material.
The Republic of Letters expresses a wide range of correlations over time and space such that, on a large scale, it can be viewed as a loose affiliation of individuals based on principals, methods of communication and philosophical ideals over a period spanning hundreds of years. At the other extreme, it is expressed in closely affiliated clusters of individuals sharing ideas either directly in correspondence, in salons, or indirectly through publications and via intermediaries. In every case, there are many conditions and constraints influencing network processes including language, location, social circles, political events, intrigue, religious affiliation, and gender.
Combining the implications of geographic data, historical events, personal relationships, and social data, this is an excellent case study for how the spread of ideas at the global scale relates to the dynamical processes that operate at the local scale. Much of this data has been captured and has already allowed us to begin mapping the physical and virtual topology of the network. The great challenge presented by this project, however, is in resolving the data that has not yet been captured. We want to demonstrate how visual analysis tools can help us to generate new knowledge through methods rooted in humanities scholarship using annotation capabilities and the ability for scholars to insert new data and resolve existing data.
Description taken from http://enlightenment.humanitiesnetwork.org
The French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe, 1769-1794
A major resource for bibliographical, historical and literary scholarship, it is now made freely available to academics and the wider public.
The database tracks the dissemination of over 400,000 copies of almost 4,000 editions of 3,600 works around Europe by a celebrated Swiss publisher-bookseller, the Société typographique de Neuchâtel (STN), in the period 1769-1794.
The database allows users to explore the STN’s supply and distribution networks across time and space, on both a macro and a micro level. They can investigate the dissemination of single works or the trade of individual clients; the STN’s client networks; the distribution patterns for all works, or those by a particular author or on particular themes. Specialist tools allow for geographic mapping; the graphing of trends over time; or the creation of local and regional best-sellers tables. Advanced query options make it possible to make specialised searches by, among other things, legal or illegal sectors; gender or clients; or place of publication.
The database is also accompanied by written guides and instructional videos.