Presentation at the Judaica Europeana Digital Humanities workshop at the British Library, 31 October 2011. The focus is on digital resources for European Jewish history.

1. Internet
resources
for
historical
research:
Jewish
content
in
a
broader
context
Judaica
Europeana
Digital
Humani<es
Workshop
31
October
2011
-­‐
Bri0sh
Library
Gerben
Zaagsma
Huygens
Ins*tute
for
the
History
of
the
Netherlands
Royal
Netherlands
Academy
of
Arts
&
Sciences
1

2. Introduc)on
Digital Agenda for Europe: Digital Libraries
Initiative
Europe's cultural and scientific riches at a click of a mouse
In ancient times, the library of Alexandria was said to contain up to 70% of all
human knowledge. The challenge for the digital age is to do even better than
that – and make the result last longer.
Source:
h@p://ec.europa.eu/informa0on_society/ac0vi0es/digital_libraries/index_en.htm.
2

3. Introduc)on
Source:
Study
Report
Numeric-­‐
Sta0s0cs
on
digi0sa0on
of
cultural
materials
in
Europe
(2009):
h=p://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-­‐digicult/numeric-­‐study_en.pdf.
3

4. Introduc)on
eNumerate:
h=p://www.enumerate.eu/.
4

5. Introduc)on
Digital
sources
avalanche...
➡ increasing
amount
of
digital
content
in
Jewish
Studies
...
but
do
we
ask
enough
ques<ons?
• selec5on:
what
do
we
get
and
why?
• implica5ons
for
historical
research?
➡ digital
source
cri5cism:
using
digital
resources
5

6. Outline
1. overview
of
digital
sources
for
Jewish
historical
research
2. using
digital
sources
3. concluding
remarks
6

7.
Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
7

8. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
tekst
8

9. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
tekst
h=p://sammlungen.ub.uni-­‐frankfurt.de/judaica
8

10. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
9

11. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
9

12. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
9

13. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
9

14. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
9

15. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
10

16. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
10

17. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
h=p://dlibra.psnc.pl/index.php?lang=en.
10

18. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
CBN
Polona:
h=p://www.polona.pl/dlibra/.
11

19. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
PIONIER
Network
Digital
Libraries
Federa*on:
h=p://Uc.pionier.net.pl/owoc/main
12

20. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
ePaveldas:
h=p://www.epaveldas.lt/. 13

21. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
h=p://www.jpress.org.il/view-­‐english.asp.
14

22. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
15

23. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
h=p://digital.cjh.org/.
15

24. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
h=p://legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/jws/yizkorbooks_intro.cfm
16

25. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
17

26. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
h=p://www.judaica-­‐europeana.eu/.
17

27. Jewish
digital
sources:
an
overview
Judaica
Europeana
is
different:
• systema5c
publica5on
&
integra5on
of
digital
collec5ons
rela5ng
to
(urban)
Jewish
history
all
over
Europe
• Europeana
built
for
the
seman5c
web:
Linked
Open
Data
18

28.
using
digital
sources
19

29. Life
cycle
of
historical
informa)on
Boonstra,
Onno,
Leen
Breure
and
Peter
Doorn,
Past,
present
and
future
of
historical
informa0on
science
(Amsterdam,
2004),
p17.
20

30. Life
cycle
of
historical
informa)on
crea4on
retrieval
analysis
Boonstra,
Onno,
Leen
Breure
and
Peter
Doorn,
Past,
present
and
future
of
historical
informa0on
science
(Amsterdam,
2004),
p17.
20

31. Crea)on
• crea5on
is
preceded
by
selec<on
21

32. Crea)on
quan0ty
can
obscure
the
awareness
that
selec0on
takes
place 22

33. Crea)on
quan0ty
can
obscure
the
awareness
that
selec0on
takes
place 22

34. Crea)on
• crea5on
is
preceded
by
selec5on
• selec5on
reflects:
-­‐ preserva5on
concerns
-­‐ academic
research
agendas
-­‐ public
discourses
on
the
past,
processes
of
memorialisa5on,
na5onal
interests
23

35. Crea)on
• crea5on
is
preceded
by
selec5on
• selec5on
reflects:
-­‐ preserva5on
concerns
-­‐ academic
research
agendas
-­‐ public
discourses
on
the
past,
processes
of
memorialisa5on,
na5onal
interests
• selec5on
is
interlinked
with
funding
24

36. Crea)on
Roy
Rosenzweig:
“If
na5onal
archives
were
part
of
the
projects
of
state-­‐
building
and
na5onalism,
then
why
should
states
support
post-­‐na5onal
digital
archives?”
Roy
Rosenzweig,
‘Scarcity
or
Abundance?
Preserving
the
Past
in
a
Digital
Era’,
The
American
Historical
Review
108
(2003)
735-­‐762,
752.
25

37. Crea)on
• Germany:
systema5c
effort
to
save
the
printed
Jewish
past
for
the
digital
future
• former
East
bloc:
a
sense
of
na5onal
pride
and
of
newly
found
independence
in
the
post-­‐communist
era
• framing
the
European
project:
crea5ng
a
sense
of
European
heritage
...
oRen
the
na0on
or
suprana0on
looms
in
the
background,
either
in
terms
of
an
agenda
or
in
terms
of
funding
or
both
26

38. Crea)on
What
about
“marginal”
and
non-­‐na<onal
topics?
Example
=
Yiddish
:
Yiddish
does
not
belonging
to
one
par0cular
na0on:
who
takes
responsibility
for
saving
“transna0onal”
heritage?
the
digital
paradox:
marginality
reinforced?
27

39. Crea)on
from
philanthropy... 28

40. Crea)on
...
to
supra-­‐na0onal
ins0tu0ons
coming
to
the
rescue:
Judaica
Europeana
as
an
online,
digital
con0nua0on
of
Council
of
Europe
ac0vi0es
29

41. Crea)on
• why
do
we
get
it:
selec5on
&
funding
• what
do
we
get:
type
of
sources
30

42. Crea)on
Pathfinder
Survey
Result.
Summary
analysis
of
a
survey
to
test
defini0ons,
terms
and
ways
of
measuring
digi0sa0on
ac0vi0es
in
cultural
ins0tu0ons
in
Europe
(Numeric
report
2007):
h=p://www.numeric.ws/uploaded_files/Report_of_Pathfinder_Survey_0712056122007175432.pdf.
31

43. Retrieval
“normal”
search
engines
32

44. Retrieval
metadata
search
engines
like
OAIster
and
BASE
(OAI-­‐PMH):
h=p://oaister.worldcat.org/;
h=p://www.base-­‐search.net/.
33

45. Retrieval
EHPS:
h=p://primary-­‐sources.eui.eu/.
34

46. Retrieval
• querying
digital
resources
• full-­‐text
search:
OCR
versus
non-­‐OCR
• RTL
languages>
how
the
state
of
technology
can
create
uneven
possibili5es
• metadata
35

47. Analysis
• what
happens
to
context?
36

48. Analysis
Historical
Jewish
Press:
Bulle0n
de
l’Alliance
Israélite
Universelle:
full-­‐text
search
=
socialistes 37

49. Analysis
Historical
Jewish
Press:
Bulle0n
de
l’Alliance
Israélite
Universelle:
full-­‐text
search
=
socialistes 37

50. Analysis
37

51. Concluding
remarks
• digital
sources
for
Jewish
history
and
the
place
of
Judaica
Europeana
• crea5on:
selec5on
and
funding
• retrieval:
loca5ng
and
querying
resources
• analysis:
context,
context,
context...
38

52. Concluding
remarks
The
future:
historical
research
in
a
u<litarian
age>
from
offline
to
online?
if
so
we
have
a
responsibility
to
ensure
that
what
is
offered
online
represents
the
broadest
possible
spectrum
of
sources
related
to
the
subject
we
are
interested
in.
39