Digital Humanities

Cleaning and Reconciling Literary Historical Data with AI: Reflections from the STEMMA Project

Cleaning and Reconciling Literary Historical Data with AI: Reflections from the STEMMA Project

Date: 21 October 2025 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 pm (HKT)
Via Zoom

Speaker: Prof. Erin McCarthy, Professor of English Literature and Computational Humanities and the Principal Investigator of the STEMMA Project, University of Galway

Click here to register.

About the talk

The European Research Council-funded project “STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700” aims to build the first large-scale computational model of the circulation on English-language poetry. To do so, the STEMMA team has reconciled five of the most comprehensive sources of data about early modern poetic manuscripts. In this talk, Prof. McCarthy will describe the use of computational methods such as locality sensitive hashing, cosine similarity, and LLM agents to assist with the cleaning and reconciliation of historical data. These methods allow us to strike a balance between working with “dirty” data and retaining evidence of the untidy state in which it was found. However, they still require significant computational effort and literary historical supervision. The talk will therefore reflect on the opportunities and challenges presented by such work and offer ideas about future directions.

About the speaker

Erin A. McCarthy is Established Professor of English Literature and Computational Humanities and the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded project “STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700” at the University of Galway. She is the author of Doubtful Readers: Print, Poetry, and the Reading Public (Oxford University Press, 2020), which was named an Outstanding Academic Title by CHOICE and won the 2020 John Donne Society Award for Distinguished Publication. She is currently completing two monographs: a jointly authored monograph about the findings of the RECIRC project, “The Reception and Circulation of Early Modern Women’s Writing in Manuscript Miscellanies, 1550–1700,” with Marie-Louise Coolahan and Sajed Chowdhury, and a sole-authored monograph called “Interpreting Early Modern Manuscripts: Towards a New Methodology.” Her scholarship has also appeared in the John Donne Journal, SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900, the Review of English Studies, Criticism, and Reformation.

DARIAH’s Visual Media & Interactivity Working Group – Workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation [Oct 22nd, in person & online]

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Workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation

October 22nd, 2025 [in person and online]

DARIAH’s Visual Media & Interactivity Working Group is participating in a one-day workshop on audiovisual corpora annotation, which will take place on October 22 during the 5th DARIAH-HR International Conference  (University of Osijek, Croatia). The workshop can also be followed remotely. Below is the link to the workshop presentation and to the registration form. 

https://dhh.dariah.hr/2025/workshops

The Consortium for Annotation, Analysis and Archiving of Video Applied to Scientific Activities (Canevas) is accredited since 2022 by the French research infrastructure for Digital Humanities Huma-Num. Since April 2025, this consortium has been receiving European EOSC-OSCARS funding for a period of 24 months, which has given rise to the OASIS project (Open Audiovisual Science Innovation Scheme). The aim of Canevas and OASIS is to facilitate research in the humanities and social sciences involving audiovisual corpora by facilitating actions such as archiving, annotating, commenting, analysing, and sharing videos. To do this, the members of the Canevas consortium have created two tools, Celluloid (for annotating corpora on media studies and media literacy) and e-spect@tor (for annotating corpora on the performing arts, especially theater), which enable collaborative annotation of videos for research or teaching purposes. These are free and open source tools (https://github.com/celluloid-camp/) that comply with open science and FAIR data standards, while leveraging AI to promote the intelligibility of videos and the interactions that result from them.

As part of the OASIS project, the Canevas Consortium is organising a workshop during the pre-conference day of the 5th DARIAH-HR International Conference, which will take place on Wednesday 22 October 2025. This workshop will be divided into two 3-hour sessions. The first will take place on Wednesday morning and aims to introduce participants to the PeerTube technology, developed by the French education-oriented video network Framasoft to offer an alternative to the services provided by the GAFAM, and particularly the online video hosting platform Youtube, and thus promote digital empowerment. The second session, on Wednesday afternoon, will be devoted to learning how to use the Celluloid and e-spect@tor tools. We invite you to discover collaborative annotation through your own audiovisual corpus, enabling you to develop new skills adapted to the changes of media practices and the epistemological issues that come with them. During this second session, we will focus on specific features provided by these tools: some are automated using AI, such as audio transcription and video segmentation into chapters, while others can be done manually and allow users to enrich their viewing experience through the traces they leave behind.

By renewing interactions and collaborations with these digital tools, this workshop aims to introduce participants, from all disciplines and all levels of video expertise, to our research methods while allowing to acquire new skills to foster a convergence culture around video archiving and annotations. These can then be deployed in various educational or research contexts, which can be enhanced, for instance, with group work in the classroom, or in research carried out by researchers in training (Masters, PhD) or more experienced researchers. 

The workshop will be led (in English) by:

  • Michael Bourgatte, Professor at the University of Lorraine (France)
  • Cécile Chantraine-Braillon, Professor at the University of La Rochelle (France)
  • Anatole Grimaldi, OASIS project engineer
  • Laurent Tessier, Professor at the Catholic University of Paris

NB: to get the most out of this workshop, please bring your own computer. It is also possible to follow this workshop with one computer for several people. Moreover, if you want to explore part of one of your corpora, you can send us one of your videos. All video formats are welcome. 

Reframing the Past: Transforming Research and Teaching in Chinese History with Digital Tools [17th Oct @2pm – in person]

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Reframing the Past: Transforming Research and Teaching in Chinese History with Digital Tools

17 October 2025, 14:00 – 16:00 [In person event, registration required] Neill Theatre, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin

This workshop led by Prof. Lik Hang Tsui offers a forum for sharing insights and collaboratively exploring how digital tools are reshaping historical research and teaching in Chinese studies. We will begin with a concise introduction to foundational concepts in digital humanities, using Chinese historical research as core examples to demonstrate applicable methods. The session will include practical demonstrations of using digital tools to locate and analyze historical figures and place names in classical Chinese texts and records from imperial China, followed by a discussion of how text markup and collaborative annotation can deepen engagement with these sources. We draw on open resources such as the China Biographical Database (CBDB), the China Historical Geographic Information System (CHGIS), and the Chinese Text Project (CTEXT). We will also examine the transformative potential of LLMs, considering how AI can support text generation, question design, and the creation of engaging educational content for Chinese history. Throughout, we emphasize integrating digital humanities tools into the research and learning of Chinese history, addressing both the challenges and opportunities presented by digitization and artificial intelligence.

Lik Hang Tsui is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong, where he is also the Associate Director of the Talent and Education Development Office. Prior to joining CityU, he worked as a Departmental Lecturer in Classical Chinese at the University of Oxford and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University with the China Biographical Database (CBDB). He has published on middle period Chinese history, especially on epistolary culture and urban history, as well as on digital humanities methods for studying Chinese history. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He has also held fellowships at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and University of Western Australia in Perth. Tsui co-edits book reviews for Cultural History and serves as an associate editor for IJHAC: A Journal of Digital Humanities. He is also the co-convenor of the Digital Learning and Literacy cluster in his College in CityU.

Workshop co-organised by Centre for Asian Studies and Centre for Digital Humanities

Register Here

Navigating Wicked problems and Misinformation: Exploring Systems Thinking & Learning in Interactive Digital Narratives

Navigating Wicked problems and Misinformation: Exploring Systems Thinking & Learning in Interactive Digital Narratives

Oct 7th, 2025, 12-13:45pm, University of Galway [in person and online – registration required]

This session explores the diverse practice and research foundations underpinning a transdisciplinary and systems thinking approach to navigating information literacy and wicked problems in socio-ecological systems. This master class will delve into the concept so Interactive Digital Narratives IDNs, and systems mapping and thinking in educational settings. It introduces the concept of Systemic Learning IDNs: Interactive Digital Narrative experiences explicitly designed to support learners in exploring, understanding, and reflecting on complex systems and interdependencies.

Speakers

  • Dr. Rahmin Bender-Salazar, University of Galway
  • Breanne Pitt, Trinity College Dublin
  • Dr. Christian Roth, HKU Utrecht

Registration: https://ti.to/creative-tech/masterclass-digital-narratives

This masterclass is part of a series run by the Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway. Further information about the series can be found at: https://universityofgalway.ie/creative-tech/training/masterclasses/ 

Network power: the humanities and data science in collaboration

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When: 25 September 16:00 to 18:30.

Free hybrid event – registration required.

This event, organised by the Humanities and Data Science Turing Special Interest Group and hosted by the Bodleian Libraries, marks a moment of reflection and renewal. It will look back at how far the special interest group have come in building infrastructure, knowledge, and communities of practice, and look ahead to what’s next. What is the role of the humanities in an increasingly datafied world? What forms of digital scholarship and collaboration will the next decade demand? And how do they, as a network, continue to support and shape those futures?

In person registration: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/in-person-registration-network-power
Online registration: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/online-registration-network-power

Teangeolaíocht na Gaeilge | Linguistics of the Gaelic Languages

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A conference will be held on the 11 and 12 of September 2025 at the Royal Academy of Ireland, Dublin, to discuss Teangoelaíocht na Gaeilge/Cananachas na Gàidhlig/The Linguistics of the Gaelic Languages. The conference is a collaboration between the Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge and the Committee for Irish Language and Celtic Studies.

The Thursday will conclude with a reception and book launch, Craobh eolais – a Festschrift for Ruairí Ó hUiginn, edited by Gregory Toner, Lára Ní Mhaoláin & Fionntán de Brún

Tionólfar comhdháil ar an 11ú agus 12ú lá de Mheán Fómhair 2025 in Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, Baile Átha Cliath, ina gcuirfear Teangeolaíocht na Gaeilge/Cananachas na Gàidhlig/The Linguistics of the Gaelic Languages faoi chaibidil. Beidh an chomhdháil á reáchtáil faoi choimirce Fhoclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge agus Coiste Léann na Gaeilge agus an Léinn Cheiltigh, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann.

Críochnóidh an Déardaoin le fáiltiú agus seoladh leabhair, Craobh eolais – a Festschrift for Ruairí Ó hUiginn, in eagar ag Gregory Toner, Lára Ní Mhaoláin & Fionntán de Brún.

To register: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/royalirishacademy/1759077

EOI – UK-IE DHA

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Open Call:
The UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association is seeking three new members to join their governing collective during a pivotal transition period leading to their first open elections in 2026.
UK-IE DHA is looking for:
Passionate advocates for digital humanities
Diverse voices from across DH communities
Commitment to a 3-year term through the governance transition
Representatives from both the UK and Ireland

For more on the call:
UK-IE DHA Governance Call

To submit a brief Expression of Interest use their online form by Friday, July 11th, 2025:
Expression of Interest – UK-IE DHA

This is an excellent opportunity to shape the future of digital humanities in the UK and Ireland. Current collective members are available to discuss what’s involved.

Decision timeline: End of August 2025