news

Pursuing the Quantum Imaginary: Esoteric Knowledge Production and the Future of Telecommunications Masterclass [Oct 14th @12 – online]

Pursuing the Quantum Imaginary: Esoteric Knowledge Production and the Future of Telecommunications [Online and in person, Oct 14th, 12-2pm]. University of Galway Centre for Creative Technologies.

This masterclass is part of a series run by the Centre for Creative Technologies at University of Galway. The next of this semester’s Masterclass Series is with Nadia Armstrong, a visual artist and practice-based PhD fellow with NCAD and CONNECT, Research Ireland’s Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Through an artist-ethnographic and cyborg feminist lens, Nadia Armstrong’s practice-based PhD research examines the systems of knowledge that underpin quantum communication technologies.

This masterclass will:

  1. take you through Armstrong’s practice-based research methodologies, and
  2. endeavour to explore how the field of quantum communications is understood through broader histories of science, technology, belief systems and culture – tracing the entanglements of bodies, machines, and knowledge systems to create what Armstrong calls the Quantum Imaginary.

Through this research and practice framework, Armstrong parafictions a techno-feminist horizon, using digital processes to conjure imagined phenomena that might help us resist technocracy and emerging forms of techno-feudalism.

————–

Through an artist-ethnographic and cyborg feminist lens, Nadia Armstrong’s practice-based PhD research examines the systems of knowledge that underpin quantum communication technologies. This masterclass will take you through Armstrong’s practice-based research methodologies, and endeavour to explore how the field of quantum communications is understood through broader histories of science, technology, belief systems and culture – tracing the entanglements of bodies, machines, and knowledge systems to create what Armstrong calls the Quantum Imaginary. Through this research and practice framework, Armstrong parafictions a techno-feminist horizon, using digital processes to conjure imagined phenomena that might help us resist technocracy and emerging forms of techno-feudalism. 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://buff.ly/oJKIuoR About Nadia Nadia J. Armstrong is a visual artist and practice-based PhD fellow with NCAD and CONNECT, Research Ireland’s Centre for Future Networks and Communications. Her current artistic research harnesses the socio-technical imaginary to analyse systems of knowledge in the field of quantum communications. Armstrong’s installations act as interfaces to alternative realities, enveloping audiences in emancipatory parafictions that deconstruct appearances of “natural order.” She creates XR environments through which esoteric forms of knowledge become rituals for contemporary survival. Armstrong’s newest work GIRLHERO (2025) was commissioned by the Luan Gallery, Athlone for their exhibition SYSTEM ARMING curated by Aoife Banks.

The exhibition runs till November 16th. Armstrong’s full bio and more information about her work is available at: nadiajarmstrong.com

CONNECT – CONNECT is the world leading Research Ireland Centre for Future Networks and Communications.

Caught in the web: Digitising Arachnid Collections

16 September 2025, 11:00–12:00 [Online]

Caught in the Web: Navigating Challenges in Digitising the Arachnid and Myriapod Collections

Dr. Jason Dunlop, curator of the Arachnida and Myriapoda collections at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, will share insights into the complex process of digitising natural history collections and present the approach taken. While the focus of this online lecture is natural history artefacts it may also be of interest to those working with Cultural Heritage collections and the Collections as Data paradigm.

The presentation will address:

·               Transferring metadata from catalogues into usable digital formats

·               Ensuring data consistency

·               The importance of curatorial expertise in digitisation workflows

·               Ensuring long-term data integrity through committed curation efforts 

For more information about the talk and the link for registration: https://winoda.de/en/event/caught-in-the-web/

DARIAH-IE Seminar May 27th – Agenda

Leave a Comment

11:00 – 12:30 on Tuesday May 27th, 2025

On Tuesday May 27th DARIAH-IE will be hosting an online event for members of the Irish Digital Arts and Humanities communities.

The aim of the seminar is to provide an introduction to DARIAH, the pan-European Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities, to highlight the affordances of DARIAH participation to Irish Digital Arts and Research communities and to demonstrate the variety of ways that DARIAH-IE might be structured at a national level to support engagement.

The seminar will also give an overview of DARIAH-IE and its hopes and aspirations for the next few years, and will offer attendees the opportunity to contribute to the development of the newly invigorated Ireland node.

Target Audience: Digital Arts and Humanities practitioners; Academic researchers, faculty, postgraduate students; Digital librarians, IT specialists (RSE), and university administrators (Research Funding/Impact).

Agenda

11:00 – 11:20               Welcome, introductions and overview

  • Dr Marina Milič, Research Ireland
  • Prof Jennifer Edmond, DARIAH-IE National Coordinator

11:20 – 11:35               Affordances of DARIAH engagement for Irish researchers

  • Dr Sarah Hoover, IADT (CLS INFRA)
  • Dr Michael Kurzmeir, DARIAH-EU (SSHOMP)

11:35 – 11:55               National node approaches

  • Sweden – Prof Koraljka Golub (DARIAH Sweden)
  • France – Nicolas Larrousse (DARIAH-FR/Huma-Num)
  • Austria – TBC (CLARIAH-AT)

12:00 – 12:20               Interactive session and panel discussion led by Prof Jennifer Edmond

12:20 – 12:30               Next steps and closing remarks

Please register your interest in attending using this link:

https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/meeting/register/oOpUz9pKRySbyPTeaHWT0g

The Third Thursday – March 2025

A monthly round-up of DH-related events, webinars, conferences, opportunities & jobs from the DARIAH-IE inbox…

AI and Large Language Models: new impulses for university teaching in Romance studies

Event: April 4, 2025, 13:00-15:30 (CET)  (online)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming higher education – including Romance studies. But what concrete applications do large language models (LLMs) and AI-supported tools offer for teaching in linguistics and literature? What opportunities and challenges do they present for students and teachers in dealing with language, literature, and digital research practices?

In this workshop, experts from various fields of Romance studies will explore current AI developments and present possibilities for their integration into higher education teaching. The workshop is organized by the Digital Romance Studies Group (Verena Weiland and Ursula Winter) in cooperation with Text+ . 

The workshop is aimed at teachers, researchers and students of Romance Studies as well as anyone interested in exploring the potential of AI in humanities teaching.

Registration: https://events.gwdg.de/event/1064/

Persons in Context: Describing person observations in heritage and humanities

Event: April 4, 2025, 14:00-15:30 (CET)  (online)

Persons are observed throughout history in books, archival records, images, paintings and so forth. Linked Data now allows us to describe these person observations in a universal way. In the Netherlands a group of ontologists and a community of archivists and researchers has created a vocabulary to describe such person observations in an abundance of different types of sources. The vocabulary, Persons in Context,  uses mainly existing terms, predominantly from Schema.org. Via this vocabulary, archival institutions and researchers now talk one and the same ‘language’ when it comes to describing person observations, allowing for provenance trails from archival record to research result.

We would very much like to test the ‘universality’ of Persons in Context, against archival records, paintings, statues in other European countries. We therefore would like to draw on your help to see whether you could provide examples of person observations in records, paintings, statutes and other sources. Surely, Persons in Context, will not cover all use cases, but we hope this will serve to bring about a discussion to make Persons in Context even more widely applicable. You don’t need to speak “linked data” or be aware of the vocabulary. Any examples are helpful to us.

To explain our purposes, illustrate Persons in Context and answer questions, we organize an online session, Friday 2025-04-04, 14:00-15:30 CEST and we would very much like to invite you to it. 

For questions and the link to the session, please email: data AT iisg.nl 

Digital Humanities & Research Software Engineering Summer School

Deadline: 22 April 2025

Event: 30 June – 3 July 2025 (in person)

Applications are now open for Digital Humanities & Research Software Engineering Summer School, King’s College London.

Co-organised by King’s Digital Lab, Cambridge Digital Humanities, and Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society, in collaboration with the DISKAH project. Funded by STEP-UP, DISKAH project and Society of RSE.

Free to participants and bursaries available. 

Combines talks and practical activities for those studying or working in Digital Humanities and allied disciplines/sectors, who wish to engage with research software practices more deeply, or who would benefit from networking and support in moving into roles where such practices are more central.

This year’s topics:
* Working collaboratively through the software development life cycle
* Command line skills for digital projects
* High performance computing for large datasets and AI analysis
* Responsible digital research practices – sustainability, ethics and greening
* Case studies, careers and networking opportunities

Details and how to apply: https://dhrse2025.er.kcl.ac.uk/

Deadline: 22 April 2025

Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon

Deadline: 12 April 2025

Event: 14-23 May, 2025 (in person)

Join us to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon this year. The application period has started (until 12.4.2025) – apply now and be part of this milestone event! 

The Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon is a chance to experience an interdisciplinary research project from start to finish within the span of 10 days. For researchers and students from the humanities and social sciences, it offers an opportunity to pose new questions to historical, cultural or social phenomena with data at scale. For people from computer science and data science, the hackathon gives the opportunity to test their abstract knowledge against complex real-life problems. For both, the hackathon gives the experience of intensely working with people from different backgrounds as part of an interdisciplinary team, as, during the hackathon, each group develops a digital humanities research project from start to finish.

This year, the hackathon groups are organised around the following four themes:

  • Parliaments beyond borders: Exploring the Role of Foreign Nations in National Policy Debates
  • Digital Presence in Physical Absence: Survivors’ Testimonies and Holocaust Oral History
  • Rare Earth & Web Discourses: Parallel Mining Approaches
  • Economic bubbles, consumerism, and the colonies: Early modern newspapers as indicators of economic change in 18th century society

See further information on the #DHH25 themes

5 ECTS credits may be gained from participating in the hackathon for students at the University of Helsinki and other universities. For the application you will need to supply a motivation for applying and if you are applying for travel funding a cost-estimation is also required.

Link: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/digital-humanities/helsinki-digital-humanities-h…

UK-IE DHA Annual Event 

Registration Closes: Wednesday 28 May 2025

Event: 17-18 June 2025 (hybrid)

Registration is now open for the 2025 Annual Event, Collaboration beyond Boundaries / Co-obrachadh thar Chrìochthe. The event will be held at University of Glasgow from 17-18 June 2025 with selected sessions streamed online.

The keynote session for the event will be a roundtable on the topic of Failing Together: The Pitfalls of Collaboration (and How to Overcome Them). Panellists will draw on their own experience of the many ways in which collaborations within DH can go in unexpected directions, as well as what we can learn from these diversions and digressions.

The roundtable will feature:

  • Sarah Ames (National Library of Scotland)
  • David Kelly (University of Galway)
  • Barbara McGillivrey (King’s College London)
  • Bronagh Ann McShane (Trinity College Dublin)
  • Lisa Otty (University of Edinburgh)
  • Emma Gallon (University of London Press) – moderator

Registration

The fee for attending the Annual Event in-person will be £35. Students and independent scholars can attend at a discounted rate of £20. Registration is now open and can be accessed via the Association’s website. The deadline to register for in-person attendance is Wednesday 28 May.

Online Attendance

We recognise the importance of remote participation to support inclusive access and so we plan to livestream the main elements of the programme for attendees to view online. We will do our best to ensure that both in-person and virtual participants will have a rewarding and valuable experience. We may not be able to livestream breakout sessions, working meetings, or other portions of the event, such as the poster/demos session. 

Online tickets are free and available at the registration link above.

Bursaries 

Bursaries are available to support postgraduate students, early career researchers, and others whose employers will not pay for their attendance. You do not need to have a paper accepted to apply for a bursary. More details can be found on the bursary page – the deadline for bursary applications is Sunday 23 March at 11:59 PM.

Accommodation

Discounted housing is available for the conference via the University of Glasgow’s accommodation office. Single, ensuite rooms are available for £43 per night. These must be reserved for three nights (16-18 June) for a total of £129 per person. If you would like to reserve a room, please email uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk by Monday 12 May.

Europeana Academy Course – International Image Interoperability Framework

Event: 21st May, 2025 (online)

Register now for the Europeana Academy Course ‘Preparing image collections in the IIIF standard for Europeana’, taking place on 21 May 2025.

This online, instructor-led course will teach you about applying the IIIF standard, and how it supports you to share your image collections online to the highest-quality, with a user-friendly zoom function.

Find out more and register: https://pro.europeana.eu/event/preparing-image-collections-in-the-iiif-standard-for-europeana

Europeana Academy Course – APIs

Event: 28th May, 2025 (online)

Register now for the Europeana Academy Course ‘Introduction to Europeana APIs’ taking place on 28 May 2025.

This online, instructor-led course will teach you what an API is, why Europeana has several different APIs, what the differences between them are, how to use the Europeana APIs, how to get an API key, how you can use the APIs for your specific use cases – and more!

Find out more and register: https://pro.europeana.eu/event/introduction-to-europeana-apis

7th Baltic Summer School of Digital Humanities

Deadline: 20th March, 2025

Event: 4-8th August, 2025

Applications are now open for the 7th Baltic Summer School of Digital Humanities (BSSDH 2025), taking place from August 4 to 8, 2025, at the University of Latvia in Riga. This year’s theme, “Digital Methods for History Studies,” focuses on computational approaches for history research.

The program includes lectures and hands-on workshops on digitization of handwritten texts using Transkribus, network visualization and historical networks, spatial analysis and mapping with GIS, and AI in humanities research, including large language models and API access.

The participation fee is modest, only 50 EUR, covering all sessions. Participants arrange their own travel and accommodation. Upon completion, attendees can receive ECTS points or micro-credentials.

Applications close on March 20, 2025 Application Form

More details: https://www.digitalhumanities.lv/bssdh/2025
For inquiries, contact dh@lulfmi.lv

Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) 2025 Schedule Announced 

Deadline: 25th April, 2025

Event: 5-9th May, 2025

The conference program for CAA 2025 in Athens has been published. Members of the ATRIUM community are invited to join “Session 19: Reusable Digital Research Workflows for Archaeology“, which will take place from 8:30AM-12:45PM on Wednesday 7th May, hosted by Agiatis Benardou (DARIAH), Émilie Pagé-Perron (ARIADNE), Anne Baillot (DARIAH), Julian Richards (ARIADNE). There will also be a social event for the ATRIUM community on the evening of Tuesday 6th May (location TBD).

Surveys

Automatic Text Recognition (ATR) in cultural heritage institutions 

Valentina Vavassori, Digital Curator for OCR/HTR at the British Library.

We are currently researching different approaches to Automatic Text Recognition (ATR) in cultural heritage institutions as part of our work on our ATR workflow. As part of this work, we designed a survey and we would be really grateful if you can complete it.  One question at the end of the survey asks if other institutions are interested in taking part in a working group on ATR and, if possible, to share their email so we can kick-start having meetings and discussions. The anonymised results of the survey will be published in order to help other institutions working with ATR. The survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete and all the information is available here:

https://blogs.bl.uk/digital-scholarship/2025/03/help-us-explore-automatic-text-recognition-in-cultural-heritage-.html

Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you may withdraw at any time or omit any question you prefer not to answer. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at HMD@bl.uk or valentina.vavassori@bl.uk

Doing AI Differently – Workshop (UK)

Leave a Comment

The Doing AI Differently initiative challenges traditional approaches to AI development by positioning humanities perspectives as integral—rather than supplemental—to technical innovation.

London Workshop, Date & Venue:

  • Date: Thursday, 13 March 2025, 10am-4pm
  • Location: The Royal Academy of Engineering (Prince Philip House), London SW1
  • Working group sessions: continue on Friday, 14 March 2025, 10am-4pm
  • Aligned with the Alan Turing Institute’s major annual conference (AIUK) on 17-18 March

The workshop is an early opportunity to discover and help to refine the research vision and topic scope for an Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC–UKRI) International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) funding call launching April 2025. This call will focus on UK, US and Canadian collaborations.

Core Challenges

1. Developing Interpretive Technologies.

Leveraging current AI architectures to implement deeper interpretive capabilities, developing approaches to represent multiple perspectives and capture semantic depth while maintaining computational tractability.

2. Exploring Alternative AI Architectures.

Exploring fundamentally new approaches to AI design that move beyond current limitations in foundation models and gradient-based learning to enable more pluralistic and culturally adaptive AI systems.

3. Advancing Human-AI Ensembles

Moving beyond simple substitution or assistance models, to foster new relationships between human and artificial intelligence, each contributing unique capabilities to achieve outcomes neither could accomplish alone.

Initiative Objectives:

1. Develop pilot projects demonstrating humanities-driven technical advances in AI

2. Establish funding mechanisms fostering interdisciplinary partnerships

3. Create scalable pathways for humanities scholars to participate in large-scale AI projects

Expected Outcomes:

– New paradigms for addressing complex, context-dependent tasks in AI

– Enhanced AI tools for deep contextual analysis across disciplines

– AI systems better aligned with societal values and ethical considerations

The rapid advances in increasingly sophisticated AI systems makes this timing critical, and we seek to develop inclusive, research-led ideas that will provide practical ways to address some of the recommendations set out in the recent UK Government AI Opportunities Action Plan. This initiative adds the opportunities for research and innovation in AI – artificial intelligence – in the UK (see Transforming our world with AI).

More Information:

  • View our complete vision statement: doingaidifferently.org
  • To attend please complete an expression of interest HERE by 17 February 2025. We will be in touch to confirm your attendance by 19 February 2025.
  • A limited number of bursaries are available to support travel costs for participants who do not have other institutional support. See expression of interest form for details.
  • Capacity for the in-person workshop is limited. The workshop will also be available to stream online, with some opportunities for interaction for remote participants. 
  • A list of recommended hotels is available on request.