Isaksen, Leif, University of Southampton, UK, leifuss@googlemail.com Day, Shawn, Digital Humanities Observatory, Ireland, day.shawn@gmail.com Andresen, Jens, University of Aarhus, Denmark, jens.andresen@hum.au.dk Hyvönen, Eero, Aalto University, Finland, eero.hyvonen@tkk.fi Mäkelä, Eetu, Aalto University, Finland, eetu.makela@aalto.fii
Spatio-temporal concepts are so ubiquitous that it is easy for us to forget that they are essential to everything we do. All expressions of Human culture are related to the dimensions of space and time in the manner of their production and consumption, the nature of their medium and the way in which they express these concepts themselves. This workshop seeks to identify innovative practices among the Digital Humanities community that explore, critique and re-present the spatial and temporal aspects of culture.
Although space and time are closely related, there are significant differences between them which may be exploited when theorizing and researching the Humanities. Among these are the different natures of their dimensionality (three dimensions vs. one), the seemingly static nature of space but enforced ‘flow’ of time, and the different methods we use to make the communicative leap across spatial and temporal distance. Every medium, whether textual, tactile, illustrative or audible (or some combination of them), exploits space and time differently in order to convey its message. The changes required to express the same concepts in different media (between written and performed music, for example), are often driven by different spatio-temporal requirements. Last of all, the impossibility (and perhaps undesirability) of fully representing a four-dimensional reality (whether real or fictional) mean that authors and artists must decide how to collapse this reality into the spatio-temporal limitations of a chosen medium. The nature of those choices can be as interesting as the expression itself.
This workshop allows those working with digital tools and techniques that manage, analyse and exploit spatial and temporal concepts in the Humanities to present a position paper for the purposes of wider discussion and debate. The position papers will discuss generalized themes related to use of spatio-temporal methods in the Digital Humanities with specific reference to one or more concrete applications or examples. Accepted papers have been divided into three themed sessions: Tools, Methods and Theory. This workshop is part of the ESF-funded NEDIMAH Network and organised by its Working Group on Space and Time. The group will also present its findings from the First NeDiMAH Workshop on Space and Time.
About NeDiMAH
NeDiMAH is examining the practice of, and evidence for, advanced ICT methods in the Arts and Humanities across Europe, and will articulate these findings in a series of outputs and publications. To accomplish this, NeDiMAH assists in networking initiatives and the interdisciplinary exchange of expertise among the trans-European community of Digital Arts and Humanities researchers, as well as those engaged with creating and curating scholarly and cultural heritage digital collections. NeDiMAH maximises the value of national and international e-research infrastructure initiatives by helping Arts and Humanities researchers to develop, refine and share research methods that allow them to create and make best use of digital methods and collections. Better contextualization of ICT Methods also builds human capacity, and is of particular benefit for early stage researchers. For further information see http://www.nedimah.eu.
The workshop will also be aligned and coordinated with ongoing work at the DARIAH Project (cf. http://www.dariah.eu). DARIAH is a large-scale FP7-project that aims to prepare the building of digital research infrastructure for European Arts and Humanities researchers and content/data curators.
Papers
Tools
Shoichiro Hara & Tatsuki Skino – Spatiotemporal Tools for Humanities
David McClure – The Canonical vs. The Contextual: Neatline’s Approach to Connecting Archives with Spatio-Temporal Interfaces
Roxana Kath – eAQUA/Mental Maps: Exploring Concept Change in Time and Space
Kate Byrne – The Geographic Annotation Platform: A New Tool for Linking and Visualizing Places References in the Humanities
Methods
William A. Kretzschmar, Jr. & C. Thomas Bailey – Computer Simulation of Speech in Cultural Interaction as a Complex System
Karl Grossner –Event Objects for Placial History
Charles Travis – From the Ruins of Time and Space: The Psychogeographical GIS of Postcolonial Dublin in Flann O’Brien’s At Swim Two Birds (1939)
Theory
Maria Bostenaru Dan – 3D conceptual representation of the (mythical) space and time of the past in artistic scenographical and garden installations
Eduard Arriaga-Arango – Multiple temporalities at crossroads: Artistic Representations of Afro in Latin America and the Hispanic World in the current stage of Globalization (Mapping Cultural emergences through Networks)
Kyriaki Papageorgiou – Time, Space, Cyberspace and Beyond, On Research Methods, Delicate Empiricism, Labyrinths and Egypt
Patricia Murrieta-Flores – Finding the way without maps: Using spatial technologies to explore theories of terrestrial navigation and cognitive mapping in prehistoric societies
Discussion Objectives
- Bring together the experiences of researchers developing or using spatial or temporal methods in the Digital Humanities.
- Evaluate the impact of such methods in terms of addressing traditional Humanities questions and posing new ones.
- Explore non-investigative benefits, such as the use of spatial and temporal tools and visualization as means for contextualization.
- Identify where tools developed for spatial analysis may be applicable to temporal analysis (and vice versa).
Program Committee
- Jens Andresen, University of Aarhus
- Shawn Day, Digital Humanities Observatory
- Eero Hyvönen, Aalto University
- Leif Isaksen, University of Southampton
- Eetu Mäkelä, Aalto University
