[SIGCIS-Members] New book Digital Histories, on digital or computational history and its methods

[Petri Paju]

Dear all

Our new book, Digital Histories, on digital or computational history is available, online. Besides co-editing it I wrote a chapter that studies historians as users of computers from the 1960s onwards up until recent years. It's Chapter 3 in the book. I was looking at the topic through mostly Finnish materials and cases, and see that much more could be done on that general theme. If you know good sources or reflections on how historians' use of computers has evolved, I would be happy to hear of those for possible future use.

It is an Open Access book published by the Helsinki University Press:

Fridlund, M., Oiva, M. and Paju, P. (eds) (2020) Digital Histories: Emergent Approaches within the New Digital History. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-5

Here's the blurb:

Historical scholarship is currently undergoing a digital turn. All historians have experienced this change in one way or another, by writing on word processors, applying quantitative methods on digitalized source materials, or using internet resources and digital tools.

Digital Histories showcases this emerging wave of digital history research. It presents work by historians who – on their own or through collaborations with e.g. information technology specialists – have uncovered new, empirical historical knowledge through digital and computational methods. The topics of the volume range from the medieval period to the present day, including various parts of Europe. The chapters apply an exemplary array of methods, such as digital metadata analysis, machine learning, network analysis, topic modelling, named entity recognition, collocation analysis, critical search, and text and data mining.

The volume argues that digital history is entering a mature phase, digital history ‘in action’, where its focus is shifting from the building of resources towards the making of new historical knowledge. This also involves novel challenges that digital methods pose to historical research, including awareness of the pitfalls and limitations of the digital tools and the necessity of new forms of digital source criticisms.

Best wishes,
Petri

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Petri Paju
PhD, Researcher
Dep. of Cultural history
University of Turku