The project "Hack the Middle East" aims to familiarize with current possibilities of analyzing large amounts of data from the Middle East or their visual representation. In addition to concrete practical and political obstacles, research projects in languages such as Arabic, Persian and Urdu also face special technological challenges. In this context, even advanced OCR technology reaches its limits when processing manuscripts, journals, administrative files and printed books.

In a first online workshop held in English on August 11-12, 2020, basic knowledge of Digital Humanities will be taught and discussed with experts.

In a second step, a hackathon will explore what can be found out about the history of the Middle East and its relation to Germany with sources that are stored in German archives and libraries. Since hackathons in the humanities have so far mainly been limited to digitized data material in European languages, the question arises as to how to proceed in this case. What limitations arise? What technological expertise and coding experience is required to conduct a successful hackathon?

With their project, the Junge Akademie-members Isabelle Dolezalek, Simon Wolfgang Fuchs and Valeska Huber are pursuing the goal of illustrating in a format that is effective for publicity how closely the Middle East and Germany are interwoven.

WORKSHOP PROGRAMM

Tue, 11 August 2020

2:00 pm (CEST)
Start of the Online-Workshop, Short Introduction

2:15-3:30 pm
Session 1: Introduction to Digital Humanities (Thomas Koentges, University Leipzig)

Break

3:45-4:45 pm
Session 2: Communication formats (Anne Luther, Independent Art Advisor and Curator)

Break

5:00-6:00 pm
Session 3: A look behind the scenes of coding (Daniel Apken, Humboldt University Berlin)

Break

7:00 pm
Online Evening Lecture (Anne Luther)

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please contact us via: borchert@diejungeakademie.de

Wed, 12 August 2020

2:00-3:30 pm (CEST)
Session 4: Digital Humanities with non-European sources (Maxim Romanov, University Vienna)

Break

4:00-5:30 pm
Session 5: Preparation of the hackathon

PUBLIC ONLINE LECTURE

Activating Museum Data: possibilities of digital data in museums

As networking institutions, museums around the world exchange knowledge about the objects they exhibit, preserve and research. Information is collected and stored in digital databases. What can we learn by researching this digital data? Using international examples from the past five years, Dr. Anne Luther provides an insight into the research, usage and visualisation of museum data and opens up new perspectives on objects and museum history.

The art advisor and curator Anne Luther will give the lecture in English.

When? August 11, 2020, 7:00 pm

Where? The lecture will be presented online via zoom. Please register here for participation.