Models and Modelling between Digital and Humanities: A Multidisciplinary Perspective

This Supplement of Historical Social Research stems from the contributions on the topic of modelling presented at the workshop “Thinking in Practice”, held at Wahn Manor House in Cologne on January 19-20, 2017. With Digital Humanities as starting point, practical examples of model building from different disciplines are considered, with the aim of contributing to the dialogue on modelling from several perspectives. Combined with theoretical considerations, this collection illustrates how the process of modelling is one of coming to know, in which the purpose of each modelling activity and the form in which models are expressed has to be taken into consideration in tandem. The modelling processes presented in this volume belong to specific traditions of scholarly and practical thinking as well as to specific contexts of production and use of models. The claim that supported the project workshop was indeed that establishing connections between different traditions of and approaches toward modelling is vital, whether these connections are complementary or intersectional. The workshop proceedings address an underpinning goal of the research project itself, namely that of examining the nature of the epistemological questions in the different traditions and how they relate to the nature of the modelled objects and the models being created. This collection is an attempt to move beyond simple representational views on modelling in order to understand modelling processes as scholarly and cultural phenomena as such

“The Bard meets the Doctor” – Computergestützte Identifikation intertextueller Shakespearebezüge in der Science Fiction-Serie Dr. Who.

A single abstract from the DHd-2019 Book of Abstracts.Sofern eine editorische Arbeit an dieser Publikation stattgefunden hat, dann bestand diese aus der Eliminierung von Bindestrichen in Überschriften, die aufgrund fehlerhafter Silbentrennung entstanden sind, der Vereinheitlichung von Namen der Autor*innen in das Schema "Nachname, Vorname" und/oder der Trennung von Überschrift und Unterüberschrift durch die Setzung eines Punktes, sofern notwendig

Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users’ motivations and experiences

Universities across the globe have, for some time, been exploring the possibilities for achieving public benefit and generating business and visibility through releasing and sharing open educational resources (OER). Many have written about the need to develop sustainable and profitable business models around the production and release of OER. Downes (2006), for example, has questioned the financial sustainability of OER production at scale. Many of the proposed business models focus on OER’s value in generating revenue and detractors of OER have questioned whether they are in competition with formal education. This paper reports on a study intended to broaden the conversation about OER business models to consider the motivations and experiences of OER users as the basis for making a better informed decision about whether OER and formal learning are competitive or complementary with each other. The study focused on OpenLearn - the Open University’s (OU) web-based platform for OER, which hosts hundreds of online courses and videos and is accessed by over 3,000,000 users a year. A large scale survey and follow-up interviews with OpenLearn users worldwide revealed that university provided OER can offer learners a bridge to formal education, allowing them to try out a subject before registering on a formal course and to build confidence in their abilities as learners. In addition, it was found that using OER during formal paid-for study can improve learners’ performance and self-reliance, leading to increased retention and satisfaction with the learning experience

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission

CLARIN

The book provides a comprehensive overview of the Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure – CLARIN – for the humanities. It covers a broad range of CLARIN language resources and services, its underlying technological infrastructure, the achievements of national consortia, and challenges that CLARIN will tackle in the future. The book is published 10 years after establishing CLARIN as an Europ. Research Infrastructure Consortium

CLARIN. The infrastructure for language resources

CLARIN, the "Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure", has established itself as a major player in the field of research infrastructures for the humanities. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the organization, its members, its goals and its functioning, as well as of the tools and resources hosted by the infrastructure. The many contributors representing various fields, from computer science to law to psychology, analyse a wide range of topics, such as the technology behind the CLARIN infrastructure, the use of CLARIN resources in diverse research projects, the achievements of selected national CLARIN consortia, and the challenges that CLARIN has faced and will face in the future. The book will be published in 2022, 10 years after the establishment of CLARIN as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium by the European Commission (Decision 2012/136/EU)

D6.3 Policy Recommendations and Strategy Report

The European Commission aims to develop a more sustainable environment for research infrastructures ecosystem, and to ensure that the benefits and impacts are widely perceived by research communities and led to research excellence. This vision is reflected in a range of international and European documents. Recent work conducted by the OECD and the European Commission, particularly by ESFRI and e-IRG, have stated the need to make structural changes in the EU framework for research infrastructures (RIs). In line with this strategic vision, DARIAH intends to establish itself as a sustainable research infrastructure. DESIR (DARIAH ERIC Sustainability Refined) work package 6 TRUST contributes to DARIAH’s long-term sustainability by measuring acceptance and impact of DARIAH in new cross-disciplinary DARIAH communities and core groups. This was the base to define the theoretical and methodological framework that supported the research here presented. Therefore, this report focuses on the development of recommendations and strategies to support and increase confidence in DARIAH services and infrastructure, aiming at contributing to a major DESIR goal, which is to enlarge DARIAH by engaging new cross-disciplinary communities and considering their specific requirements. The proposed recommendations could set the basis for a broader debate within the DARIAH and RIs landscape on the actions to be taken at all decision levels in order to address a vision for longer-term sustainable RI. So, this report intends to be a policy document that aims at inspiring the future path of DARIAH, contributing to its sustainability and to fulfil the mission for which it was created. The recommendations stem from the analytical work developed from the contributions of multiple sources of information: an academically-driven multi-country survey (see D6.2); 33 qualitative interviews in three different countries; a workshop with DARIAH national coordinators held in Warsaw; contributions from DESIR partners who lead other work projects within the project; and DESIR Winter School “Shaping New Approaches to Data Management in Arts and Humanities”. After defining the entire set of recommendations, they were grouped according to three main strategic frameworks (sustainability, scope and DARIAH Strategic Plan) and visually displayed in a “Recommendations & Community Engagement Tool” (https://dariah.peopleware.pt), an open platform that supports DARIAH, strengthening the link with arts and humanities communities.The new DARIAH Strategic Plan for the next seven years, which will be followed by the publication of a Strategic Action Plan, represents a big opportunity to address sustainability, both as a conceptual level and in terms of organizational and operational configuration. Therefore, the main findings are summarized in seven key recommendations, linked with the strategic pillars of the recent published DARIAH Strategic Plan:1. Promote research excellence with inclusive, collaborative, bureaucracy free and community-driven approach.2. Ensure the integration of tools, services, data and resources within DARIAH community and with other Research Infrastructures (e.g. by gathering them on a platform such as the Marketplace).3. Foster a collaborative learning environment and anticipate the skills of the future through a joint strategy for education and training (e.g. DARIAH-CAMPUS).4. Establish a flexible, participatory and effective governance model with a clear and sustainable business plan.5. Strengthen DARIAH’s representation in European and International policy arena, expanding its visibility and cooperation outside EU borders.6. Broaden and extend DARIAH’s role, action and benefits towards the strengthening of scientific citizenship in Europe.7. Set up means for monitoring and bringing communities together, while respecting diversity on an institutional, scientific, disciplinary and methodological level.The work developed in the DESIR project - particularly this set of recommendations - could be a contribution to foster the implementation of guidelines and short and long-term actions to improve DARIAH’s sustainability and firmly establish it as a long-term leader and partner within arts and humanities communities

Vielfalt und Integration - diversitá ed integrazione - diversité et intégration: Sprache(n) in sozialen und digitalen Räumen: Eine Festschrift für Elisabeth Burr

Diese Festschrift für Elisabeth Burr stellt Vielfalt und Integration in der Sprachwissenschaft und in den Digital Humanities in den Mittelpunkt. Die Beiträge berühren zentrale Fragen im Schaffen Burrs: Wie kann Sprache und ihre Variation in Abhängigkeit von sozialen und geographischen Faktoren adäquat beschrieben werden? Wie lassen sich informatische und digitale Zugänge dafür nutzen? Verknüpft werden sie mit ihr wichtigen und aktuellen Themen aus Sozio-, Gender- und Korpuslinguistik, Dialektologie und Sprachgeographie sowie den digitalen Geisteswissenschaften. Die Beitragenden sind u. a. Stefania Spina, Thomas Krefeld, Annette Gerstenberg, Lazslo Hinyadi, Carol Chiodo und Lauren Tilton, Manuel Burghardt, Øyvind Eide, Jürgen Hermes, Andreas Witt. Ray Siemens, Arianna Ciula, Alejandro Bía sowie Rob Evans

European Language Grid

This open access book provides an in-depth description of the EU project European Language Grid (ELG). Its motivation lies in the fact that Europe is a multilingual society with 24 official European Union Member State languages and dozens of additional languages including regional and minority languages. The only meaningful way to enable multilingualism and to benefit from this rich linguistic heritage is through Language Technologies (LT) including Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Speech Technologies and language-centric Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. The European Language Grid provides a single umbrella platform for the European LT community, including research and industry, effectively functioning as a virtual home, marketplace, showroom, and deployment centre for all services, tools, resources, products and organisations active in the field. Today the ELG cloud platform already offers access to more than 13,000 language processing tools and language resources. It enables all stakeholders to deposit, upload and deploy their technologies and datasets. The platform also supports the long-term objective of establishing digital language equality in Europe by 2030 – to create a situation in which all European languages enjoy equal technological support. This is the very first book dedicated to Language Technology and NLP platforms. Cloud technology has only recently matured enough to make the development of a platform like ELG feasible on a larger scale. The book comprehensively describes the results of the ELG project. Following an introduction, the content is divided into four main parts: (I) ELG Cloud Platform; (II) ELG Inventory of Technologies and Resources; (III) ELG Community and Initiative; and (IV) ELG Open Calls and Pilot Projects