The Palaeographical Method under the Light of a Digital Approach

This paper has the twofold aim of reflecting upon a humanities computing approach to palaeography, and of making such reflections - together with its related experimental results - fruitful at the implementation level. Firstly, the paper explores the methodological issues related to the use of a digital tool to support the palaeographical analysis of medieval handwriting. It claims that humanities computing methods can assist in making explicit those processes of the palaeographical research that encompass detailed analyses, in particular of the handwriting and, more generally, of other idiosyncratic features of written cultural artefacts. Thus, palaeographical tools are to be contextualised and used within a broader methodological framework where their role is to mediate the vision, the comparison, the representation, the analysis and the interpretation of these objects. Secondly, the paper attempts to evaluate the experimentations carried out with a specific software and, in so doing, to test a humanities computing approach to palaeography at a practical level, so as to direct future implementations. Some of these implementations have already been carried out by the current developers of the application in question with whom the author collaborates closely, while others are still in progress and in need of future iterative refinements

Digital humanities and practical memory: modelling textuality

This paper reflects on the relation between Humanitiesand Digital Humanities from scholarly perspectivesintertwined as they are with political stances.Often characterized as enabling a unifying aswell as transformative sentiment for the Humanitiesas a whole, Digital Humanities can be described as achallenging hybridization of scholarly practices contingentto social and cultural contexts. The core ofthe paper relates to one of the topics of the 2015 conferenceon Rethinking Humanities, namely digitalmemory, by recalling on the concept of Humanitiesas scholarship engaged with meaning-making practicesconnecting past and present. Building on theliterature and some co-authored research, I presenta humanities-informed theorization of modelling inDigital Humanities as a meaning-making practiceenacted in the present and aiming at repurposing thepast. As privileged objects of digital modelling activities,texts are repurposed via the creation and manipulationof (digital) external representations. Aninformed theory of textuality reminds us how culturalproducts embed the processes of their creationsand uses. Can digital models enact such practicalmemory and become in themselves strategies toexercise memory and encode knowledge

Income and Beyond: Taking the Measure of Child Deprivation in the United States

Comparatively little work has been done in the United States to develop multidimensional measures of child deprivation using individual level data. Our research, using Panel Study of Income Dynamics/Child Development Supplement data for a sample of older children and adolescents, introduces an experimental measure to demonstrate the new insights in child well-being that can be gained by looking beyond family income. Besides low income, our measure includes 16 indicators of deprivation encompassing child, parental, familial, and environmental conditions associated with poor outcomes in childhood and adulthood. We describe the surprisingly high incidence of deprivation among the sample children and examine differences by demographic characteristics. We calculate correlations among low income and other indicators of deprivation to understand how children are likely to be exposed to multiple deprivations. Using multivariate modeling, we examine the joint association of income and non-income contextual indicators with three child outcome deprivations: poor health, low social/emotional well-being, and poor basic learning skills. We find that the multidimensional measure provides valuable information about children at risk for poor development outcomes not captured by more standard income poverty and material hardship measures. The paper concludes with suggestions for public policy initiatives that may help reduce child exposure to these risk factors and ameliorate their effects

From drinking devil to internet addiction

Der Artikel beschäftigt sich mit dem Thema Abhängigkeiten und inwieweit gesellschaftliche oder technische Entwicklungen Einfluss auf das Suchtverhalten haben. Kulturelle Vorgaben oder Rituale haben jahrhundertelang den Rahmen für den Gebrauch von Rauschmitteln vorgegeben. Die Erkenntnis, dass Abhängigkeit keine Charakterschwäche, sondern eine Krankheit ist, hat Jahrhunderte benötigt. Erst Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts gab es im deutschsprachigen Raum Entwicklungen hin zu ersten Heilungsversuchen. Moderne Gesellschaften begegnen Suchterkrankten mit sozialer und medizinischer Unterstützung. Rechtspolitische Vorstellungen und soziale Rahmenbedingungen werden laufend den gesellschaftlichen Gegebenheiten angepasst, Therapie statt Strafe steht nun im Vordergrund und suchterkrankte Personen haben sozialrechtliche Ansprüche auf Heilung. Technische Entwicklungen haben neue Formen von Abhängigkeit entstehen lassen und als Antwort darauf werden neue Süchte in Klassifikationssysteme für psychische Erkrankungen aufgenommen. Gesellschaften entwickeln sich und es entstehen neue Formen von Abhängigkeiten, deren Folgen sind nicht immer vorhersehbar sind.The article deals with the topic of dependencies and how far social or technical developments influence the addictive behavior. Cultural norms or rituals have set the framework for the use of intoxicants for centuries. The idea that addiction is not a character flaw but a disease took centuries to develop. Only at the end of the 17th century did the first attempts at healing begin in German-speaking countries. Modern societies meet addicts with social and medical support. Legal-political ideas and framework conditions are constantly being adapted to the social situation, therapy instead of punishment is now in the foreground and people with addictions have a social-legal right to healing. Technological advances have given rise to new forms of addiction, and in response, new behavioral addictions are being incorporated into mental illness classification systems. Societies develop and new forms of dependencies emerge, and their consequences are not always foreseeable

Digital humanities and practical memory: modelling textuality

This paper reflects on the relation between Humanities and Digital Humanities from scholarly perspectives intertwined as they are with political stances. Often characterized as enabling a unifying as well as transformative sentiment for the Humanities as a whole, Digital Humanities can be described as a challenging hybridization of scholarly practices contingent to social and cultural contexts. The core of the paper relates to one of the topics of the 2015 conference on Rethinking Humanities, namely digital memory, by recalling on the concept of Humanities as scholarship engaged with meaning-making practices connecting past and present. Building on the literature and some co-authored research 1 , I present a humanities-informed theorization of modelling in Digital Humanities as a meaning-making practice enacted in the present and aiming at repurposing the past. As privileged objects of digital modelling activities, texts are repurposed via the creation and manipulation of (digital) external representations. An informed theory of textuality reminds us how cultural products embed the processes of their creati- ons and uses. Can digital models enact such practical memory and become in themselves strategies to exercise memory and encode knowledge?