Modelling Scale in Historiographical Data

The project will investigate the meaning of scale in historical writings, and more precisely how scale is expressed through language in historical discourse. This question draws attention to the conceptual and linguistic mechanisms at play in building historical knowledge, when the historian moves between different layers of analysis, narration or consulted sources, involving different degrees of generality. A small historiographical corpus, in which variations of scale are clearly present, will serve to develop the digital approach/tools/methodology. Depending on the findings of the project, an extension of the research to other types of corpora is envisaged. The paper presents a workflow and first experiments using topic modelling to analyse scale representation in historiographical data. Further experiments with more documents, other models and visualisation tools, as well as eventually creating a pipeline for semi-automatic restructuration of data as zoomable texts are also envisaged

Small-Scale Testing on Generative AI and Post-OCR Correction in Historical Datasets

peer reviewedThis article proposes a small-scale investigation on the use of generative AI agents for post-OCR correction in historical datasets. Three chatbots, ChatGPT-4, Google Bard and YouChat and excerpts from 18th century French texts were utilised. The evaluation included qualitative and quantitative methods. Character and word error rates (CER, WER) were computed both by the agents and independently using a specialised Python library, and gold standard excerpts from the ICDAR 2017 competition on post-OCR text correction

Genetic Criticism and Analysis of Interface Design: A Case Study

The paper proposes a methodology that combines theoretical and practical aspects from human-computer interaction (HCI) and genetic criticism to trace and analyse prototype evolution. A case study illustrates this type of enquiry by examining the iterations and the dynamics of change in the design and development of the Transviewer, an interface for digital editions. The initial assumption is that such an analysis can inform existing models in interface design and possibly provide new ground for discussion in humanistic HCI. For instance by fostering broader reflections on software production as a technological and cultural artefact and the gradual shaping of the principles and metaphors underlying the construction of a certain type of knowledge, argument, or interpretation through an interface

The Magnifying Glass and the Kaleidoscope. Analysing Scale in Digital History and Historiography

What is the meaning of scale in historical writings and migration narratives? To what extent can digital tools and methods assist the detection of scale-related patterns in these categories of documents? May this enquiry be formalised and eventually turned into a system for scale analysis in texts? To address these questions, the paper combines theoretical background from historical, historiographical, linguistic and literary studies with digital tools and methods for text analysis and visualisation. The project is in an early phase of development; theoretical hypotheses and preliminary experiments for a system dedicated to scale analysis in historical/historiographical texts are presented. Evoking the metaphors of the magnifying glass and the kaleidoscope, the system is intended to allow both scale-related patterns detection and perspective change

Bridging NLP and LLOD: Humanities Approaches to Semantic Change

Natural language processing (NLP) for detecting lexical semantic change and linguistic linked open data (LLOD) are two areas of research that have shown promising results in the latest years. However, their potential of being considered together for analysing and representing semantic change from a humanistic perspective needs further study and development. The talk will present an overview of theoretical aspects, NLP techniques and LLOD formalisms intended to this purpose, and will focus on a project developed as a humanities use case within the COST Action “Nexus Linguarum - European network for Web-centred linguistic data science.” The discussion will include preliminary thoughts on the conception of a system that combines dictionary information with corpus evidence, and provides multilingual diachronic ontologies for humanities research

Lexicometric and Informational Measures in Historical and Literary Corpora

How the frequency of words may be interpreted in the context of an informational analysis of textual corpora? To what extent the frequency values and distribution could be an indicator of the “amount of information”, the degree of “certainty” or of “informativeness” conveyed by a text? Are other factors, such as language and genre, influencing these informational measures? The paper addresses these questions from a comparative perspective using historical and literary multilingual corpora in Romanian, French, and English

Playing the Imitation Game: Human-AI Simulators in Pedagogic Design

editorial reviewedCurrent advances in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI (GenAI) have produced both enthusiasm and concerns in the academic world, industry, and society in general. While optimistic views foresee unprecedented increase in efficiency and productivity, concerns have been expressed on the potential of these technologies to determine significant changes in most areas of human activity, which may not always have predictable or positive outcomes. One of the challenges often evoked in this context, not yet fully addressed, is the impact of the AI-powered agents on the educational sector, and especially on aspects such as student’s agency and control, creativity, and motivation in pedagogic activities that involve the use of this type of agents. The aim of the study is to address this question starting from the hypothesis that preliminary simulations of AI-based pedagogic scenarios can help instructors to better understand the inner mechanisms of these technologies and their possible impact on the learning, assignment completion and evaluation processes. The paper presents a set of experiments with simulated student-agent interactions generated by AI chatbots and proposes a formal framework for assessing this form of “imitation game” and its possible applications in real teaching-learning environments

Documenting the Use of Generative AI in Digital Humanities Workflows

peer reviewedThe paper intends to foster discussions within the DARIAH community on the possibilities of building and sharing documentation that informs the readers about the use of generative AI in DH workflows

From Usability Testing and Text Analysis to User Response Criticism

The article creates a bridge between the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Digital Humanities (DH), where HCI techniques are used to evaluate tools developed in DH projects and the results of this evaluation are analysed via DH methods. Two case studies in interface and game design are presented by the application of textual analysis to user-response via three systems, for visualisation of the text as a network (Textexture), corpus analysis (TXM), and sentiment analysis (TheySay). Although further experiments and more insight into the theoretical matters are intended, we assume that this kind of analysis, beyond its usability-oriented value, may inform humanistic interface design and approaching of user models, and inspire new paths of reflection on user’s self projection in the digital space, at the intersection of digital hermeneutics, digital aesthetics, and the theory of literary response

Des archives papier aux éditions numériques - Jeux et enjeux diplomatiques franco-britanniques au sein de l’UEO (1954-1982)

La première partie de la présentation aborde l’exploitation scientifique des archives de l’Union de l’Europe occidentale (UEO) dans le cadre du projet « Jeux et enjeux diplomatiques franco-britanniques au sein de l’UEO (1954-1982) ». Quelles sont les positions française et britannique poursuivies dans l’enceinte de l’UEO sur des sujets majeurs de la sécurité et de la défense européennes, la France et le Royaume-Uni étant deux acteurs politiques, militaires et économiques majeurs de l’espace européen ? Le deuxième volet porte sur la conversion en format TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) des documents numérisés, leur enrichissement structurel et sémantique, ainsi que sur les moyens mis en oeuvre pour l’analyse statistique du discours des différents représentants institutionnels au sujet de l’armement et pour la publication en ligne de l’édition