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In June 2024, the KB hosted the Summerschool on Digital Collections, organized in collaboration with the Huizinga Institute. The Summerschool aimed to familiarize participants with the KB's vast amount of digital publications, from digitized historical newspaper pages to archived websites, and the intricate processes involved in managing them, which blend theoretical insights with practical skills.
The 4-day program began with an introduction to the KB's extensive digital collections, covering their history, current status and key features. It discussed the relatively unknown digital-born web collection, focusing on its construction and its role in preserving 21st-century digital content. The sessions surrounding this collection highlighted the technical intricacies of WARC files and the unique challenges of archiving websites as opposed to traditional media. Potential research opportunities were explored by drawing connections between web archives and humanities research, revealing untapped avenues for exploration.
The digitized newspapers, one of the more popular digital collections offered by the KB, formed another focal point. Sessions related to this revealed the meticulous processes behind their creation and the role of metadata in research accessibility. Experts explained what libraries mean when they talk about the "digital object" of newspapers. This was further complemented by the practical insights into Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), two technologies that are crucial in reshaping access to historical texts.
When working with digital collections, an understanding of the technical aspects is crucial, and sessions on TEI-XML, PDF, and EPUB formats, provided participants with a comprehensive understanding of digital text editions and their different applications in research.
The Summerschool provided theoretical information as well as a practical demo on the process of digitizing medieval manuscripts. This session illustrated the workflow of the traveling project team which is responsible for photographing and digitizing manuscripts from various institutions. This, along with the following discussions, provided fascinating insights into the preservation and accessibility of these historical texts.
A practical session on using Python and Jupyter Notebooks to access the Delpher collection showed the process of querying digitized newspapers, analysing them, and creating visualizations of this analysis for easy interpretation.
Another significant aspect of the Summerschool was the emphasis on digital source criticism. Speakers like Jesper Verhoef, Kaspar Beelen and Arno Kuipers discussed biases and gaps in the KB collections, emphasizing the need to recognize and address such issues in digital heritage collections. They clarified what the KB can legally do with its collections, as well as and the limitations that researchers must consider.
Throughout the week, participants worked on an assignment, which they were asked to present in a symposium on the final day. They showcased the ideas they developed using the knowledge gained during the Summerschool. Topics ranged from historical cartographic networks to contemporary parenting issues, from the depiction of saints in medieval prayer books to gender roles in Surinamese contract labor. The closing panel discussion reflected on the previous week, the knowledge gained and possible future directions in digital research. The varied backgrounds of the participants and the resulting presentations of their assignments accentuates the innovative research possibilities that emerge from interdisciplinary engagement.
The Summerschool aimed to focus on the dynamics between researchers and collection managers. It highlighted the challenges (faced by the KB) in digitization, copyright issues, and technical limitations. Understanding these factors is essential for researchers in order to fully appreciate the scope and boundaries of the digital collections they utilize. The interaction between collection managers and researchers also fosters a reciprocal relationship through which new research can highlight gaps and limitations in collections and guide future digitization efforts.
Final thanks
The KB Summerschool team wants to thank our colleagues that have aided us in the organization of this wonderful week. From giving a talk or workshop, providing lunches or taking pictures, we could not have done this without you! We also thank all the participants for attending our first ever Summerschool. Your enthusiasm and insights formed the heart of this event. We hope to have provided you with a platform for collaboration as well as the knowledge and skills to navigate and utilize the KB's digital collections for your future research endeavors.
