Four positions available:
- Specialist for spatial/temporal analysis of historical data
- Data scientist for the integration of interpretative and visualisation functionality
- Graph database implementation, interface development and main toolkit development
- Usability testing and support for toolkit development and revision
Positions Location: University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przyedmescie
General Information about the Positions
Position Descriptions
1. Specialist for spatial/temporal analysis of historical data
Required: expertise in historical analysis and ontological modeling, knowledge of Polish/European history, proven ability to conduct analysis and synthesize multiple data sources, prior academic publications in the digital humanities, strong research management skills and project experience
Desired: Experience with software used in the project including Javascript, Java, Python, and experience with web-development frameworks
Tasks: of this position focus on the development of interpretative hermeneutical approaches combined with digital humanities network analysis to develop research publications and workshop training materials.
PhD in history;
Ability to conduct research in the project field and communicate its results;
Ability and will to work in a team, share research results, timeliness.
2. Data scientist for the integration of interpretative and visualisation functionality
Required: skills and expertise with spatial data analysis, digital humanities research experience and expertise with historical cartography.
Desired: Experience with software used in the project, semantic modeling including RDF, OWL, Neo4J or similar
Tasks: for the person taking this position include framework and toolkit development operational and implementation management, lead data analyst project support including guidance and support of usability testing, support of workshops and contributions to publications
Ability to conduct research in the project field and communicate its results;
Ability and will to work in a team, share research results, timeliness.
3. Graph database implementation, interface development and main toolkit development
Required: IT programming, web development skills and experience in administering spatial historical data.
Desired: Experience with software, programming languages and the web-development stack created for this project
Tasks: include graph database installation and management, server support with UW-IT, data administration, development and maintenance of the project software stack and toolkits, support of workshops and research for publications
Ability to conduct research in the project field and communicate its results;
Ability and will to work in a team, share research results, timeliness.
4. Usability testing and support for toolkit development and revision
Required: experience with usability testing and advanced visualization training, including cartography, geomatics, graphic design in the social or natural sciences
Desired: Experience with software used in the project
Tasks: include preparation and conduct of three usability tests, evaluation of responses, coordination with other project group members, facilitation of contacts with prototype users and help with media contacts, support of workshops and contributions to publications;
Ability to conduct research in the project field and communicate its results;
Ability and will to work in a team, share research results, timeliness.
Project Details
Digital technologies and infrastructure approaches continue to have vast potential following the spatial turn in the humanities, but the humanities face challenges arising with the transition of traditional theory and methods to computationally-based scientific research possibilities. With available digital data, the question 'Where” has now become a meaningful research focus at multiple resolutions and for a wide range of situations and relationships. This research project tackles the limits arising for spatial/temporal research in the digital humanities with the cartographic map’s two-dimensional representations and the absence of concise temporal information. Resolving these challenges involves bootstrapping spatial humanities digital humanities tools and methods with interpretative and explanatory theory and methods in a flexible framework using contemporary digital humanities tools. The pragmatic focus on developing novel integrated toolkits using graph database frameworks supports the integration of close-reading and distance-reading in hermeneutic interpretative framework and support of geographic, network and diagrammatic visualizations. The project relies on digital humanities data from Polish data infrastructure and projects to discover new ways to support humanities and social science scientific discovery. It interfaces through Polish digital humanities infrastructures. The project develops innovative new theories, methods and visual-spatial humanities approaches for researchers and heritage institutions. International scientific workshops support the research.
Project activities
The project develops digital humanities capacities and research new approaches in the spatial humaities. Involvement in DARIAH-PL and the European Time Machine project’s proof of concept supports the integration of spatial/temporal aspects in the project’s activities. The project develops two toolkits. One toolkit for the interpretative analysis of historical spatio-temporal data; the second for the presentation of historical spatio-temporal data. Both toolkits employ grounded spatial/temporal modeling and use visualization and graph databases, especially open-source software. Cooperation with PAN Insitute of History researchers provides access to digital data of places, people and events to develop the interpretative analysis and digital representations in the first half of the project. In the second half, the project will connect more closely with DARIAH-PL and work with historical data from their data infrastructure as well. The emphasis on workshops for graduate and post-doctoral researchers and professionals from Polish heritage institutions in the second half of the project integrates the research capacities and toolkits for the development of future digital humanities research in Poland and abroad. These activities support the institutional development of digital humanities capacities and contribute to the creation of a sustainable network for continued research and development of institutional capacities. The prototypes, developed with input from Polish and international researchers, are critical outcomes with a long-term perspective beyond the scope of the project.
The project activities develop digital humanities research to advance existing integrations of hermeneutical modelling and representations with machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches to support historical-geographical analysis. The overall approach follows Alan Liu’s “the human in the loop” digital humanities hermeneutics concepts and 3) graph network and cartographic presentations integrated with modelling for the interpretation or explanation of historical data. The resulting toolkits are the basis for a new generation of digital humanities projects. In the first phase of the project, work on the prototype toolkits utilises data from the Lists of Officers of the Polish Crown from Middle Ages up to End of 18th century. In the second phase, it will use additional data from DARIAH-PL. The project aspires for an international research presence through collaborations that utilise the new frameworks and toolkits and with national cooperative support with national, regional and local heritage institutes and professionals from post-secondary education. International and national workshops support these activities.
Project goals
The ambition of the project is to develop hermeneutic capabilities to address important „Where” and „What for” questions. Any two-dimensional map, with its reduction of temporal aspects to a timelessness, can only remain a poor surrogate for the historical complexity involved in developing and providing insights to these questions. The complexities and spatial ambiguities involved are substantial challenges and opportunities for research. The toolkit approach supports interactions with human interpretative and explanatory capabilities and use the modelling of spatial/temporal phenomena with distant reading and close reading.
The following eight points describe the specific research objectives the project sets out to achieve:
- Develop and refine interpretation and explanation tools and visualisations to support spatial humanities hermeneutics
- Support modelling of spatial/temporal complexity, usability and comprehension using semantic modelling
- Functional support of interpretation and explanation processes using graph databases, geovisual and diagrammatic integrated components
- Support and assess situational or grounded theoretical approaches in hermeneutic interpretation with integrated distant reading and close reading
- Develop and refine interface and interaction approaches to support interpretation and explanation activities
- Address structured and non-structured data storage and infrastructural issues
- Extend functions to support the inclusion of non-verified user data
- Enhance impact by developing broader application and use the potential of tools
