Hosted by the Wiener Holocaust Library and the Holocaust Research Institute

To mark 2022’s Refugee Week, The Wiener Holocaust Library’s launch of its new Refugee Map and to explore the opportunities and challenges of digital humanities projects to record, analyse, and commemorate the experience of forced migration, we are pleased to host an interdisciplinary, one-day virtual symposium that will examine themes related to the challenges of transnational digital curation and the sustainability of digital humanities resources in a new digital age for archives and heritage collections. To what extent do digital resources that map the paths of forced migration extend or subvert archival mediation? Do they democratise access to globally dispersed archives, or reinforce national, cultural or other barriers? What are the problems of sustainability for digital resources? The symposium will also feature a keynote lecture by Dr Simone Gigliotti (Royal Holloway, University of London), as well as a hands-on workshop for postgraduate researchers to work with the Library’s new Refugee Map.

We welcome digital humanities scholars and practitioners, and scholars, postgraduate students and early career researchers in digital humanities, migration studies, history, sociology, anthropology, information studies, curatorial and archival studies, and related fields to participate. We anticipate that this workshop will be useful to both users and creators of digital humanities resources. 

Programme

10.00-10.15 am: Welcome and Opening Remarks 

• Dr Christine Schmidt, Deputy Director and Head of Research, Wiener Holocaust Library 
• Leah Sidebotham, Digital Asset Manager, Wiener Holocaust Library 

10.15 -11.30 am: Panel 1: Digital Projects and the Challenges of Curation 

Chair: Helen Lewandowski, Assistant Curator, Wiener Holocaust Library 

• Dr Kristen Schuster,  Lecturer in Digital Curation, King’s College London 
• Kate Marrison,  Lecturer in Film and Media / PhD Researcher, University of Leeds
• Paul Dudman, Archivist, University of East London  

Discussant: Dr Rumana Hashem, Living Refugee Archive 

11:30 am – 12:45 pm: Panel 2: Sustainability of Digital Humanities Resources 

Chair: Leah Sidebotham, Digital Asset Manager, Wiener Holocaust Library 

• Dr Paris Chronakis, Lecturer in Modern Greek History, Royal Holloway, University of London  
• Professor Marilyn Deegan, Professor of Digital Humanities and Honorary Research Fellow, King’s College London 

12:45pm – 2pm Lunch Break

2pm – 2:45 pm Keynote Lecture:  

Dr Simone Gigliotti,  Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, Evaluating Geospatial initiatives as transnational Holocaust storytelling: activating archives in digital landscapes

Chair: Dr Michal Frankl, Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Unlikely Refuge?

2.45-3.00 pm: The Wiener Holocaust Library’s Refugee Map: Curation and Demonstration
Helen Lewandowski 

3:00 – 3.30 pm: ‘Discovery’ Break to explore the Map project

 3.30 – 4 pm:  Participants return, voluntary presentations, discussion chaired by Simone Gigliotti, Helen Lewandowski, Leah Sidebotham, Christine Schmidt 

Applications

To apply to attend, please send the following information to Dr Christine Schmidt by Friday 10 June 2022: [email protected]

Name:

Institutional Affiliation:

Degree:

Area of Research Interest [250-500 words]:

What do you hope to gain from this workshop? [up to 200 words]