This one-day workshop will be held as part of the 22nd International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries, on 13 September 2018, Porto, Portugal.
Workshop organisers
Daniel Gomes (Head of Arquivo.pt, Advanced Services Department, FCT- Foundation for Science and Technology) and Jane Winters (Professor of Digital Humanities, School of Advanced Study, University of London).
Programme Committee
The Programme Committee includes: Daniel Ribeiro Alves (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Anat Ben-David (The Open University of Israel), Niels Brügger (Aarhus University), Miguel Costa (Vodafone), Anne Helmond (University of Amsterdam), Helen Hockx-Yu (University of Notre Dame), Barbara McGillivray (Turing Institute), Zeynep Pehlivan (Institut national de l’audiovisuel), Thomas Risse (Goethe University Frankfurt), Valérie Schafer (University of Luxembourg) and Peter Webster (Webster Research and Consulting).
Description
Work to archive the web began in 1996, with the ground-breaking initiative of the Internet Archive. Other organisations and institutions have followed, from national and state libraries and archives to museums and NGOs. Even individual researchers and research teams are beginning to create archives for personal use, as new tools make web archiving possible from a desktop PC. We now have access to two decades of web archives, collected in different ways and at different times, constituting an invaluable resource for the study of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Researchers are only just beginning to explore the potential of these vast archives, and to develop the theoretical and methodological frameworks within which to study them, but recognition of that potential is becoming ever more widespread. This workshop seeks to explore the value of web archives for scholarly use, to highlight innovative research, to investigate the challenges and benefits of working with the archived web, to identify opportunities for incorporating web archives in learning and teaching, and to discuss and inform archival provision in all senses.
Programme
The workshop will begin with an introduction to web archives and web archiving. This first session will present the state of the field and discuss the opportunities and challenges of using this new kind of primary source for research. It will also include demonstrations of a number of existing web archives, which offer varying degrees of open access, from Arquivo.pt and the UK Government Web Archive (which are completely open) to the various web archive collections at the British Library (which are subject to a range of legal restrictions).
The next session of the workshop will include presentations of ground-breaking Digital Humanities research drawing on web archives. These case studies will illustrate a range of different approaches, from small-scale analyses of individual websites to large-scale investigations of entire domains. Other studies will showcase innovative combinations of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
The workshop will conclude with a more ‘hands on’ session, during which participants will have the opportunity to use the web archives introduced earlier in the day to develop and explore a series of HSS research questions. They will be encouraged to reflect on the barriers to HSS research, as well as on imaginative approaches to overcoming those barriers. This part of the programme will involve group working.
Proposals
We are seeking proposals from potential contributors to the workshop in two main areas:
1) Work presenting the state of the field and discussing the opportunities and challenges of using this new kind of primary source for research. This may include demonstrations of existing web archives.
2) Presentations of ground-breaking Humanities and Social Science research drawing on web archives.
Apply now!
To apply, just submit a 300-500 word abstract via our online form. Final presentations should be around 30 minutes in length.
The deadline for applications is 17.00 BST, Friday 15 June 2018.
Registration
You can register to attend the workshop at http://www.tpdl.eu/tpdl2018/registration/ (€120, €90 for students).
Contact
If you have any questions about the event, contact either Jane Winters (jane.winters[@]sas.ac.uk) or Daniel Gomes (daniel.gomes[@]fccn.pt).