Richard Zijdeman discusses several reasons for doing digital history: 1) Digitization allows historians to move past biased source selection and consider multiple overlapping sources. 2) It enables the appreciation of historical variation beyond averages by combining different sources. 3) Digital history permits the incorporation of historical contexts into studies through linking sources. 4) Visualization and new digital tools can help summarize information and provide new insights and questions for historians. 5) Digitization supports and complements traditional historical research methods.

1. Richard Zijdeman
Examples of digital history
at the IISH
2015-10-30, IISH, Amsterdam

2. Moreover, scale notwithstanding, digitisation
is about selection and thus far from neutral.
Zaagsma (2013, p.20)
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3. So why do we do it?
… because for quite a range of questions,
digitization is key to go move away from biased source selection
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4. Clio-Infra
• all countries in the world
• 1500-today
• various indicators: economic, health, environmental
• multiple and overlapping sources for some of the indicators
• link: https://www.clio-infra.eu/
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… by combining multiple sources

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… and by moving away from
the mean for everything

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10. macro
micro
macro-micro relations: ‘Coleman boat’

11. “Keeping up
with the
Joneses”
macro-micro relations: ‘Coleman boat’
Improving
economic
conditions
Strikes
Moan against
your friends

12. So why do we do it?
… because it allows for new ways to
incorporate historical contexts
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13. Global collaboratory for the history of
labour relations
• Patterns and trends in labour relations across the globe
• 1500-2000
• Who works with whom under what conditions?
• Link: https://collab.iisg.nl/web/LabourRelations/
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14. So why do we do it?
… because there does not need to be bias in digitization
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15. Historical Sample of the Netherlands
- random sample of person’s birth records (1812-1922)
- 78000 individuals
- certificates of birth, marriage and death
- population registers
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16. So why do we do it?
… because visualization helps to
summarize and provides new insights
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17. NLGIS
• Data on Dutch municipalities from 1812-1997
• Plotted on historically accurate borders
• Allows for visualization of own data
• Link: http://www.nlgis.nl
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Vote on PVDA, 1982,
Parlemental elections,
source: nlgis.nl

18. So why do we do it?
… because it raises new questions
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Common Lab Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities
• link textual, audio-visual and structured data
• tools to transpose your data into ‘linked data’
• visualize your data
• link: http://www.clariah.nl
CLARIAH

21. So why do we do it?
… in support of ‘traditional’ history
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22. Various examples of
supportive ‘digital’ research
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23. So to sum up, we do digital history
because:
• Deals source selection
• Appreciates historical variation (beyond the mean)
• Allow for studies within historical context
• Provides new questions
• Supports ‘traditional’ history
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24. Thank you
richard.zijdeman AT iisg.nl
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