Taking part in the “Pimp your publication” workshop

On the 9th of April we had the pleasure of participating in the Pimp your publication: Potenzielle Einsatzszenarien von Graphentechnologien im digitalen Publizieren workshop co-organized by the two working groups Graphen & Netzwerke and Digitales Publizieren of the Verbandes Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum.

The workshop brought together a large number of participants from varied disciplinary and technical backgrounds working in digital humanities projects to discuss their experiences, needs, and ideas in relation to three central topics:

1. 1. Digital publications as knowledge graphs
   2. Modelling of statements in texts
   3. Publishing graphs as graphs

We took part in the discussion group on topic three, Publishing graphs as graphs. It was very stimulating to see the many different angles from which this problem is approached across various research projects. A guiding thread throughout our discussion was the importance of keeping in mind the use cases and the target audiences when considering how to make graph data available. Very different approaches are required when trying to communicate research results to a wider audience, and when making the data available for further research. This is further complicated by the question of visual and data literacy. Varied representations and tools will prove to be the most helpful depending on the capacities of the audience. For instance, while a digital humanities scholar working from the standpoint of field specific knowledge might be more appreciative of clear visualizations and easy to use graphical user interfaces, data scientists and scholars with higher levels of coding knowledge might prefer to have a more direct access to the underlying data, whether it be through downloadable csv tables or through direct access to a SPARQL endpoint.

The picture below of our discussion’s jamboard offers a snapshot of the many topics that were discussed during our workshop meeting.

Another interesting aspect of the workshop experience was hearing about the various projects and their approaches to publishing their data. Among others we learned about Die Sozinianischen Briefwechsel project, heidlCON – The object and multimedia database of Heidelberg University with its Heidelberg Cuneiform Benchmark Dataset for the Hilprecht Collection, and the overview list of useful tools and resources compiled by the Legal Theory Graph Project.

All in all it was a very exciting event with a fun atmosphere. A big thank you again to the organizers for the well thought-out format. And we look forward to participating in future events organized by the Graphen & Netzwerke and other working groups of the Verbandes Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum.