Between Physical Lockdown and Unparalleled Virtual Wanderings: Reflections on the Impact of the Pandemic on the Digital Turn
Hertziana DH Seminar

In the early modern period, a new visual culture was generated as a result of new media (as a result of the printing press); new tools of observing the world (such as telescopes and microscopes); and the generation of new questions about nature and the world.

Today, with the dissemination and development of digital media (such as the internet, and online publication options) and digital tools (such as online catalogues and databases, or 3D modelling software), new technologies are increasingly adopted in working practices in the humanities and sciences. This has led to new ways of finding answers. And it raises the question how these technologies impact the generation of new questions. In other words, what impact does the digital turn have on the kind of research questions we ask and the research methods we use to answer them? For example, do innovations in media technology and data storage change the role that images and visualizations play in our research and methods?

In order to examine these, and other, questions, the Max Planck Research Group Visualizing Science in Media Revolutions is organising a series of online seminars that asks researchers, librarians, software developers, curators, archivists, and artists to reflect on the impact of digital media and tools on their current working practices. Specifically, the series aims to investigate if the use of new media and tools generate new methods and ultimately new questions; and how these differ from traditional (or non-digital) scholarship? Furthermore, it aims to reflect on the opportunities and challenges for individual researchers and institutions in relation to the current drive towards open-access, linked data, and collaboration.

I will speak together with my great colleagues Leo Impett and Tristan Weddigen. Thank you, Oscar Seip, for the invitation