Articles as data. On the transformation of publishing in Art History

Over the centuries, structures have developed around printing: institutions such as publishing houses and libraries as well as standards such as pagination formats and citation methods. Publishing online has the potential to change such structures. The first step in the digital transformation has long been taken. But a PDF-file on a server means only mimicking the printed journal in a digital medium and publishing it in the rather conventional format of consecutive volumes of numbered pages. The fact that those articles are digital means that data can be taken into consideration.

“Articles as data” allows the next step in the digital transformation. Now we are able to reinvent the workflow and the presentation of scholarly research. This will allow readers to explore, navigate, and visualize the content of the periodical in new ways. One of the first examples in this direction is the interactive network on the website of the International Journal for Digital Art History (DAHJ). The map uses the metadata of articles to generate and illustrate information about the relations between all of the articles. Thus, it provides the user with a new meta-level of all the available content. Instead of a predetermined “route” through the journal traditionally established by an index or table of contents, the map offers new paths among all the articles. This presentation will address how the DAHJ plans to go further in that direction.