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Digital Humanities Summer School returns to Oxford

Attendees of the Digital Humanities Summer School listen to a panel discussion on the grass of Keble College

Article reproduced by kind permission of the University of Oxford Humanities Division

The 11th-15th July saw the Digital Humanities @ Oxford Summer School return to Keble College after two years of virtual events. The summer school, run jointly by Digital Scholarship @ Oxford and Oxford e-Research Centre, is the oldest digital humanities training event in the UK, now in its 11th year. 150 participants from as far as China and Brazil travelled to Oxford for five days of world-class instruction in every element of the digital humanities. As well as some of Oxford's finest experts in digital scholarship, the Summer School featured visiting lecturers from the Universities of Cambridge, Amsterdam and the Australian National University.  

"Wow - this was an amazingly rich and informative presentation!"

Tara Woolnough, attendee From Clay to Bytes, Ancient Cuneiform in the Age of AI

In 2020, the pandemic forced a rapid switch to a digital-only summer school. Using the experience from the last two years of virtual events, in 2022 we offered our first-ever hybrid summer school. 118 people attended DH@OXSS virtually, watching live-streamed talks and workshops while joining the discussion online and in our Canvas learning space. Offering an online-only option at a greatly reduced cost meant widening access to participants who otherwise couldn't attend, including many who would have to travel long distances or take time off from work to study in person. It also meant that we could upload videos for attendees to watch at their convenience, up to a month after the event itself, so that time differences or scheduling clashes didn't mean missing out.

"This was a very thought provoking session! It connected many courses I've taken where I've never seen the connection before (transactive memory, oral traditions, and archives)."

Jingyi Long, attendee, When Archives Become Digital 

Participants from across the globe were given the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of topics from across the Digital Humanities. Attendees ranged from interested newcomers enjoying the Introduction to Digital Humanities strand, to academics, professional and technical staff looking to dive into advanced tutorials. The programme offered content on diverse digital topics such as Text Encoding, Python programming for text processing in the Humanities, Linked Data, digital archives, cultural heritage, museum collections, data science, visualisation, collaborative research, and crowdsourcing. In-person and online attendees also had a chance to ask questions of lecturers and panel members via our online Slack channels.

This year, the Digital Humanities @ Oxford Summer School has announced a special partnership with The Journal of Open Humanities Data.  The Journal of Open Humanities Data has acquired a special position as a publication venue devoted to a culture of open data in the Humanities. Meanwhile, over ten years the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School (DHOxSS) has achieved a leading position in training the international community in the latest Digital Humanities methods, open data standards and practices. To celebrate these achievements, we are launching a special collection of the Journal of Open Humanities Data associated with the 10th anniversary of the summer school, to be guest edited by the current DHOxSS Directors. The special collection will focus on the unique expertise of the Digital Humanities at Oxford and Summer School community. 

Next year, we'll be returning to Oxford, welcoming another cohort to explore everything the Digital Humanities have to offer. We hope to see you there!

Find out more

Original article: Digital Humanities Summer School returns to Oxford

Digital Humanities @ Oxford website