### There is no future without the past: <br/> Why Europe still needs the humanities, and why they must be digital *STOA Panel: Humanities in the Digital Age,<br/> 26 April 2023* Toma Tasovac ([@ttasovac](https://twitter.com/ttasovac)) <img src="https://i.imgur.com/xulDy9S.png" width="20%" style="border:none; background:none; margin-bottom:0px; box-shadow: none;"> --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="https://i.imgur.com/xHAI7NF.jpg" --> <ul style="width:50%; margin-left:55%; font-size:80%"> <li>Hans Christian Andersen</li> <li>demonstration of the electric telegraph line in 1852</li> <li>"under the wings of a mighty spirit... [sensing] the infinite love of God... [displayed in] the laws and powers of Nature"</li> </ul> --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="https://i.imgur.com/xHAI7NF.jpg" --> <blockquote style="margin-left:35%; font-size:80%">Many people claim that it is only in the material realm that our age is making progress. I do not concur with this, but also if I did — very well — then the material that we gain is like timberwork erected for the construction of the spirit: People are pushed closer together, ideas are more easily exchanged; we shall become more like one people, one nation of the spirit. <br/>— Hans Christian Andersen</blockquote> Note: He wrote: Many people claim that it is only in the material realm that our age is making progress. I do not concur with this, but also if I did -- very well -- then the material that we gain is like timberwork erected for the construction of the spirit: People are pushed closer together, ideas are more easily exchanged; we shall become more like one people, one nation of the spirit. Clearly, this guy liked his telegraph very very much. But what is he and his over the top rhetoric doing in my introductory talk at a Panel for the Future of Science and Technology? What does the past have to do with anything? --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="https://i.imgur.com/j0i133z.png" data-background-size="cover" --> <p><!-- .element: style="margin-bottom:10em; margin-right:5em" -->Humanist scholars study <i>and</i> tell stories</p> --- <ul><!-- .element: style="backdrop-filter: blur(10px); background-color: rgb(255 255 255 / 0.4); padding:15px; list-style-position: inside; font-size:90%"--> <li>Infrastructures are imbued with meaning</li> <li>We reflect ourselves in our technologies</li> <li>Tricky move: from the physical to the immaterial</li> </ul> <!-- .slide: data-background="https://i.imgur.com/Mudr8Hb.jpg" --> --- <!-- .slide --> ### Infrastructure as a cultural and political symbol ![Без названия 3](https://i.imgur.com/WkvBRyv.png) <!-- .element: style="border:none; background:none"--> --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Chodowiecki_Basedow_Tafel_21_c_Z.jpg" data-state="nologo blur" data-transition="none" data-background-color="black" --> <p><!-- .element: style="backdrop-filter: blur(10px); background-color: rgb(255 255 255 / 0.4); padding:15px; list-style-position: inside; color:black; margin-bottom:12em"-->Digital revolution is not our first rodeo</p> --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3854/14153958438_af3d1e5264_b.jpg" data-state="nologo blur" data-transition="none" data-background-color="black" --> Technology is _not_ and has never been the _other_ of the humanities --- <!-- .slide --> ### EU recognizes the importance of research infrastructures <ul> <li><span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->ESFRI</span>: European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures</li> <ul> <li> <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->41</span> landmarks</li> <li> <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->22</span> projects</li> <li> <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->82</span> delegates representing 36 countries</li> <li> <a href="https://www.esfri.eu/">https://www.esfri.eu/</a></li> </ul> </ul> --- ### DARIAH ##### Founding Members Austria&nbsp;🇦🇹 Belgium&nbsp;🇧🇪 Croatia&nbsp;🇭🇷 Cyprus&nbsp;🇨🇾 Denmark&nbsp;🇩🇰 France&nbsp;🇫🇷 Germany&nbsp;🇩🇪 Greece&nbsp;🇬🇷 Ireland&nbsp;🇮🇪 Italy&nbsp;🇮🇹 Luxembourg&nbsp;🇱🇺 Malta&nbsp;🇲🇹 Netherlands&nbsp;🇳🇱 Serbia&nbsp;🇷🇸 Slovenia&nbsp;🇸🇮<!-- .element: style="font-size:0.8em;" --> ##### New Members since 2014 Poland&nbsp;🇵🇱 Portugal&nbsp;🇵🇹 Bulgaria&nbsp;🇧🇬 Czech Republic&nbsp;🇨🇿 Bosnia and Herzegovina&nbsp;🇧🇦<!-- .element: style="font-size:0.8em;" --> ##### Observer since 2020 Switzerland&nbsp;🇨🇭 <!-- .element: style="font-size:0.8em;" --> \+ a number of Cooperating Partners in non-member countries <!-- .element: style="font-size:0.4em;" --> --- ## Why Arts and Humanities? <!-- .slide: data-background="https://i.imgur.com/BcZBpAe.jpg" --> <ul><!--.element style="margin-left:2.5em"--> <li> inherently interdisciplinary</li> <li>fields of knowledge <i>and</i> practice</li> <li>different media: text, sound, image, 3D</li> <li>both qualitative and quantitative methods</li> <li>close <i>and</i> distant reading techniques</li> <li>comprehensive understanding of human culture, heritage, values and identities</li> </ul> --- ## Societal impact? <ul> <!-- .element: style="font-size:80%" --> <li>cannot be measured in <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->economic terms</span> alone</li> <li>crucial elements of European identities: <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->multilingualism and</span> and <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->multiculturalism</span></li> <li>Digital Humanities skills are <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->transferrable, digital literacy skills:</span> </li> <ul> <li>data management, data quality and data provenance</li> <li>power dynamics, structural and representational bias</li> <li>from Open Science to Public Humanities</li></ul> <li>responsible, human-centric AI: <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->not a question of technology, but values</span></li> </ul> --- ### So... why does Europe need the humanities and why must they be digital? <ul> <li><span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->Europe</span> as a symbolic space: <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->tradition</span> + <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->innovation</span></li> <li><span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->Digital Humanities</span>: history, culture, values, identities + accessability, inclusion, digital transformation</li> <li><span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->Democracy</span>: can only thrive in <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->self-reflective</span> societies</li> <li>Politics: <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->knowing the past</span> + <span><!-- .element: style="color: #1b91ff" -->imagining the future</span></li> </ul> --- <!-- .slide: data-background-image="" data-state="" data-transition="slide-in slide-out" --> Thank you for bearing with me! <aside class="notes"> </aside>
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