DH2025 – ADHO Digital Humanities conference 2025, NOVA FCSH, Lisbon, Portugal

CFP – DH2026 in Daejeon, South Korea

Enhancing the study of historical figures through AI-powered interactive data visualizations

One of the most important tasks for a historian is to identify key historical figures across multiple cultural archives and analyze their impact on history. The extensive effort of cultural institutions in digitizing historical archival materials and distributing them through online digital archives have significantly enhanced the study of historical figures. However, current historical digital archives, which rely on keyword-based search methods, often return numerous but imprecise results making it challenging for historians to understand chronological and contextual events surrounding a historical figure. We would like to present the result of the Mini-Muse project. It was a preliminary research project aimed at identifying data visualization models and user-friendly interface features to help historians visually explore historical figures and their actions. The project leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to extract metadata from unstructured text and generate structured data about key figures. It also applies data visualization techniques to support the visual analysis of each figure's timeline. The project adopts a user-centered design approach to ensure that the user interface features meet the needs of historians. It involves a pool of Swiss and Italian historians to gather insights on their research practices and validate a working prototype. The findings of the preliminary research project suggests that the introduction of an ''action flow view'', an interactive timeline displaying the historical figure's actions extracted automatically, can significantly improve the identification and study of historical figures.

Effizient aber korrupt? Verwaltung im 17. und 21. Jahrhundert, untersucht mit KI

How can AI help us understand both 17th-century church administration and today’s public institutions? Join Christoph Sander and Jan Mendling for a thought-provoking talk on efficiency, corruption, and the power of algorithms. Please note that the event will be conducted in German.