The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) is an interdisciplinary centre supporting research and education in computational and data-driven methods in the humanities. The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) aims to empower all Faculty of Humanities staff and students by enriching their digital competencies and fostering an ethical and critical approach to digital humanities.

As digitalization and datafication advance, the humanities undergo a profound transformation. This computational turn is marked by an expansion of digital archives, new requirements for data management plans, and the introduction of innovative technologies in research and education. These technologies – like generative AI, automatic speech and handwriting recognition, text mining software, and network visualizations – are significantly reshaping the landscape of knowledge production.

To assist in this evolving landscape, the CDH was established in 2020. We aim to empower all staff and students within the Faculty of Humanities by enriching their digital competencies and by promoting an ethical and critical approach to the field of digital humanities.

Firstly, the CDH organizes a wide range of tailored courses, workshops, and lectures to enhance the computational skills, knowledge, and confidence of staff members and students while expanding their DH support network. Secondly, the CDH encourages collaboration between humanities researchers and DH specialists, such as data experts, privacy officers, and statistics advisors. For instance, the CDH provides regular support in areas such as data ethics, network analysis, statistical research designs, GDPR, and data management. Thirdly, the Faculty of Humanities benefits from an exceptional in-house team of research software engineers who can modify existing software or design and develop new advanced tools for humanities research and education.

In the cultural heritage domain, a growing number of archival materials are being digitized to facilitate searching through vast amounts of data, including historical newspapers, images, books, films, and audio fragments. Text mining tools support quick searches and the discovery of new connections through visualizations. AI-powered automatic handwriting recognition tools, for example, enable historians to access and analyze handwritten texts on an unprecedented scale. Linguistic researchers use computer programs to transcribe and analyze spoken language, while media researchers computationally explore radio and television recordings and link them to textual sources for interdisciplinary research.

When humanities researchers, teachers, and students are well-versed in current digital methods, they can efficiently search digital platforms and possess a fundamental understanding of underlying algorithms. Researchers can quickly gain insights from vast amounts of data and apply computational methods to search, analyze, visualize, interpret, and even enrich various data collections. Moreover, they can critically and ethically reflect on digital humanities in all its dimensions.

The operational staff at the Centre for Digital Humanities is embedded within the Faculty of Humanities as the section Humanities IT (SolisID required). The Humanities IT section comprises all research engineers, system engineers, developers, lab technicians, knowledge valorisation officers, education/research officers, data stewards, privacy officers, and support staff working at the Centre for Digital Humanities. Researchers and teachers collaborating with the CDH are employed at their respective departments. In addition to staffing the operations of the Research Software Lab, ILS Labs, Data School, and the Data Management & Privacy team, Humanities IT also provides IT services through its Humanities IT Services group.

Visit the Data Science & Artificial Intelligence page for an overview of the research, education, news, backgrounds, events, and collaborations within these domains at Utrecht University.