EAJS Conference Grant Program in Jewish Studies
Report
Beyond Digital Awe. European Jewish Studies and the Challenge of Digital Humanities
Tomasz M. Jankowski
Vilnius University
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Conference rationale
Over the past decade, the Digital Humanities have experienced rapid growth within academia. Yet, despite numerous conferences and dedicated publications, the relationship between established disciplines, such as history and philology, and the Digital Humanities has been cautious. The Digital Humanities continue to be established as separate curricula, sets of workshops or ‘labs’, with only weak integration into the core humanities. Scholars and teaching units of Jewish Studies as well as Jewish memory institutions remain in a similar position if not an even more challenging position.
The conference ‘Beyond Digital Awe. European Jewish Studies and the Challenge of Digital Humanities’ aimed to review the current state of the relationship between the two disciplines and promote their further integration. With the methods and tools able to process large amounts of data, Digital Humanities helps to overcome challenges stemming from mobility, multilingualism, transnationalism, the features that were an integral part of Jewish history rather than a temporary by-product. The sense of universal unity, longue durée and vast geographies of European Jewry require a particular technical addressing adapted, among others, to scattered sources, mixed language multidirectional alphabets sources and continuity interrupted by the Holocaust. The emergence and spread of generative AI since 2022 has made evaluating the intersection of Digital Humanities and Jewish Studies an even more urgent task.
The conference brought together presentations that contributed to three key areas of benefit stemming from the integration between disciplines: experimenting, sharing, and engaging. From the outset, the main agenda of the Digital Humanities has been to develop new methods or, more often, to apply methods borrowed from other disciplines. The value of the tools lies as much in their direct output as in the mind-expanding aspect of testing new approaches and seeking alternative sources, such as images, geolocated objects, or textual (big) data. One of the roles of the conference’s tasks was to gather researchers and curators working with various methods, create a platform to showcase their work and encourage the participants to inspire each other with their new methods and tools. The engaging aspect of the conference was not only limited to exchange of experiences between the representatives of academia and memory institutions. Participants discussed how their work engages a broad audience, regular history consumers, through participatory archives, design and visualisation techniques. Last but not least the conference promoted collaboration and sharing. Several participants exchanged tools, data and presentation slides.
The conference’s importance was reflected by the wide response it received. The conference attracted a high number of proposals, exceeding the capacity of the available resources by more than three times. The invited participants came from ten countries, representing academia, memory institutions and private digital humanities and museum consultants. Participants came from a range of educational backgrounds, from PhD students to full-time professors. However, the formal academic experience played a secondary role, as the presentation of so-called young scholars, showed high technical skills. Moreover, the conference received a wide response beyond the circle of active participants. Several additional guests in the audience from Vilnius University, the Lithuanian Institute of History, Jagiellonian University and the local Jewish community attended the conference.
An overview of the sections and papers
The conference consisted of nineteen presentations, a keynote lecture and a closing discussion, with a total of twenty-two active participants. The presentations were grouped into six panels reflecting the conference rationale and the key areas of Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities.
Panel 1: Seeing (through) the text included presentations focusing on recent developments in text processing, such as text encoding, HTR, OCR and metadata classification, as well as the changes introduced by generative AI. Particular attention was given to new models for recognising and evaluating the efficiency of Hebrew and Yiddish handwritten text. Participants:
- Sergii Gurbych, Vilnius University;
- Sinai Rusinek, Open University of Israel, University of Haifa.
Panel 2: The Holocaust. New approaches, new challenges focused on the changes which Digital Humanities bring to the study of the Holocaust and education on it. The presentation covered both the technical and moral aspects of research and interaction with the audience. The presentation discussed the results of research brought about by the application of new tools, particularly mapping, as well as the risks relating to the use of generative AI. Participants:
- Justina Smalkyte, Sciences Po Paris;
- Catrina Langenegger, University of Basel;
- Aharona Rosenthal, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Panel 3: A view from above. Digitising collections was dedicated to showcasing breakthroughs resulting from the growing efforts to digitise entire document collections and establish new repositories. The participants discussed the research results, as well as the technical solutions that underpin them, such as TEI encoding and scraping. Participants:
- Parker Robbins, University of Chicago;
- Gadi Sagiv, Open University of Israel: Structuring the sacred;
- Ina Pukelyte, Vytautas Magnus University;
- Yevhen Zakharchenko, Karazin Kharkiv National University.
Panel 4: Spatialising Jewish history showcased how GIS techniques can reshape our understanding of Jewish history. Participants discussed the technical aspects of spatialisation, such as clustering and automated polygon generation, as well as their impact on challenging the dominant narratives of Jewish history, such as the idea of a uniform Jewish space, the division between East and West, and the concept of the ‘Jewish street’. Speakers:
- Marcin Wodziński, University of Wrocław;
- Kseniya Tserashkova, Vilnius University;
- Darya Tselesh, independent researcher;
- Tomasz M. Jankowski, Vilnius University.
Panel 5: Curating the past for the future brought together three presenters who curate repositories and exhibitions using digital methods. The participants discussed how visitors and participants interact with the designers of exhibitions and repositories, and how these interactions can be affected by digital techniques. Participants:
- Anna Hirsh, Historian, museums and collections consultant;
- Daniel Burckhardt, Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies;
- Simon Rabinovitch, Northeastern University.
Panel 6: (In)Visible minorities discussed how new digital methods and the creation of repositories could help trace structural omissions in discourse, as well as recover the histories of small sub-communities. Presenters:
- Tim Buchen, University of Wrocław;
- Victoria Gerasimova, University of Warsaw;
- Saule Valiūnaitė, Lithuanian Institute of History.
Irene Zwiep (University of Amsterdam) provided a broader perspective on the history of epistemological turns in her keynote lecture, paving the way for a better understanding of the ongoing digitisation of Jewish studies. The closing discussion, which featured Jurgita Verbickienė (Vilnius University) and a selection of presenters — Parker Robbins (University of Chicago), Gadi Sagiv and Sinai Rusinek (Open University of Israel and University of Haifa) — focused on the long-term challenges posed by the integration of Digital Humanities and Jewish Studies: the sustainability of online projects, exposing students to digital methods, and the international networking of researchers and institutional employees.
Key conference threads
Several main themes recurred throughout the conference panels. The presenters addressed these themes from both practical and theoretical perspectives.
1) The role of generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT) in reshaping Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities. Many participants indicated that generative AI is rapidly changing their everyday practices, research agendas and workflows. It is forcing DH specialists to redesign workflows for NER, TEI encoding and metadata creation (Sinai Rusinek, Sergii Gurbych and Gadi Sagiv). However, the impact of AI is weaker for Jewish languages. Dedicated Hebrew and Yiddish HTR models are outperforming generative AI. Generative AI is also reshaping Holocaust education as it is one of the main preferred learning methods for the fourth generation of survivors (Aharona Rosenthal). Interactive storytelling involving 3D techniques requires careful consideration of emotional authenticity and the risk of narrative distortion. Generative AI may also increase the use of repositories and educational websites by redirecting users to external resources with customised recommendations. Visitors arriving via Generative AI suggestions tend to explore the resources more deeply than those arriving via other methods, e.g. via Google (Daniel Buckhardt).
2) Technological advancements only become effective when paired with a meaningful human response. Even the most advanced and appealing digital humanities (DH) tools for curatorship and education require constant adaptation and monitoring based on feedback. Participatory repositories require workshops to encourage engagement and new contributions (Simon Rabinovitch). The structure of repositories requires ongoing adjustments based on the analysis of user flows (Daniel Buckhardt). Exhibition designs may be inspired, but not guided by digital methods (Anna Hirsh), which still aesthetically underperform.
3) Digitising collections not only leads to a quantitative breakthrough thanks to providing immediate access to enormous repositories, but also to qualitative breakthroughs and the opening of new research prospects. These include the analysis of discourse (Yevhen Zakharchenko, Victoria Gerasimova and Gadi Sagiv), the reshaping of grand narratives (Tomasz Jankowski), the recovery of marginalised historical voices (Saulė Valiūnaitė and Ina Pukelytė) and the reconstruction of life courses through linking (Tim Buchen).
4) Mapping currently seems to be the most popular digital humanities (DH) method among historians. Maps engage the audience and provide analytical depth at the city (Justina Smalkyte, Daria Tselesh and Kseniya Tserashkova), national (Catrina Langenegger) and transnational (Marcin Wodziński and Tomasz Jankowski) scales.
From a broader perspective, the conference revealed a considerable gap between the accessibility of tools and the requirements of researchers. On the one hand, new repositories and advanced tools are emerging, such as YiDraCor, the potential of which has yet to be explored in academic research. Conversely, some presenters indicated the limited availability of basic research tools that do not require advanced coding. Bridging this gap appears to be the main challenge for Jewish Studies in the coming years. One reason for the persistence of the gap is the limited flexibility and capacity of university teaching programmes. While the full inclusion of digital humanities courses in the teaching curriculum is beyond current capacities, it was suggested that students should gradually become more exposed to selected DH methods within regular teaching frameworks (Jurgita Verbickienė, Gadi Sagiv).
Conference outcomes
By bringing together leading specialists in Digital Humanities and Jewish Studies, the conference provided participants with insights into the latest developments in both fields, while also establishing a diverse network of scholars working in Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities. Several participants decided to contribute to the Data Forum, a shared cloudscape that enables them to upload and share their materials. New individual collaborations also emerged during the conference, including sharing census data (Daria Tselesh, Kseniya Tserashkova and Tomasz Jankowski); testing strategies for the spread of Hasidism (Gadi Sagiv, Marcin Wodziński and Tomasz Jankowski); sharing tools for linking data based on names (Tim Buchen and Sinai Rusinek); and collaborating on the development of HTR models (Sinai Rusinek and Sergii Gurbych). As many of the projects presented were in the early stages of exploration or had a purely digital aspect (tools, models, repositories), the publication of a post-conference volume is not planned.
The final programme of the event
17 November
Welcome (9:00–9:15)
Jurgita Verbickienė, Loreta Skurvydaitė, Tomasz M. Jankowski, Vilnius University
Keynote lecture
Irene Zwiep, Amsterdam University: Turn, turn, turn: methodological turns and the limits of the Humanities
Coffee break (10:00–10:30)
Panel 1: Seeing (through) the text (10:30–12:00)
Moderator: Tomasz M. Jankowski
Sergii Gurbych, Vilnius University: From handwriting to historical insight: applying DH tools to Yiddish WWI memoirs from Eastern Europe
Benjamin Schnabel, Technical University of Applied Sciences Mannheim: OCR correction in historical Jewish journals [Presentation cancelled]
Sinai Rusinek, Open University of Israel: Next AI frontiers for digital projects in Jewish Studies
Lunch break (12:00–13:30)
Panel 2: The Holocaust. New approaches, new challenges (13:30–15:00)
Moderator: Sinai Rusinek
Justina Smalkyte, Sciences Po Paris: Urban neighbourhoods as sites of persecution: Mapping anti-Jewish repression in Vilnius, summer 1941
Catrina Langenegger, University of Basel: Refugee care in Switzerland during World War II in the light of historical statistics and GIS
Aharona Rosenthal, University of Maryland, Baltimore County: When the survivors are gone, will Siri speak for them?
Coffee break (15:00–15:30)
Panel 3: A view from above. Digitising collections (15:30–17:15)
Moderator: Sergii Gurbych
Parker Robbins, University of Chicago: Introducing YiDraCor: A TEI XML encoded corpus of Yiddish drama
Gadi Sagiv, Open University of Israel: Structuring the sacred: A Digital Humanities approach to hasidic stories (1814-1914)
Ina Pukelyte, Vytautas Magnus University: Esther-Rachel Kaminska theater museum digital collection
Yevhen Zakharchenko, Karazin Kharkiv National University: ‘I survived the Nazis, I will survive the Rashists’. The World War II and the Holocaust in the current Ukrainian discourse on the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war
18 November
Panel 4: Spatialising Jewish history (9:00–10:30)
Moderator: Jurgita Verbickienė
Marcin Wodziński, University of Wrocław: DH research on Hasidism [presentation exceptionally on-line, arrival cancelled due to personal reasons]
Kseniya Tserashkova, Vilnius University; Darya Tselesh, Independent researcher: Mapping for local history projects: from archival document to user model
Tomasz M. Jankowski, Vilnius University: The transnational Jewish family? Spatial evidence from early-modern census data
Coffee break (10:30–11:00)
Panel 5: Curating the past for the future (11:00–12:30)
Moderator: Gadi Sagiv
Anna Hirsh, Historian, museums and collections consultant: Fragments & Memories: The digital & analogue reinterpretation of a lost synagogue mural
Daniel Burckhardt, Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies: [Hi]stories of the German-Jewish diaspora: A hybrid publication project
Simon Rabinovitch, Northeastern University: Teaching and Learning with the Jewish Migration Project
Lunch break (12:30–14:00)
Panel 6: (In)Visible minorities (14:00–15:30)
Moderator: Catrina Langenegger
Tim Buchen, University of Wroclaw: Measuring a minority in a minority. Leadership and success among Breslau’s Jews 1850-1933
Victoria Gerasimova, University of Warsaw: Gaps in the map, maps in the narrative? Jewish Representation on a digital cultural map of Polish Lands, 1865–1914. Preliminary findings of the Vademecum project
Saule Valiūnaitė, Lithuanian Institute of History: In search of the under-researched. The case of Vilna Yiddishist women
Coffee break (15:30–16:00)
Closing discussion (16:00–17:00)
Moderator: Aharona Rosenthal
Participants: Parker Robbins, Jurgita Verbickienė, Sinai Rusinek, Gad Sagiv