Digital Humanities, Research Computing Modeling Life Histories and this workshop Peter Bol

The Digital Humanities and Research Computing –The challenge of data in quantity –Access and applications –Content as scholarly infrastructure –Persistence –Publishing

The Digital Humanities and Research Computing –Conceptual Leaps From images of maps to GIS From searching to text-mining From flat files to relational databases

Modeling Life Histories Biography Prosopography Social Network Analysis

Prosopography 群體傳記學 " 群體傳記學 " 是指通過對一 群人物生平的集體性研究， 來探討他們的共同背景特徵 。其採用的方法為：先建立 一個研究範圍 ，然後詢問一 組系统的問題 —— 關於出生 與死亡、婚姻與家庭、社會 出身與其所繼承的經濟地位 、居住地、教育、個人財富 的數量與來源、職業、宗教 、仕歷經驗等 等。之後將這 一範圍内所有個人的各種信 息對比、組合，並探析其重 要的變數。研究者會分析這 些信息的內在相關性，及它 們與其它類型的行為與活動 的相關性。 'Prosopography’ is the investigation of the common background characteristics of a group of actors in history by means of a collective study of their lives. The method employed is to establish a universe to be studied, and then to ask a set of uniform questions – about birth and death, marriage and family, social origins and inherited economic position, place of residence, education, amount and source of personal wealth, occupation, religion, experience of office and so on. The various types of information about the individuals in the universe are then juxtaposed and combined, and are examined for significant variables. They are tested both for internal correlations and for correlations with other forms of behaviour or action. (L. Stone, 'Prosopography', in F. Gilbert and S. Graubard eds., Historical Studies Today (New York, 1972)

What approaches have we developed to modeling lives? When and how does life history writing change? What sources of biographical data should have priority? Is there value in establishing a comprehensive biographical database? Can we share data structures and data? How can online databases be made to interoperate? How can computer-assisted text mining and relationship building be made useful to all? The goals of the workshop