Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis gedigitaliseerd, 1886-2008: Een verkenning van de inhoud als pleidooi voor het bijeenbrengen van digitale en traditionele onderzoeksmethoden

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis gedigitaliseerd, 1886-2008

T2 - Lancering digitaal archief 'Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 1886-2008'

AU - Hogervorst, Susan

AU - Ribbens, Kees

N1 - The Dutch historical journal Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis digitized, 1886-2008. A content exploration as a plea for combining digital and traditional research methods

PY - 2018/6

Y1 - 2018/6

N2 - The Dutch historical journal Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis digitized, 1886-2008. A content exploration as a plea for combining digital and traditional research methodsAfter the digitization of all issues of the Dutch historical journal Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis from 1886 till 2008, this article explores the content of this digital collection by applying two easily accessible digital methods: keyword search and word frequencies. It makes clear that interest in the nineteenth century has increased over time, while the seventeenth century has gradually become a less popular period in the Low Countries’ historiography. Furthermore, the assumed post-WWII dominance of British and American historiography over German historiography cannot be confirmed unequivocally using these methods. The article also discusses to what extent traditional historical research may benefit from digital methods. The authors demonstrate the limitations of a ‘deductive analysis’ of a text corpus when using a set of keywords, as the translation of a concept into search terms is often arbitrary and incomplete. An ‘inductive analysis’ based on word frequency offers a more genuine and varied impression of a text corpus. The authors underline the importance of including digital methods in the regular toolkit of historians, and argue that working with digital tools challenges researchers and the way they conventionally handle their sources.

AB - The Dutch historical journal Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis digitized, 1886-2008. A content exploration as a plea for combining digital and traditional research methodsAfter the digitization of all issues of the Dutch historical journal Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis from 1886 till 2008, this article explores the content of this digital collection by applying two easily accessible digital methods: keyword search and word frequencies. It makes clear that interest in the nineteenth century has increased over time, while the seventeenth century has gradually become a less popular period in the Low Countries’ historiography. Furthermore, the assumed post-WWII dominance of British and American historiography over German historiography cannot be confirmed unequivocally using these methods. The article also discusses to what extent traditional historical research may benefit from digital methods. The authors demonstrate the limitations of a ‘deductive analysis’ of a text corpus when using a set of keywords, as the translation of a concept into search terms is often arbitrary and incomplete. An ‘inductive analysis’ based on word frequency offers a more genuine and varied impression of a text corpus. The authors underline the importance of including digital methods in the regular toolkit of historians, and argue that working with digital tools challenges researchers and the way they conventionally handle their sources.

KW - Digital history

KW - text mining

KW - word frequencies

KW - histioriography

KW - media analysis

KW - history journals

KW - histioriography

KW - journals

KW - Historical Article

KW - Digital Humanities

KW - research data

U2 - 10.5117/TVGESCH2018.2.HOGE

DO - 10.5117/TVGESCH2018.2.HOGE

M3 - Artikel

VL - 131

SP - 309

EP - 325

JO - Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis

JF - Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis

SN - 0040-7518

IS - 2

Y2 - 13 October 2017 through 13 October 2017

ER -