Bielefeld is undergoing a transformation—not only in terms of construction but also academically. The city thus proved to be the perfect setting for the 11th DHd Conference, held under the title Under Construction. Geisteswissenschaften und Data Humanities, from March 3 to 7, 2025, at Bielefeld University and Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. The team from the Rostock Junior Professorship for Digital Humanities also contributed with their own presentations.
On Tuesday, Fernanda Alvares Freire organized a one-day workshop, together with colleagues from the BBAW, Leopoldina, SUB Göttingen, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Herder Institute, and the Institute for Museum Research, focusing on the evaluation and improvement of metadata quality in digital editions.
Meanwhile, the poster session took place on Thursday, where two Rostock contributions sparked the interest of attendees: Marc Lemke and Nils Kellner presented a preview of the latest developments in the DFG project CANSpiN through their poster, while Ulrike Henny-Krahmer and Martina Scholger (University of Graz) shared a decade’s worth of work with the review journal RIDE of the Institute for Documentology and Scholarly Editing.
The final day of the conference began with a 90-minute panel discussion on the contribution of Computational Literary Studies (CLS) to literary history. While many DH projects primarily focus on the operationalization of literary phenomena, data modeling, and fine-tuning computational methods, the panel specifically addressed the topic of ‘space in literary texts’ in order to highlight neglected literary-historical perspectives. Moderated by Kellner, the five panelists—Berenike Herrmann, Fotis Jannidis, Katrin Dennerlein, Jana-Katharina Mende, and Lemke—discussed digital methods for examining space in literature and the added value that CLS can offer, first among themselves and later with the audience.
Early-career researchers were also engaged: Erik Renz, Master's student and research assistant in the CANSpiN project, joined the Rostock team at the conference once again this year and actively contributed to the discussions. Moreover, the annual conference offered an excellent networking opportunity—Kellner, as a participant in the DHd mentorship program, also had the chance to meet with fellow mentees, mentors, and former grant recipients at the "Meet and Greet" event.
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