This two-day Summer School brings together international scholars from different disciplines to explore the integration of digital methods into research in the humanities and sciences, and potential theoretical gains for all disciplines in engaging with one another. The format of the Summer School is designed to enable cross-pollination between qualitative-hermeneutical and digital approaches to digital research, and lead participants to fuse them further in future research. It includes:
- Keynote addresses from leading international scholars whose research combines qualitative-hermeneutical and digital approaches: Prof. Dr. Michael Beisswenger working at the interface of linguistics, computer science and language technology; Prof. Dr. Lutz Hagen researching the production, reception and impact of news coverage on economic issues, using empirical methods; Dr. Ruth Page conducting research on narrative and story-telling in computer-mediated communication (CMC), particularly in multi-modal contexts;
- Practical workshops on how to develop the research skills necessary to work with digital data, led by highly experienced researchers in these areas: Dr. George Bailey, expert in the use of R for data analysis; Dr. Ruth Page (see above); Dr. Piia Varis, expert in digital ethnography.
- Roundtable discussions on problematic issues such as digital research ethics;
- Lightning talks and other opportunities for networking and sharing methods and approaches across disciplines.
The event builds on the New Methods for New Media network, an existing cross-disciplinary network established at Queen’s University by Dr Jane Lugea and Dr Anna Tristram, both from the QUB School of Arts, English and Languages, and opens this network to international scholars, with the aim of connecting scholars working on data from digital media across different disciplines and developing future research collaborations.
