1st International Workshop on Computational History
This workshop is now closed. The current workshop can be found at 2nd International Workshop on Computational History and Data-Driven Humanities.
Data-driven humanities: teaching computers history so they can calculate the unknown
June 27th 2014, RIA, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
The International Workshop on Computational History, which focuses on the challenges and opportunities of data-driven humanities, brings together world-leading scientists and scholars at the forefront of this emerging field, at the interface between computer science, social science, humanities and mathematics. As historical knowledge becomes increasingly available in forms that computers can process, it becomes amenable to large-scale computational analysis and interpretation. Mathematical analysis of the dynamic, evolutionary patterns observed in the data helps us to better understand the past and can even produce empirically-grounded predictions about the future.
This day-long event will be divided into two main sessions. The morning session will focus on teaching computers history. Computer scientists and digital humanities experts will introduce technologies and tools they have applied in order to extract knowledge from historical records in a form that can be processed by computers without losing its meaningfulness. The theme of the afternoon session is calculating the unknown. A collection of leading international scientists, working at the forefront of mathematical and theoretical analysis of historical data, will describe what is possible with current tools.
The workshop will be preceded by a public lecture, The mathematics of impending social implosion, on June 26th by Professor Peter Turchin. It will be held at 6-7:30pm in the Royal Irish Academy. Admission to the public lecture is free to all, and offered on a first-come, first-served basis (no registration required).
Location
Royal Irish Academy
19 Dawson St
Dublin 2
Registration
Attendance at this events requires pre-registration. Tickets cost €20. Please use the eventBrite link below to register. A light lunch will be provided for all attendees.
Click on the download button (
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Timetable
| Session 1: Teaching computers history Chair: Declan O’Sullivan |
9am – 12.30pm | |||
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| 8.45 | Registration | |||
| 9.00 | Introduction & Welcome | Prof. Declan O’Sullivan, Trinity College Dublin Head of Intelligent Systems Discipline, School of Computer Science and Statistics |
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| 9.15 | Digitising History – why should historians care? | Prof. Micheál Ó Siochrú, Department of History, Trinity College Dublin. | |
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| 9.40 | Technologies for extracting knowledge from historical records and archives | Profs. Owen Conlan & Seamus Lawless, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin | |
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| 10.15 | Digital Repository of Ireland and the importance of trusted digital preservation | Dr. Natalie Harrower, Royal Irish Academy | |
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| 10.30 | Coffee | |||
| 11.00 | Irish Record Linkage: national opportunities and international obstacles | Dr. Ciara Breathnach, University of Limerick | |
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| 11.30 | Seshat - the global history databank project | Prof. Peter Turchin, University of Connecticut Prof of Ecology, Anthropology & Mathematics | |
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| 12.00 | Building technology platforms for data curation – Dacura and Linked Data | Dr. Kevin Feeney, School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin | |
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| 12.30 | Lunch | |||
| Session 2: Calculating the future Chair: Rob Brennan |
1.30pm - 5pm | |||
| 1.30 | Mathematical models of complex historical processes - an introduction | Prof. Sergey Gavrilets, University of Tennessee Professor of Arts & Sciences, Mathematics, Ecology | |
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| 2.00 | Modeling population dynamics in Old World agrarian empires | James Bennett, University of Washington Netflix VP, creator of Netflix prize | |
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| 2.30 | A network-based approach for studying technological evolution and revealing patterns of combinatorial change | Dr. Ioannis Psorakis, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford | |
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| 3.00 | Coffee Break | |||
| 3.30 | Geospatial Network Modelling of the Roman Empire | Prof. Walter Scheidel, Stanford University Chair of Classics | |
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| 4.00 | Global-scale mathematical models of social evolution: investigating the development of the modern world | Dr. Tom Currie, University of Exeter Lecturer in Cultural Evolution | |
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| 4.30 | Panel Session: the way forward | TBC | |
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After the panel session, we invite you to continue the conversation in Café en Seine, 40 Dawson Street, just across the street.
ECTS Certificates for Attendance
The organisers recommend that student attendees receive 1-2 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) of credit for researching the event background and speakers, participating in the workshop and writing a brief report for their supervisors or research group.
The organisers will provide signed certificates of attendance on request (please contact us on the day and we will print and stamp them for you).
Organising Committee
Prof. Declan O'Sullivan (general chair), KDEG, TCD
Dr. Kevin Feeney (co-chair), KDEG, TCD
Dr. Rob Brennan (co-chair), KDEG, TCD
Dr. Natalie Harrower (co-chair), DRI, RIA
Dr. Sandra Collins, DRI, RIA
Prof. Peter Turchin, UConn
Dr. Christophe Debruyne, DRI, RIA
This workshop has been partially funded by a New Foundations Grant from the Irish Research Council.
Download icon designed by Jens Windolf, Speaker designed by Edward Boatman from the Noun Project