Digital Classicist Seminar

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the Digital Classicist Seminar Berlin in the winter semester 2025/26. This seminar series is organized by the Berlin Antike-Kolleg in cooperation with the Zentrum Grundlagenforschung Alte Welt at the BBAW, the Institute of Computational Ancient Studies (FU Berlin), the Department of History (HU Berlin), and the German Archaeological Institute.

You are cordially invited to submit contributions. This year's series focuses on the theme of “Potential and Limits of Digital Methods.” Digital methods offer enormous potential: they enable the precise documentation and analysis of sources and finds and facilitate access to data via digital platforms. They open up new perspectives on cultures from early times to late antiquity and allow for innovative research questions. At the same time, however, limitations are also apparent, for example due to technical and legal requirements, data incompatibilities, or methodological challenges.

The presentations should highlight new innovative approaches to digital research on antiquity, but also critically reflect on where its limitations lie and why this is the case. Possible topics could include: visualizations and their epistemic value; the application and long-term reusability of digital methods; reproducibility of results; challenges of big data, etc. Further new ideas are very welcome! We particularly encourage early career researchers to submit their thematically relevant research for discussion.

The seminars will take place every two weeks from October 2025 to February 2026, on Tuesdays from 4:15 to 5:45 p.m. The complete program will be announced at the end of August. Speakers will be supported as much as possible with their travel and accommodation costs. More information will be provided when the program is published. We prefer that speakers attend in person, but digital presentations are also possible. The seminar will take place in a hybrid format.

Please upload your documents here: https://nubes.bbaw.de/s/de73TGcs2ffbt5b. Please note that you will not receive a confirmation, that your document were uploaded. Please include your contact details on the first page (which should otherwise be blank). Your abstract of the planned presentation can be submitted in German or English; these are also the working languages of the seminar. Please let us know if the same presentation has already been submitted to other event series or conferences. If you have any questions you can contact the programme committee.