Methodology

Research Groups

Traditional research of historical objects prioritizes the insights of scholars who are trained in the field of study to which the object belongs. Modern fields of study distinguish themselves from each other by adopting different methods, epistemological regimes, and standards of proof or rigor. But historical objects were formed under a predisciplinary structure of knowledge. Further, disciplinary training teaches us to anticipate certain answers or to apply predetermined frames of reference to our objects of study. So might we learn more about those objects by attempting to remove our modern disciplinary blinders?

We work in unconventional "predisciplinary" research teams where everyone's knowledge and perspective offers insight into an object.

Parlor Games

What happens when experts with no relevant knowledge look at an object that they do not understand and share what they think? What new visions, questions, areas of inquiry emerge? What does looking differently, beyond our prescribed methodological habits, yield? We aim to renew our scholarly relationship to research and to our objects of study through collaborative play around objects of study. Each parlor game will include a featured archival object (document, image, artifact) and as many people as we can securely fit around it. We will devise the rules of this game likely by the end of the first session, if not later. The less expertise and the more curiosity, the better.

Theoretical Readings

Pugh, Emily. 2024. "Computer Vision in the Archives." The Art Bulletin 106 (2): 15-18.
doi: 10.1080/00043079.2024.2296271.

Katherine Aske and Marina Giardinetti. 2023. "(Mis)Matching Metadata: Improving Accessibility in Digital Visual Archives through the EyCon Project." ACM J. Comput. Cult. Herit. 16. 4. Article 76 (November 2023). https://doi.org/10.1145/3594726.

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