Spotlight article
Hidden Traces of Europe’s Difficult Past: Spotlight on Helsinki DHH
The Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon (DHH) is a different kind of summer school. At this award-winning event, approximately 40 students in humanities and social sciences collaborate with computer scientists to develop a project from start to finish in ten days. The Hackathon participants are divided in four thematic groups led by one to four team leads that propose specific data that their group will work with and can offer content or methodological expertise; their task is to guide participants regarding data and methods, while nurturing collaboration. The true objective of this hackathon is to show students the value added in collaboration and while data approaches or innovative methods are applied, they should address real humanities questions and problems. Since its first edition in 2015, this event has inspired cultural heritage organisations and researchers to experiment with many types of data, from historical newspapers, parliamentary debates, tweets, and poems, to Eurovision songs, and this year, for the first time, oral history interviews.