Reading in Europe—Challenges and lessons learned from the case studies of the READ-IT project

Abstract

AbstractThis article reflects on the challenges of combining humanistic and computational research perspectives within the framework of a multicultural and multilingual Digital Humanities project. It analyses the approach of Reading Europe Advanced Data Investigation Tool, a European project funded by JPI-CH, to the framing of its case studies within a wider perspective of interdisciplinary collaboration between humanities, digital humanities, and data science scholars. The analysis of sources ranging chronologically from the 18th century to the present and technologically from manuscript diaries to social media defines a new framework for the history of reading focused on the centrality of the human experience of the reader, and on the evolution of the medium through which reading is conducted. The interdisciplinary collaboration of the project develops a shared laboratory space where practices, languages, and research cultures converge to address both microscope and macroscope questions on the history of reading.