ATRIUM Summer School - From Maps to Data and Data to Maps: Exploring Spatial Histories

This summer school is designed for scholars and professionals interested in exploring digital humanities methods for mapping and spatial visualization. Mapping in the digital humanities provides new perspectives on sources, enables analysis in a spatial context, and offers visual representations of arguments and narratives. Participants will be introduced to key topics, including spatial data collection, geocoding, georeferencing, map annotation, data wrangling, and different types of maps, platforms, and hosting services.

Summer school participants will work collaboratively to create a digital map of the Vrysaki neighborhood of Athens, which was demolished in the 1930s to expand the excavation of the Ancient Agora. This work will draw on a unique collection of historic photographs and maps from the 1930s, created by photographer M. Messinesi and held in Princeton’s Art and Archaeology Department’s Visual Resources Collection.

They will also engage in the collaborative map annotation of Rigas Velestinlis’ Charta of Greece, a late 18th-century map rich in spatial and cultural information, densely filled with place names, symbols, illustrations, and textual commentary. Using the ATRIUM Collaborative Map Annotation Workflow and demonstrator, participants will identify and describe places and cartographic features and link them to authoritative gazetteer records, transforming historical map images into structured, interoperable data.

Through presentations, discussions, hands-on instruction, collaborative work, and site visits, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges of spatial humanities. By the end of the summer school, participants will be equipped to tackle their own mapping and map annotation projects.

The summer school is open to scholars from all disciplines, regardless of technical background. Experience with mapping, GIS methods, tools, and concepts is welcome but not required. This summer school will be of particular interest to those in History, Archaeology, Urban Studies, Architecture, Cultural Studies, Public Humanities, and Photography. Knowledge of Greek is not required.

Participants will be required to bring their own laptop, download software, and complete preparatory reading in advance of the summer school.

Instructors will include members of the UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Athens University of Economics and Business, the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton University, the Princeton University Library, and the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU).

The summer school is organized by the UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences as part of the Horizon Europe project ATRIUM with the cooperation of the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton and the Athena Research Centre, and will take place at the Athens University for Economics and Business in Athens, Greece.