Background
Cyber Humanities (CH), born already in the 1960s, represent a highly interdisciplinary field of applied research that merges the use of digital tools, methodologies and technologies with the study, exploration and analysis of Social Science and Humanities (SSH) such as archaeology, literature, history, philology, philosophy, linguistics, library science, etc.
CH therefore involves research and application of ICT methods to research, preserve, protect, interpret and communicate aspects of human culture and knowledge, in accordance with the FAIR principles.
From this perspective, in the current Information Society, digital resources in the ecosystem of SSH represent a strategic asset both for preserving the memory and cultural identity and for increasing opportunities for reuse, valorization and fruition of digital resources as well their analogue twins (if the such digital resources are products of a digitalization campaign). The possibility that the latter could be subjected to the risk of unavailability, loss or permanent destruction due to natural or anthropic causes (wars, natural disasters, degradation, etc.), calls for a commitment of the technological sector, in particular due to the fact that digitized versions of cultural assets are now considered cultural assets themselves.
Moreover, the epochal shift from analogue to digital has enormously expanded the possibilities of acquiring (e.g. remote sensing), preserving (large storage), protecting, analysis (e.g. ML/AI), contextualizing (semantification), reusing and disseminating large quantities of Knowledge, Information and Data (KID). In this context, the SSH and ICT researchers are called to be cross-fertilized each other to fully understand the levels of complexity represented by the use of the technologies necessary to achieve the digital transition in SSH Ecosystem.
For example, understanding the Internet of Underwater Things can allow the Cyber Humanist to manage underwater archeology projects; LLM models can enable the design of research applications on large digitized archives, as well as AI systems for text recognition applied to epigraphs or ancient manuscript; up to human-machine interaction where the design of advanced Mixed Reality applications for the use of immersive cultural environments can merge with cognitive processing for the organization of knowledge in a cyber-physical environment.
In this context, the TC acts as an enabler, capable of animating the debate within the ICT domain and allowing knowledge transfer towards SSH communities to support them in the current Digital Turn
Mission
The TCCH intends to raise awareness and stimulate reflection within the ICT domain about the SSH needs and challenges; it aims to contribute to reducing the gap between the Two Cultures (humanistic, technological) by encouraging inter- and trans-disciplinary and guaranteeing the full inclusion of traditionally underrepresented research fields in the ICT domain.
TC Leadership
