Teaching DH with BasArt

BasArt, the Artl@s global exhibition of exhibition catalogues, can be used as a teaching tool for digital humanities.

This is precisely what we do at the University of Geneva.

by Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, University of Geneva, Digital Humanities Chair.

The students learn the entire digital humanities process using a collection of exhibition catalogues. Each year, we aim to add a specific collection to the database (in 2021-2022 on the Salon des Indépendants in Paris; 2022-2023 on international Biennials (Sao Paulo, Documenta Kassel, Venice Biennial; in 2023-2024 on the Turnus Exhibitions in Switzerland; in 2024-2025, in collaboration with Geneva Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, the entire collection of the Galerie Moos (Geneva). And to showcase this collection through an Open Access presentation to the scientific community.

Steps:

1. Registration (Contributor, Exhibitions, Catalogues)

Students begin by retrieving PDFs of the exhibition catalogues. They register as contributors to receive credit for their work. After verifying that the exhibition does not already exist in the database with its catalogue, they create the exhibition and the catalogue in BasArt and download a template file to integrate the data. This step is also an excellent opportunity for an intensive close reading of the source; it also allows participants to observe the images often published to illustrate the catalogue.

2. Performing OCR on PDF or PNG documents

They then perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the documents.

3. Proofreading

Students review and proofread the OCR results to ensure accuracy. This step is also an excellent opportunity for an intensive close reading of the source; it also allows participants to observe the images often published to illustrate the catalogue.

4. Extracting Information Using Python (Regex)

Using (and learning) Python and regular expressions (regex), they extract relevant information from the text.

5. Transforming, Parsing, Cleaning Data into Spreadsheets

The extracted data is then transformed into spreadsheet format for further processing (parsing, cleaning).

6. Enriching the Data with OpenRefine

Students enrich the data, including adding gender and geographical information (latitude and longitude), using OpenRefine.

7. Inputting Data into the Database

The enriched data is then input into the BasArt database.

8. Data Analysis Techniques

Next, students retrieve the complete collection to learn various data analysis techniques, including:
– Statistics
– Data visualization
– Network analysis
– Mapping

9. Writing a Collective Article

Finally, students collaborate on writing a collective article, under the teacher’s coordination. Note that the students must be guided by a specialist. The article is proposent to the Artlas Bulletin, under our dedicated section, “Artlas at Work.” This experience allows students to gain insight into academic publishing, including the principles of open access: see our last publication: on the Turnus exhibitions!

Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, in collaboration with Guillaume Aebi, Valéry Berlincourt, Lola Besson, Alyzé Bianco,
Raoul Bickel, Eugenio Blais, Vincent Exiga, Beatrice Gallina, Anaïs Gajo, Alphée Yannick
Hilaire Ngalli Ngomo, Marie Jeannot-Tirole, Gabriella Lini, Perla Maury Gil, Christine Payot,
Martina Rizzello, Elena Maria Rita Rizzi, Diana Ruiz et Stefania Tesser, “Les expositions Turnus, une page d’histoire transnationale des beaux-arts en Suisse à la fin du XIXe siècle. Et comment découvrir les humanités numériques“. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/artlas/vol12/iss1/13/.

Feel free to do the same and send us your feedback!

It’s a great opportunity to explore digital humanities through hands-on practice, to engage with FAIR—and even FAIREST—principles (Ethical: citing contributors; Sourced clearly; Time-stamped); to work with Linked Open Data; and to learn how to enrich data using resources like Geonames and Wikidata. You’ll also discover that data alone doesn’t tell the whole story and must be contextualized, critiqued, analyzed across multiple scales, and compared with non-digital historical sources. Beyond that, it’s an enjoyable way to collaborate and experience the thrill of research!

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