Humanists’ Virtual Knowledge Space: Model and Usage

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to present a conceptual model of a virtual knowledge space for use by digital humanists. Following the basic knowledge management strategies, the proposed model supports codification and personalisation, exploitation and exploration. In particular, it incorporates the ability to capture and organise explicit knowledge repositories, tools for knowledge discovery and visualisation, support for tacit knowledge sharing and collaboration with other researchers, as well as for new knowledge creation. The proposed virtual knowledge space is intended to help users to make humanistic knowledge in digital media more manageable and usable. As an illustration, the chapter presents two cases showing different ways humanities scholars may interact with their data in the context of the Republic of Letters. The first case describes a creative process of visual exploration by association, while the second case focuses on deeper methods of analysis and visualisation. Overall, the chapter suggests that the proposed virtual knowledge space may serve as reference for implementing various digital humanities projects relevant to a wide range of humanities disciplines.