Recap of the DHd 2026 Conference in Vienna

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure in attending the DHd 2026 in Vienna! The week long conference started with being greeted and checked in by extremely kind and helpful people and receiving a DHd tote bag containing a travel mug, a programmable LED name tag, a program book, a DHd pen, and a notebook.

Then the first workshop began. I had enrolled in Workshop 6: Library Labs als Innovation Hubs für DH – Worldcafé & Community Building. Here we heard from the Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung des DIPF, the Deutsche National Bibliothek, the Stabi Lab which is part of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, DIGIPOP, and the Vernetzungs- und Kompetenzstelle Open AccessBrandenburg. Each presented what offers they have, what events they host, how to access their datasets and open source resources, and how to get in touch. Then after a 15-minute coffee and pastry break, we broke out into groups and discussed the overarching theme of Library Labs, broken up into the subcategories of physical location, teaching formats, personnel/resources, target groups and communication, and cooperation and sustainability. The breakout groups was an amazing opportunity to learn and chat with other people attending the conference and hear about the work they are currently involved in.

The next day I participated in the workshop hosted by the DNBLab from the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek called “Von der Forschungsidee zumDatenkorpus”. Here we learned how to use the DNB SRU Query Tool to query and create metadata sets via the SRU interface. This workshop was again a very open and welcoming space, with all coding levels represented and everyone working together to use the tool and create visualizations from the datasets.

During the lunch break after, due to the sunny weather, many people decided to picnic outside at a nearby park before the next workshop. Tuesday evening was the Opening Keynote from Miriah Meyer, a professor in the Department of Science and Technology at Linköping University who is funded by the WASP program. Her research focuses on developing visualization tools that support exploratory and reflective data analysis and provide new ideas for using data in our lives. These tools enable people to learn more about their own data, redefine their perspectives, and revolutionize their thinking. In her keynote “Data As _: Exploring the Plurality of Data in Visualization”, she presented four different perspectives on data that reflect the range of approaches used by visualization researchers. By clearly distinguishing these perspectives, she opened new possibilities for how we create and use data and visualizations, and how we can simultaneously question our common notions of data-driven work. She also described the various projects she is and has been involved in, including one where young women are the target audience, with whom she explored Data Crafting and Data Physicalization Methods.

After the interesting Keynote, we all went to the Main Ceremonial Hall (Grosser Festsaal) for the Opening Reception where we were welcomed with food, drinks, and deserts and had time to socialize. Starting Wednesday and going until Thursday at noon, there were lectures where 2 to 3 people or groups presented their work, each total lecture lasting 1.5 hours and each having an overarching topic. The topics included digital soundscapes, digital art history, research data standards, Doctoral consortiums, named entities, digital editions, history of DH research, research software engineering, graph networks, virtuality, AI in interaction scenarios, epistemology and interpretation, research platforms as well as panel discussions. Between each lecture, there was either a coffee and pastry break, or a lunch break.

Thursday after the first coffee break, everyone headed to the Audimax where the Poster Slam took place. Each person or group presenting a poster had 60 seconds to introduce themselves, their topic and their research. The audiences applause level was recorded and whichever group received the loudest applause won. The slams were all so creative, with people working with props, being wrapped in toilet paper, performing poetry, sonnets, raps, and skits. After the Poster Slam followed lunch, and afterwards everyone gathered in the Main Ceremonial Hall for two Poster Sessions where we were able to ask questions and hear more about each poster from each of the participants.

In the evening, we were invited to the Reception in the City Hall. We entered the City Hall and were greeted with breathtaking architecture. The mayor’s representative welcomed us, speeches were held, the awards of the Poster Slam and the Poster Sessions were announced, selfies were taken and the buffet was opened. The night continued with food, drinks, desserts, and dancing and then once the City Hall closed, everyone went to a bar where bingo was played at midnight.

On Friday there were two more lecture sessions with topics including historical perspectives, digital editions II, text recognition, automation and AI, operationalization, multimodality, data modeling, digital art history II, and two more panel discussions.

This was followed by lunch and then the closing Keynote which was held by Katharina Kinder-Kurlanda, a Professor of Humanwissenschaft des Digitalen at the University of Klagenfurt in Austria. She works across disciplines in digital humanities, science and technology studies, sociology of technology, and internet research. Her research interests include new epistemologies for big data, algorithms in everyday life, data practices, social casual games, and (fair) artificial intelligence. The keynote invited us to understand digital humanities as a critical discipline that not only applies digital methods but also reflects on their social implications. She asked the question of how can we, as researchers in digital humanities, make the politics of data visible?

Following the Keynote, closing remarks were made, the Organizational Team from Vienna was brought on stage and given roses and thanked for their amazing effort, and there was a presentation about the DHd Conference 2027 which will take place in Marburg Germany.

Overall, the DHd 2026 was an amazing experience! It was an extremely open and supportive environment, allowing everyone to meet and learn from their peers and the pioneers of the field. I am very grateful to the DHD for the scholarship and this opportunity. Thank you for the inspiring week full of wonderful presentations, workshops, posters, delicious food and drinks and lovely interactions. I’m already looking forward to next year! 🤩