The following interview was conducted by Sam Goven, a master’s student in Journalism at KU Leuven, with Andreas Ketele, BiblioTech Hackathon participant. Andreas is a master’s student in Digital Humanities and works as legal counsel for the Agency Opgroeien. Andreas’ team, Inked and Stamped, worked with the postcards collection. You can learn more about the team’s work by having a look at their project poster in the BiblioTech Zenodo community and by visiting their project website.

The BiblioTech Hackathon is a 10-day event organized by KU Leuven Libraries and the Faculty of Arts. Students, researchers, and staff members of KU Leuven worked in multidisciplinary teams with digitized collections from KU Leuven Libraries. The theme of the 2026 edition was travel, which was reflected in the selected datasets: historical postcards and historical travelogues. More information about the hackathon and its results can be found on the BiblioTech 2026 website.

To start off, could you tell us a bit about your academic background? Had you participated in a hackathon before, and what drew you to this one?

I have a degree in law and have been working for a few years now. At the same time, I’ve always been very interested in IT and programming, so I was really happy when I discovered that there is an advanced master’s program in Digital Humanities. The program is a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering Science and the Faculty of Arts, and it is specifically designed for people with a humanities background who want to learn how to program and how to use computational methods to strengthen their own field. For me, that felt like a perfect match, and I really enjoy it.

During the program, we learned about the hackathon and were encouraged to participate. What interested me most was the chance to apply what we were learning and really put it into practice. The program does include practical components, of course, but there is still so much more to learn when you can actually work with a large and complex dataset like the one we received during the hackathon.

This was also my first hackathon. I had done some programming before, but I had never participated in a hackathon.

Your team won the prize for best enrichment. Could you briefly describe your project?

We worked with the postcard dataset. One of the first things we did was index the postcards based on their use of color. From that, we were able to derive several insights, for example, who was printing in color, when this happened, and how that evolved over time. In addition, we made the collection searchable by the places depicted on the postcards. Finally, we extracted a number of postage stamps, allowing users to explore those in more detail as well. This part of the project was still in progress: we had several additional features in the pipeline, but they were not fully completed yet, so we weren’t able to deliver everything we had initially envisioned.

The final outcome is a website where users can explore both the postcards and the postage stamps, combined with a poster presenting our research findings.

Did you have a clear idea of what a hackathon actually is? What were your expectations, and did you feel that, with your background in Digital Humanities, you had the skills needed to get started?

Yes and no, let’s put it that way. In general, I try not to have too many expectations and to step into things with an open mind. As for having the necessary skills, yes, to some extent. In the sense that I had already done a bit of programming.

But for me, having the necessary skills often sounds like you’re expected to know everything already and be able to build a complete project in five minutes. And what I really liked about this hackathon was that this wasn’t the case at all. It was very explicitly communicated that this was also a space to learn, and that’s exactly what we did. We learned a lot along the way, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable.

At the ‘Meet the Data, Meet the People’ event, you were introduced to the data for the first time. What was the brainstorming process like? Did you feel overwhelmed with ideas, or was it clear early on which direction you wanted to take?

It was mainly a lot of different ideas coming together at first. Michiel, our team leader, did a great job of getting the conversation going, and from there we continued brainstorming and gradually exploring the data in more depth. The dataset itself was enormous, around 200 gigabytes, which is not something you can fully grasp in just a few hours. So we took time to really dig into it after the event and see what was possible.

What I really enjoyed was that process of exploration. We reflected on our ideas and experimented a lot, and that’s exactly what a hackathon is about for me: discovering possibilities along the way. If you already know everything in advance and the only thing left is implementation, you might actually miss interesting directions.

As we explored the data together, we also discovered each other’s strengths, which is one of the nicest aspects of working in a group like this. Everyone in the team was genuinely motivated, and there was a strong sense of what can we create together. That kind of shared energy is really the magic of a hackathon.

Could you describe your role in the project? Was it in line with what you were expecting?

I mainly contributed by programming and working on the content. I supported others whenever I could and asked for help myself when I needed it. Overall, it was very much a team effort: we shared tasks and built on each other’s strengths.

How would you describe the entire process from start to finish? What was your own experience like?

It was a fantastic experience. I’m usually not someone who uses very strong words, but this really was fantastic. Programming on your own can be enjoyable too, you can build interesting things that way, but here we were working as a group of highly motivated people. We collaborated very well and benefited enormously from all the support we received along the way.

That support was really essential: the infrastructure, the help, the tips, and the exchange of ideas. It made a huge difference, because you learn so much and can really move forward. A concrete example of that support is my experience with an AI model. At one point, I was working on a specific task, and the first steps went well. But when I reached a stage involving dimensionality reduction, the process ran for five minutes and then crashed with an error saying it was trying to allocate 40 gigabytes of RAM. Having access to a supercomputer where you can offload that workload is incredibly valuable, and frankly, also really exciting.

What I also loved was, on the one hand, building something ourselves, and on the other hand, seeing the final presentations from the other teams. I was genuinely impressed by what the other teams had created.

As an outsider, I also had the feeling that there was a lot of support around the hackathon, and that the people from the organizing team put a great deal of passion into it. That really stood out to me, whenever I spoke with them, you could hear how genuinely enthusiastic they were.

That’s actually something I’d really like to add as well, because I’m very grateful for it. I’ve also told them this directly: for me, this has been the best experience of my entire KU Leuven education so far, and I’ve studied in Leuven for several years. Being encouraged to explore, and being in such a positive environment where you can really feel that everyone wants to move forward, was incredibly special. It felt almost magical.

You’ve mentioned several times that you learned a lot during the hackathon. Which specific skills or aspects do you think you’ll be able to apply in the future?

Well, I’m already working on projects using the tips and techniques I picked up during the hackathon. I also received additional advice from some of the participants during the final presentations that I want to look into. So I do already have a few ideas I’d like to explore in the future.

The only downside, and I say this partly as a joke, is that now I’ll have to do it on my own (laughs).

Were there any roadblocks during the process? Did you run into things that didn’t go as expected, and how did you deal with them?

Of course, everyone in the team ran into obstacles at some point. And how did we deal with that? Partly by doing our own research, partly through trial and error, and partly by asking for help. Looking back, we probably could have asked for help even more often. Once you realize that something really isn’t working after a while, it’s important to look for a different approach.

That’s also one of the things I really like about a hackathon: you’re allowed to hack, not in the sense of breaking into things, of course, but in the original sense of creatively finding ways to make things work.

Another challenge was combining the hackathon with my situation as a working student. It was made very clear in advance that participation was possible for working students as well, and that the duration of the hackathon was designed with that in mind. Still, it was quite intense, and I ended up putting in a lot of hours. That was definitely challenging, but then again, if everything went perfectly smoothly, it wouldn’t really be a hackathon. I learned a lot from that experience too, and I’m very grateful to all my teammates for the great collaboration.

As a final question, what advice would you give to future teams taking part in a hackathon?

First of all, I would say: enjoy the experience, and make sure you set aside enough time. That’s really important. We had the incredible luxury of being able to ask questions and get support. We did make use of that, but looking back, I think I could have done so even more, so I would definitely encourage future teams to take full advantage of that opportunity.

It’s also crucial to communicate well within your group, so that everyone is working towards the same goal and pulling in the same direction. That’s not always easy, but it really makes a difference.

And finally, don’t be afraid to experiment. A hackathon is exactly the right place to try things out and explore ideas!

The following interview was conducted by Sam Goven, a master’s student in Journalism at KU Leuven, with Luisa Ripoll-Alberola, team leader of the BiblioTech Hackathon project Captacats. Luisa is a PhD candidate at Leipzig University working on the Horizon Europe funded MECANO project. Luisa’s team, Captacats, worked with the travelogues collection. You can learn more about the team’s work by having a look at their project poster in the BiblioTech Zenodo community and by visiting their project website.

The BiblioTech Hackathon is a 10-day event organized by KU Leuven Libraries and the Faculty of Arts. Students, researchers, and staff members of KU Leuven worked in multidisciplinary teams with digitized collections from KU Leuven Libraries. The theme of the 2026 edition was travel, which was reflected in the selected datasets: historical postcards and historical travelogues. More information about the hackathon and its results can be found on the BiblioTech 2026 website.

Congratulations again on your team winning the prize for most original project! To start, could you tell us a bit about your background, what first interested you in the hackathon, and whether you had participated in one before?

I’m currently a PhD student in Digital Humanities, working on the MECANO project. I had never participated in a hackathon before, but I knew that I wanted to take part in one at some point. There’s a very large Digital Humanities hackathon in Helsinki every year, with five or six different datasets, but participating there can be quite expensive.

While I was doing a research stay here in Leuven, I learned about the BiblioTech Hackathon. It really felt like the stars were aligning, because it was the perfect situation. As I mentioned, I was already thinking about joining a hackathon, and having the opportunity not only to participate but also to be a team leader was exactly what I was looking for. It allowed me to take part in a Digital Humanities activity in a more informal setting, which I really liked.

Could you describe your project and your output in a nutshell?

We created a prototype web visualization called ShipAdvisor, which is loosely inspired by modern platforms like TripAdvisor, but focused on historical Mediterranean travel routes. Using travelogues from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the tool allows users to navigate different routes and see how travelers at the time rated places and journeys.

Through the visualization, users can explore which routes were most popular and how perceptions of safety and danger varied across regions. These perceptions were shaped not only by environmental factors such as weather, but also by historical phenomena like Mediterranean piracy. In terms of design and approach, we drew inspiration from digital humanities platforms such as ArcGIS StoryMaps and Itiner‑e.

You mentioned that you were the team leader in your group. What did that role involve, and was it in line with what you expected? Did you find it difficult to lead the team throughout the project?

I have to say it was actually super easy. I was very, very lucky with my team, they were all extremely motivated. Supporting them felt very natural and light. We had quite a lot of meetings during the process, but it never felt forced; everything just happened quite organically.

As a team leader, I didn’t want to take up too much space. I really wanted the group to feel horizontal and collaborative. However, in the first few days, when people were still a bit shy, I think it helped for the team leader to propose ideas, bring different ideas together, and guide things slightly in that sense. Beyond that, my role was more about offering support, often acting as a bridge between the participants and the experts. Before reaching out to the experts, I was there to help where I could.

Overall, it was, as I said, very easy, and it never felt like an artificial hierarchy or like I was in a superior position. It really felt like teamwork.

At the ‘Meet the Data, Meet the People’ event, you were introduced to the data for the first time. How did the brainstorming process go?

At the beginning, we had four or five main ideas. Our approach was to take some time after the first day to reflect on them individually, and then meet again the following Monday to make a decision. During that meeting, we decided to go with the idea of ShipAdvisor, mainly because it allowed us to integrate many different elements.

For example, we could look at which routes were more affected by piracy, which was a particular interest for some of the team members, while others wanted to work with illustrations. The concept really allowed for different approaches to come together within the same interface.

At first, it can feel a bit overwhelming, you think, I need to produce something, but I’m not yet sure what that will be. But because everyone in the team was so motivated, we ended up arriving at a solid idea quite naturally.

What kind of audience did you have in mind when working on your project and the website? Who should be able to use it?

We mainly had the general public in mind. We didn’t want the website to require any specific background knowledge, whether technical or academic. The idea was that anyone could use it, people who are simply curious and want to explore the corpus in a different way.

Did you run into any problems during the hackathon, and how did you tackle them?

File coordination was probably the trickiest part. At the beginning, we planned to use all the infrastructure the library was offering, such as the computing cluster. In the end, though, we didn’t really use it. One reason was that the team had different levels of technical expertise, and for some people the computing cluster felt like too much to handle. As a result, everyone ended up working in their own way and sharing files through the Teams group instead.

That approach worked, but it wasn’t always ideal. At times it felt a bit overwhelming to navigate, because we had many documents and different versions circulating. Sometimes people were working in parallel, and you had to wait for the latest version from a teammate before you could continue your own work. Our file‑sharing setup certainly wasn’t the most structured solution, but in the end it worked for us.

You mentioned that this was the first hackathon you participated in. Do you feel you picked up any new skills along the way, and how might you use them in future research?

As a PhD student in Digital Humanities, I mainly work with text analysis. My thesis focuses on the reception of ancient authors in academic prose and academic discourse, so my work is very text‑based. Before this hackathon, I had never really worked with geographical data.

That made this project especially interesting for me, because in my own research I don’t often have the opportunity to work with spatial data. The hackathon gave me the chance to explore that a bit, experiment with different tools, and see how geographical data could be integrated into a digital humanities project.

What kind of advice would you give to someone who might be hesitant to participate in their first hackathon?

I think one of the biggest insecurities people often have is feeling that they don’t have enough technical skills to participate. What I would say is that the support provided by the library and the pool of experts was truly incredible, you were never really on your own. You were always supported, both by the experts and by your teammates.

People with less technical experience found other important roles within the team. That could be doing more close reading, contributing to the final analysis, or working on the design of the poster. I would definitely encourage anyone who feels insecure about their technical background to take part. First of all, you learn a lot. Second, as I’ve said, you’re never alone, you’re very well supported by both the experts and the team. And finally, even if you don’t feel fully comfortable at first, you will definitely find meaningful ways to contribute to the group.

And what kind of advice would you give to a future team leader of a hackathon team?

I would say: don’t stress too much. I remember feeling quite insecure at times about our final outcome, but in the end, whatever you produce is going to be fine. In reality, the hackathon is meant to be fun, and not a competition.

What really matters is not the end product, but the process: working together, learning new things, and enjoying the experience. That’s what makes it valuable.

The following interview was conducted by Sam Goven, a master’s student in Journalism at KU Leuven, with Dawn Zhuang, BiblioTech Hackathon participant. Dawn is currently the project manager and data coordinator for the research project RegInfra (Regionalizing Infrastructures in Chinese History). Dawn’s team, W@nder, worked with the travelogues collection. You can learn more about the team’s work by having a look at their project poster in the BiblioTech Zenodo community and by visiting their project website.

The BiblioTech Hackathon is a 10-day event organized by KU Leuven Libraries and the Faculty of Arts. Students, researchers, and staff members of KU Leuven worked in multidisciplinary teams with digitized collections from KU Leuven Libraries. The theme of the 2026 edition was travel, which was reflected in the selected datasets: historical postcards and historical travelogues. More information about the hackathon and its results can be found on the BiblioTech 2026 website.

To start off, could you tell us a bit about your academic background? Had you participated in a hackathon before, and what drew you to this one?

I’m currently working as a project manager and data specialist in the research group Regionalizing Infrastructures in Chinese History (RegInfra). My role combines digital methods with humanities research. I graduated from the Master in Digital Humanities three years ago, and that’s when I participated in the first edition of the BiblioTech Hackathon, in 2023.

That experience was a lot of fun, and I learned many new skills. It helped me see how the digital methods I learned during the program could be applied in a real project setting. On top of that, I made new friends throughout the hackathon, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to participate again this time.

On a more personal note, during the previous hackathon I worked with the postcard collection, and I noticed that the dataset was reused this year. I was curious to see how other groups would approach it. This time, I chose to work with the travelogue dataset, since it relates to the same overall theme. In a way, it felt like a continuation of an ongoing project.

Your team won the prize for best visualisation. Could you briefly describe your project?

We chose a small‑data approach and built an interactive map based on it. Starting from the travelogues dataset, we selected a small part of the larger corpus, specifically three volumes of The Book and the Land. We then visualized and mapped the routes described in those texts, as well as the stories that unfold along the way.

The result is an interactive map where users can click on nodes and routes to explore the journeys. Through this interface, they can see extracted illustrations along with their contextual information, which helps connect the visual material to the narratives in the travelogues.

As you mentioned, you had already participated in the first edition of the BiblioTech Hackathon. What were your expectations at the start of this one, and did you feel well equipped for the project?

Because techniques and AI have developed so much in recent years, I expected to learn even more this time, especially since the methodologies have evolved as well. I was also working with a different dataset, so overall I was really looking forward to trying out new approaches and learning new things with a different group of teammates.

At the same time, I did feel well equipped. During the first hackathon, I was still a student and everything felt very new to me. Now I already have some working experience with digital projects, and I can really see how my skill set has grown. I felt more confident this time and was happy to realize that I was able to take on more complex tasks.

At the ‘Meet the Data, Meet the People’ event, you were introduced to the data for the first time. What was the brainstorming process like? Did you feel overwhelmed with ideas, or was it clear early on which direction you wanted to take?

I’d say that during brainstorming you always get little sparks of ideas here and there. In our team, we had people from very different backgrounds, linguists, historians, and AI experts, and everyone just shared what they were thinking. At our first meeting, we didn’t go through the entire dataset yet, and some of the initial ideas turned out to be a bit too ambitious or not very practical in the end.

Still, I think the general direction was already quite clear early on. During the brainstorming phase, we decided fairly quickly that we wanted to work with an interactive map, and in the end that’s exactly what we managed to accomplish. After the weekend and one of the training sessions, we had an in‑person discussion where we exchanged our observations about the dataset and then pinned down a more practical pipeline and timeline to work with.

What’s interesting is that during the brainstorming itself, none of us really knew yet how we were going to do it. And somehow, through discussion and experimentation, it all came together. It’s a bit of a magical experience.

Could you describe your role in the project? Was it in line with what you were expecting?

I’d say it pretty much aligned with my expectations. I see myself as a digital humanities enthusiast, and through my experience I’ve become familiar with a range of tools and platforms that can help achieve different kinds of results. Within the team, I mainly took on a supportive role, contributing from the early exploration of the dataset to deciding which direction we should take.

I also have some experience with web design, so I ended up putting most of my effort into building the final webpage. Overall, I like working on different aspects of a project: trying out new techniques, moving between tasks, and supporting my teammates wherever needed.

Did you face any problems or roadblocks that you had to overcome during the project?

I think the most challenging part was moving from the initial idea to something concrete and practical. Before this project, none of us had experience linking data to a map and making it fully interactive. So while the concept was clear, the question was how we could actually realize it, what tools or platforms we could use, and how to build everything within the limited time we had.

We spent quite a bit of time and energy figuring out how to translate our idea into a realistic workflow and deciding what was feasible within the time constraints. I’d say that phase, moving from the blueprint to an actual work plan, was definitely the toughest part of the project.

Did you face any technical problems along the way, situations where things didn’t work as you had expected?

Initially, we wanted to retrieve the dataset directly from the ManGO platform. I tried running the code within the HPC environment, but I ran into a few issues. I then posted my question to the expert pool in MS Teams, and I received a lot of help.

The support was also very timely, I posted my question in the morning, and by the afternoon there was already a working solution. The expert team really provided solid support, which made a big difference in helping us move forward.

You already mentioned that during your first hackathon you picked up a lot of new skills. Did you have the same experience this time, and how might you use those skills in future projects?

Yes, definitely. I learned a lot from this project as well. For me, working with geo‑referencing and data conversion was completely new, and it’s actually quite relevant to my current work. I can definitely see myself using these skills in future research projects or for creating other visualizations.

Although our project didn’t ultimately rely on the HPC environment, I did participate in the training sessions and did some exploration on my own. I really appreciated the opportunity to work within that environment, especially because future projects I’m involved in will likely have some connection with the HPC. So for me, it was very good practice and a valuable learning experience.

What kind of advice would you give someone who is participating in their first hackathon?

I would say: think bold. There’s a lot of support available, and you’re surrounded by a great team of experts who are there to help you. If you allow yourself to think ambitiously and take a few risks, you’ll be surprised by how much you can accomplish by the end.

Lastly, how would you describe your overall experience?

For me, it was truly inspiring and very enjoyable. And something I didn’t mention earlier is that I really made good friends through the hackathon and learned a great deal from my teammates, as well as from the other groups. That’s a very precious takeaway for me.

The following interview was conducted by Sam Goven, a master’s student in Journalism at KU Leuven, with Roberta Pireddu, team leader of the BiblioTech Hackathon project PostScript. Roberta provides academic support for the Master in Digital Humanities at KU Leuven. Roberta’s team worked with the postcard collection. You can learn more about the team’s work by having a look at their project poster in the BiblioTech Zenodo community and by visiting their project website.

The BiblioTech Hackathon is a 10-day event organized by KU Leuven Libraries and the Faculty of Arts. Students, researchers, and staff members of KU Leuven worked in multidisciplinary teams with digitized collections from KU Leuven Libraries. The theme of the 2026 edition was travel, which was reflected in the selected datasets: historical postcards and historical travelogues. More information about the hackathon and its results can be found on the BiblioTech 2026 website.

Congratulations on winning both the first prize and the public’s favorite! Can you tell me a bit about what first drew you to the hackathon, and have you participated in one before?

I hadn’t participated in a hackathon before, but I had organized a small one myself. It was for a project on Artificial Intelligence and its application in the cultural heritage sector. I knew a lot about the organizational aspects, but not much about how to actually participate in a hackathon. What I mainly did then was observe the other groups: what they were doing and how they came up with their projects. So I was mostly involved from the sidelines.

As for why I participated: I’m currently praktijkassistant and teaching assistant for the Master in Digital Humanities, and digital humanities students are an important target group for the BiblioTech hackathon. Taking part myself allowed me to work on a project together with the students. I also already knew the postcard collection, as I had worked with it in the past, and I thought it would be nice to create something new using that material.

And your own background is in Digital Humanities as well?

Yes, that’s right. I studied Digital Humanities in Leuven, and before that I studied history, more specifically medieval history, so my background is very much in the humanities. I’ve mainly worked with heritage collections, like the ones that were used for this hackathon.

I already mentioned you won the first prize with your project. Could you describe it in a nutshell?

Our team worked with the postcard collection, which is a very large one, and visually very attractive. It’s rich in information, with a lot of detail in the metadata, but because of its size it can be quite difficult to really explore all of those details.

What we wanted to create was a kind of website or digital space where people could explore the collection more easily and from different perspectives. We chose three main perspectives. One of them, for example, is a map, where users can see the locations represented in the collection and then zoom in on the details. On the website, users can also explore specific elements, like all the trains in the collection, all the cars, parks, and so on.

In addition, we created a crowdsourcing section. We wanted to include user participation so that the collection could be enriched with additional information. For example, on the back of the postcards there are greetings, and we wanted to allow users to transcribe or translate those messages so they could be added to the metadata.

You were the team leader of your group. Was this role in line with what you had expected?

I expected that I would need to give structure to the team: define the focus of the project, set concrete steps, and remind everyone of deadlines. In the end, though, everything developed very organically and smoothly, and I was really happy with how it worked out.

At the ‘Meet the Data, Meet the People’ event, you were introduced to the data for the first time. How did the brainstorming process go?

At first, it wasn’t very clear what specific skills everyone could bring to the project, or how we should approach such a large collection. That led to a lot of questions: what do we actually want to do with this collection, and what do we want to highlight?

In the beginning, we had many different ideas. We thought about working with the colors of the postcards, or focusing on locations, and that’s when the idea of using a map came up. There were a lot of possibilities. At a certain point, though, we decided that we really needed to look more closely at the dataset, see what was actually there, and then make a decision. That happened a couple of days after the opening event. We had some time to reflect, explore the data, and then settle on a clear approach.

Was it difficult to decide in which direction you wanted to go?

A bit, yes. But in the end, the direction really emerged from what we actually found in the data. As I mentioned before, we initially wanted to work with color, but when we started thinking about the kind of results that would produce, we realized it wasn’t the direction that appealed to us the most. So at some point we had to make a clear decision: okay, let’s go in this direction and really commit to it.

That said, it was still a bit challenging, because along the way new ideas kept popping up. For example, we considered adding a gamification aspect to the crowdsourcing section, where participants could earn points based on how much they contributed. In the end, we had to leave that out because of time constraints. At some point we realized, there are only three days left, how can we realistically make this work? It’s important at that stage to be realistic and say, okay, this is something we can do, and this is something we can’t.

During your final presentation at the closing event, you mentioned the educational goal of the project and its collaborative aspect. What kind of audience did you have in mind? Who should be able to use the website you developed?

We definitely had researchers in mind. The idea was to help them shape their research by giving them access to all these additional details in the collection. Because the postcard collection is so broad, it’s not immediately obvious what kind of research questions you could explore with it, and we wanted to make that easier.

At the same time, we wanted to reach a wider audience, people who are curious about Belgium’s history, about tourist places, and what they looked like in the past. Some might be interested in comparing then and now, others in seeing how streets and cities have changed, or just browsing the collection and feeling a bit nostalgic.

One thing I found very appealing was how user‑friendly the website was, it really looked like something anyone could use.

Yes, absolutely. I think a lot of people would love the idea of being able to see how a place looked in the past and compare it to how it looks now, seeing how much it has changed, or sometimes how it no longer exists at all.

The end result was a success, but did you face any roadblocks during the hackathon?

There was one issue at the beginning related to the locations of the postcards. We wanted to create a map and link each image directly to a specific place, but the coordinates were missing in the collection. So we first had to retrieve that information, and that took some time. At one point, we even thought it wouldn’t be possible. In the end, though, one of the team members managed to clean the dataset and recover the exact coordinates for each location, which allowed us to move forward.

You mentioned that this was the first hackathon you participated in. Do you feel you picked up any new skills along the way, and how might you use them in future research?

The crowdsourcing concept was particularly interesting for me. It’s something I had already worked with in earlier projects where we involved the public. For example, we showed people images, often of places in cities, and asked them to share additional information about what they saw.

What was new for me in this project was the specific crowdsourcing tool that we embedded in the website. I think that’s something I’ll definitely use again in the future. It’s very user‑friendly and easy to integrate, and the fact that it automatically produces a file with all the participants’ responses is very useful.

What advice would you give to someone who might be hesitant to participate in a hackathon because of their background?

I really think everyone can participate, because there’s a place for everyone in a hackathon, even if you don’t have strong technical skills. Whatever your background or skills, there’s always a way to contribute and find your role within the group. That might be through creative ideas, working on the poster, or helping shape the concept of the project. There’s always something meaningful you can bring to the team.

Last question: what advice would you give a team leader?

I would say don’t be too strict at the beginning. It’s important to give everyone enough space to be creative and to let people explore ideas, so that everyone’s skills can really emerge. I think the brainstorming phase is especially important, because that’s when you start to understand what each team member can do and how everyone can contribute to the project.

Congratulations one more time! It’s amazing how much each team accomplished in such a short period of time. For me, it almost felt unreal, this looked like a year’s worth of work.

Yes, exactly. For me, this could have been a thesis, the kind of results you would expect from a master’s thesis. That’s really what made it so remarkable to me.

The following post was written by Sam Goven, a master’s student in Journalism at KU Leuven. It offers a participant’s perspective on the BiblioTech Hackathon, reflecting on the experience, the creative process, and collaborative spirit that shaped the event.

Libraries are often seen as places of preservation rather than experimentation, but the BiblioTech Hackathon turns KU Leuven Libraries into a digital playground. Drawing on rich library datasets, students, researchers, and staff from diverse backgrounds work in interdisciplinary teams to reimagine historical collections through digital tools and collaboration.

The second edition of the hackathon culminated on 26 March in the University Library in Leuven, where seven teams presented their final projects to a jury. Over the course of ten days, materials from the library collection were transformed into innovative digital outputs, ranging from interactive maps and searchable databases to experimental interfaces, which can be explored via the project websites. Team PostScript ultimately claimed both the jury prize and the audience award with an interactive digital archive of Belgian postcards.

By combining technical support, curated library collections, and an emphasis on experimentation rather than competition, the BiblioTech Hackathon demonstrates that digital humanities can be accessible, creative, and collaborative, even for those new to computational approaches.

What is a Hackathon?

During a hackathon, a blend of “hacking” and “marathon”, participants work together in teams on a project against a tight deadline. These projects often have a digital component and can be developed over one or several days, resulting in a website, database, or another form of digital output.

The first edition of the BiblioTech Hackathon took place in 2023, organized by KU Leuven Libraries and the Faculty of Arts. Participants could choose from seven datasets, including the Bible of Anjou and wartime posters. The focus was on exploring documentary heritage from a fresh perspective by transforming it into computational data. The hackathon proved to be a success and led to a second edition in 2026.

Meet the Data, Meet the People

The second edition kicked off on 12 March in Agora Learning Centre in Leuven. As the smell of pizza filled the space, the perfect brain food for sharp minds, the seven teams discovered both the datasets and each other for the first time. In total, 39 enthusiastic participants from a wide range of backgrounds took on the challenge. The hackathon attracted not only master’s students, but also PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and KU Leuven staff. Participants represented a broad variety of disciplines and research fields, including Computer Science, Egyptology, Law, and Economics.

To make the most of this diversity, teams were formed in advance based on digital skills and areas of expertise, ensuring a balanced mix. Each team was supported by a designated team leader to keep the project on track, while technical experts were readily available throughout the hackathon to answer questions and provide assistance. To ensure everyone could get started smoothly, an additional training session on the technical infrastructure and tools was organized the next day.

Following an introduction to the datasets and the available support network, the teams dove into the material. This year’s hackathon offered two datasets: well over 35.000 historical postcards from Belgium and around 300 travel accounts written by European authors describing the destinations they visited. Once again, these historical sources provided ample opportunities for innovative perspectives. Four teams chose to work with the travelogues, while the remaining three focused on the postcards.

The brainstorming phase reflected the exploratory nature of the hackathon. Faced with rich datasets and a wide range of ideas and ambitions, teams took time to explore different directions before narrowing their focus. Working within a limited timeframe required careful consideration of what was both innovative and feasible. This process not only helped shape the projects but also allowed participants to recognize and build on each other’s strengths. Andreas Ketele, a member of the Inked and Stamped team, reflected afterwards: “What I really enjoyed was that process of exploration. We reflected on our ideas and experimented a lot, and that’s exactly what a hackathon is about: discovering possibilities along the way.” (full interview)

The Final Projects

On 26 March, participants, jury members, and guests gathered in the University Library for the final presentations accompanied by a poster exhibition, marking the culmination of the hackathon and an opportunity for teams to present their work. The evening opened with welcoming words from the organizing team, Demmy Verbeke (Head of KU Leuven Libraries Artes), and Geert Brône (Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Arts), who praised the creativity and commitment shown throughout the hackathon.

The presentations were opened by team CaptaCats with their project ShipAdvisor. Loosely inspired by the travel website TripAdvisor, the team developed a web platform that maps maritime routes in the Mediterranean during the 18th and 19th centuries, based on historical travel accounts.

Next, team DH.xml presented their analysis of the postcard dataset. They argued that historical postcards functioned as a form of social media avant la lettre, and used the collection to identify recurring visual trends and patterns.

All Reads Lead to Leuven focused on how 19th-century French travel writers wrote about African languages. Their project resulted in a website featuring Instagram-inspired posts that reveal the vocabulary and framing these authors used when describing linguistic encounters.

Using the postcard dataset, Inked and Stamped built a searchable digital database. Its intuitive interface allows users to explore the collection by location, date, and even the color of the postcards.

Team PostScript adopted a similar approach, but with a specific focus on postcards from Antwerp. In addition to a searchable database, they introduced interactive features such as maps that contrast contemporary photographs with historical images from the collection.

The penultimate presentation came from Team W@nder. Drawing on The Land and the Book, a 19th-century publication by W. M. Thompson, they visualized the author’s travels in the Levant. As with other projects, historical illustrations were juxtaposed with present-day photographs to highlight continuity and change.

The evening concluded with a presentation by Team Julie Verne. They developed an oracle-like search tool based on the travelogues dataset. Through their website, users can query the texts and receive the most relevant responses generated from the corpus.

After a brief deliberation by the jury and a public vote, the awards were announced. The jury consisted of experts in data and digital research: Julie Birkholz (Coordinator CLARIAH VL+), Geert Brône (Vice Dean for Research of the Faculty of Arts), Jo Rademakers, (Head of LIBIS), Fred Truyen (Head of CS Digital), and Katrien Verbert (Program director of the POC Digital Humanities). Team PostScript was awarded both the jury prize and the audience award. As in the 2023 edition, however, each team received recognition, including awards such as Best Research Potential and Best Visualization. The evening concluded with a reception, where teams presented their project posters over food and drinks. To share the creativity and impact of the hackathon with a wider audience, the posters are currently touring across KU Leuven.

A Community Built Through Collaboration

Not only were the results of the hackathon impressive, participants also praised the atmosphere and strong sense of community that developed throughout the event. In post-hackathon interviews, several participants reflected on the collaborative environment that emerged over the course of the ten days. Andreas Ketele described the experience as particularly rewarding: “I’m usually not someone who uses very strong words, but this really was fantastic. […] We were working as a group of highly motivated people. We collaborated very well and benefited enormously from all the support we received along the way.” (full interview)

The diversity of backgrounds and skill levels did not prove to be a challenge, but rather one of the hackathon’s greatest strengths. By bringing together participants with different perspectives, expertise, and levels of technical experience, the hackathon created space for learning from one another. As Roberta Pireddu, team leader of PostScript, explained: “I really think everyone can participate, because there’s a place for everyone in a hackathon, even if you don’t have strong technical skills. Whatever your background or skills, there’s always a way to contribute and find your role within the group.” (full interview)

For many participants, this emphasis on collaboration rather than competition was key. As advice for future participants, Luisa Ripoll Alberola, team leader of CaptaCats, encouraged newcomers not to focus too heavily on the final outcome: “What really matters is not the end product, but the process: working together, learning new things, and enjoying the experience. That’s what makes it valuable.” (full interview)

The second edition of the BiblioTech Hackathon proved once again how working with library data can foster meaningful collaboration across disciplines. By bringing together diverse participants, the hackathon strengthened connections within the academic community and opened up new ways of engaging with humanities collections.

More information about the hackathon, its datasets, and the final projects can be found on the BiblioTech 2026 website. We encourage you to have a look at the project posters and websites to explore the teams’ outputs and discover the creative ways in which KU Leuven’s library collections continue to inspire digital humanities research. We also invite you to explore interviews with participants, offering a personal insight into their experiences during the event.