Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit one of our drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Relational databases in FileMaker
Social Network Analysis and network visualizations
Computational tools for working with texts
…
Getting started with Zotero or optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
29/01/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
19/02/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
19/03/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
28/04/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
26/05/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
25/06/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven, there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend this upcoming training session to get yourself acquainted with RDM.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
Program
Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP).
The training consists of two parts:
A short general introduction on Research Data Management (20’ – 25’)
Followed by small interactive group sessions, where participants dicuss their Data Management Plan (DMP), under the guidance of an RDM expert.
Practicalities
When: December 1, 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00
Where: Online
For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
This event is only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.
The Artes Research team from KU Leuven Libraries Artes and the ABAP council will kick off the new academic year with a special “How Do You Do (It)?” (HDYDI) session dedicated to research data workflows. This special session will coincide with the start of the Digital Scholarship Module taught by the Artes Research team. It will take place on Thursday 6 November, 14:00-16:30, in the Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven).
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Program
14:00-15:00
To help you through the afternoon slump, we will start with coffee and cookies which will be served in the main entrance hall of the Erasmushuis.
15:00-16h30
We will then move up to the 8th floor (JustusLipsiuszaal) to start the session which will feature talks from researchers at the Faculty of Arts who outline their research workflows: how do they approach their research, what tools do they use, with what kind of data are they working, etc. We will get a behind-the-scenes look from:
There will be lots of time for questions and getting to know each other’s workflows.
The event will take place in Leuven, but if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link.
Practical details
When: Thursday 6 November, from 14:00 to 16:30
Where: coffee in main entrance hall and session in Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven) with online option: if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link
Each year the Artes Research team offers the opportunity for students to do an internship with our team. During spring 2025, Helin Toprak, a student in the Advanced Master in Digital Humanities, joined us.
The Artes Research team frequently (co-)organizes training opportunities and collects training resources for researchers at the Faculty of Arts. Helin’s internship focused on this aspect of our work. During her three months with us, she developed resources on a variety of tools we find useful for our researchers. Helin created tutorials showcasing the functionalities of OpenRefine, and two Knight Lab tools, Timeline JS, and StoryMap JS.
OpenRefine is a tool that is useful for nearly all researchers who work with structured data and computational methods. An aspect of the research data workflow that is crucial in the beginning stages is data cleaning and transformation. OpenRefine is a free open-source web-based tool that allows users to do just that. During her internship, Helin created a tutorial to help researchers get started with this tool. The tutorial is designed for users who have no experience with OpenRefine and are looking to learn about the features and explore its uses.
The other two resources that Helin created focus on two tools from the Knight Lab suite. Timeline JS is an open-source tool developed to help users create interactive timelines. This is an accessible tool that anyone can use. The web-based tool just requires data that users put into a Google spreadsheet, then it’s ready to go with multiple options for customization. Advanced features allow those with more expertise to use their JSON skills to further customize their output.
StoryMap JS is also a free web-based tool developed by Knight Lab. This tool is designed to be highly visual. Users can add images and text to maps, allowing them to create a story or illustrate certain events or situations that might be relevant to their research topics. This tool is equally as accessible as Timeline JS and can be customized to fit a researcher’s needs and style.
To learn about these two tools as well as OpenRefine, you can have a look at the resources that Helin created during her internship. They are accessible via the following Zenodo record (make sure to look through all the documents in the record for each separate resource):
We would like to thank Helin for her great work during her internship! She was a pleasure to have as an intern, and we wish her all the best in her career after graduating from the Advanced Master in Digital Humanities!
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit one of our drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Relational databases in FileMaker
Social Network Analysis and network visualizations
Computational tools for working with texts
…
Getting started with Zotero or optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
25/09/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
28/10/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
20/11/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
11/12/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
KU Leuven RDR, our institutional research data repository, has achieved CoreTrustSeal certification, making RDR the first repository in Belgium to receive this recognition.
CoreTrustSeal is an international, community-driven, non-governmental, and non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable and trustworthy data infrastructures. It provides a globally recognized industry-standard certification to any data repository seeking core-level certification. At present, 155 repositories have obtained this certification, including the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center, the ETH Zurich Research Collection and UniProt. The certification is based on the Core Trustworthy Data Repositories Requirements, which outline the essential characteristics of trustworthy data repositories. All requirements are mandatory and are equally weighted, standalone items.
The CoreTrustSeal certification highlights KU Leuven’s commitment to providing trustworthy and sustainable research infrastructure and supporting open science practices. The certification, along with the updated RDM policy, ensures that research data is published transparently and sustainably.
Find out more on the CoreTrustSeal certification on de RDR website.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
In light of ongoing developments and concerns regarding research data storage at KU Leuven, the RDM competence centre is organising an online Q&A session. Not sure where to put the data for your current or new research project? Are you still using OneDrive instead of a more suitable storage solution – and why should you make the switch? Struggling to figure out what solution fits best with your particular type of data? Join us on May 9th at 13h and hear from ICTS and the RDM support staff about what options you have to securely store your research data in line with university guidelines. You can register below!
Program
The session will consist of two parts: a general presentation about the different storage solutions available (around 15 mins) followed by an open discussion/interactive Q&A during which you’ll be able to ask your questions to the RDM staff.
Practicalities
When: May 9, 2025 from 13h00
Where: Online (Microsoft Teams)
For who: This Q&A session is for any KU Leuven researcher who has questions or concerns about research data storage
Price and registration: Free but mandatory. Click here to register.
RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven, there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend these upcoming training sessions to get yourself acquainted with RDM.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
RDM Workshop for PhDs in Humanities and Social Sciences
Program
Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP).
The training consists of two parts:
A short general introduction on Research Data Management (20’ – 25’)
Followed by small interactive group sessions, where participants dicuss their Data Management Plan (DMP), under the guidance of an RDM expert.
Practicalities
When: March 25, 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00
Where: Online
For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
Workshop Documentation & Metadata for Qualitative Research
Program
Documentation and metadata are essential to understand your data in detail, and help other researchers to find and use your data. It enables making your data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and improves the reproducibility of your data. Documentation and metadata are therefore of crucial importance for good Research Data Management.
Through an introductive presentation, interactive exercises, polls and brainstorm sessions you will practice how to:
Organise data files and folders
Identify information in a dataset and within data files
Search for a metadata standard
Use metadata schemes
Deposit a dataset in RDR
Practicalities
When: April 24, 2025 from 13:00 to 16:00
Where: University Library, Colloquium (Mgr. Ladeuzeplein 21, 3000 Leuven)
For who: This workshop is intended for researchers in need of knowing the basics of documentation & metadata.
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit the DH@rts drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Getting started with Zotero
Optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Helping with DH tools or methods for your specific research questions including
Relational databases
Social network analysis
Text analysis
…
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
27/02/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
27/03/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
17/04/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
13/05/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
26/06/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
Every academic year, the HDYDI (How Do You Do It?) event on research data workflows signals the start of the Digital Scholarship Module. Through a series of sessions and (mini-)workshops, Artes Research aims to guide students through the complexities of scholarship in the digital age, from Open Science to Research Data Management and beyond. At the HDYDI kick-off event, three researchers from the Faculty of Arts lift the curtain on their own research workflow and offer a behind-the-scenes look at the ways in which they approach their research, the data they engage with, and the tools they use in doing so. The goal of this session is to provide examples of more advanced workflows for the first-year PhD researchers as they embark on their own research journey. Hopefully this recap of the session can spark some inspiration for you!
Seb Verlinden – Using Obsidian as a note-taking tool for literature
The first speaker, Seb Verlinden, is a second-year PhD candidate in medieval history. Under the supervision of Maïka De Keyzer and Bart Vanmontfort, Seb is studying the long-term landscape changes – mainly in the form of gradual desertification – that characterize the Campine region, one of the driest areas in Belgium. Particular focus is on the impact of eighteenth-century drainage in the region.
Seb’s talk concerns an issue that all researchers can relate to, regardless of the relative complexity of their project – that of taking notes. It is true, as Seb highlights, that every researcher has their own unique workflow, often relying on a combination of tools that makes sense for them (in his case, QGIS, FileMaker Pro, MAXQDA, and spreadsheet software). But at the heart of any research process is the need to organize one’s thoughts, and this is where note-taking apps can make a real difference. So, what are some of the options out there?
Zotero is a possible solution – one we’ve already discussed elsewhere on this blog. As a reference manager first and foremost, Zotero has the potential to become a researcher’s living library, a knowledge base covering all relevant literature. It also has great capabilities for annotating PDFs, especially with its new 7.0 update. What you’re missing in the context of note-taking, however, is the big picture. Seb aptly points out that using Zotero to make notes is like putting post-its in books: you have no real overarching structure, and no way to easily link notes across books.
Other tools are likewise flawed. Lots of researchers use Microsoft Word to take notes, even though it is primarily tailored to mid-length longform text. As a result, it is easy to lose track of notes, unless you’re willing to navigate multiple files; and it tends to grow slow and cumbersome, since it is occupied with layout. It is, simply put, unintuitive for this purpose.
This is why Seb puts forward another solution, one that he believes to be faster, better automated, and easier to use: Obsidian. A widely supported and free tool, Obsidian does have its advantages: in contrast to both Microsoft Word and Zotero, it uses open-source file formats (.md or Markdown files, written in an accessible markup language) and it is full-text searchable and provides a structured overview of notes. Moreover, it offers a versatile workspace, allowing you to go as simple or as complex as you like – especially with the addition of supported plugins. One such plugin, in fact, allows your Obsidian environment to easily interoperate with your Zotero library (including references, bibliographies, and PDF annotations), which is particularly useful.
Seb ends his talk by highlighting another key benefit in using Obsidian. By introducing links in your notes, it is possible to cross-reference other notes within your system with minimal user effort; and through the use of tags, you can generate another layer of structure. Obsidian then uses this information to visualize the relations between your different notes, automatically creating a network of clusters that correspond to certain topics of interest. This way, it expands the possibilities of the data without the need for the researcher to make any real effort – a great reason to think about using Obsidian for your own note-taking needs!
Laura Soffiantini – Managing linguistic and historical data. A PhD workflow using FileMaker
Laura Soffiantini is the second speaker: as a PhD researcher at the Cultural Studies Research Group, she is currently analyzing the geographical representation of Greece in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia. With the help of her supervisor Margherita Fantoli, Laura intends to shed new light on the way in which Greece was perceived in Flavian-era Rome. In order to do so, she has to manage a varied mix of linked data – textual, linguistic, and historical – as part of her daily routine.
Grappling with 37 books of a classical encyclopedia, and dealing with data in different formats and with different qualities (actual text, numeric coordinates, symbols, etc.), Laura realized the importance of proper Research Data Management. It enables aggregating, manipulating, analyzing, and comparing your data more efficiently throughout – and even beyond – the research process. Indeed, a challenge faced by many researchers is the retrieval of data collected or processed at an earlier time, with the aim of relating it to “new” data. In this context, Laura provides a look at her own research workflow.
The primary strategy in managing your data, she remarks, is to structure it. By adding structure to your data, you can parse it more easily and return to it without issues, even in later phases of your project. Software like Obsidian is indispensable for this purpose, but it’s also good to think about using tabular formats like .csv (an open plain text format) as a way to organize your data. A useful tool put forward here is pandas, a Python library designed to help manage and analyze data derived from such .csv files. That might sound technical, but Laura ensures us that – even if you have no background in programming – pandas is a very accessible and convenient tool in handling tabular files.
Having thought about what data she worked with (an essential step for every researcher), Laura adopted an initial workflow in three parts. She first started out with .json files containing Pliny’s text, which she converted into tabular .csv files, adding data related to the lemmatization of the corpus, part-of-speech tagging, and references to book and chapter positions. Subsequently, she thought about grouping this data into different categories, which she assigned to different columns – such that there is a column titled “book_chapter”, one titled “lemma”, and so on. Finally, Laura assigned identifiers to the information contained in these files; she explains she wasn’t aware of the importance of such identifiers at the start of the project, but now realizes they form a crucial part of keeping tabular data.
As a result, Laura ended up with multiple .csv files, which she then related to each other using FileMaker (with the expert assistance of Mark Depauw and Tom Gheldof). One table, for instance, contains a list of all the Latin words used (the tokens, e.g. urbs) alongside their identifier, book number, lemma, and possible identifier linked to the Trismegistos database of ancient texts. Another contains the lemma along with its part-of-speech tag (e.g. proper noun) and meaning (e.g. “city”). By linking the different files through the use of identifiers – the keys to the data – Laura made a relational database easily managed and organized through FileMaker. The resulting dataset is at the core of her research project.
The main takeaway Laura wants to leave us with is that it is important to create an environment in which you can efficiently collect, store, manipulate, and analyze your data. This should not come at the cost of traditional approaches and methodologies – in fact, you can add to them to create a better workflow as a whole!
Zakaria El Houbba – Obsidian as part of the research workflow
The third and final speaker is Zakaria El Houbba, third-year PhD candidate in Arabic Studies. Zakaria’s project, supervised by Arjan Post, focuses on the pre-modern relation between Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism, and in particular on the way in which these two strands are united in the figure of Aḥmad Zarrūq. In doing so, the research aims to come to a theory of applied legal epistemology in Zarrūq’s Sufism.
By discussing his own workflow in detail, Zakaria intends to highlight a number of key takeaways revolving around the idea of the “second brain”. Because we are so deeply involved with knowledge gathering on a daily basis, and constantly receive input from various sources (whether academic or not), we run the risk of being overwhelmed by a flood of information. When you use software to carry that burden for you, you can save your own brainpower for actual critical thinking rather than secondary tasks like categorizing information. This way, you’re effectively constructing what’s referred to as a second brain.
In this context, Zakaria also makes use of Obsidian, though he approaches it from a very different angle than Seb. Zakaria doesn’t actually enter all of his notes into Obsidian – he first uses an app like Microsoft OneNote as a “vault” to record random, non-processed thoughts, which he periodically goes through to think about how they fit in his project. He then sorts these thoughts and puts them in corresponding folders (relating to certain projects, classes, issues, etc.) in order to process them properly in Obsidian. Zakaria emphasizes that it’s fine to keep it simple and take it slow, focusing on what you specifically need from the note-taking environment so as not to get overwhelmed by all the options and information.
There are more tools Zakaria uses in his workflow – in fact, he says, there is a constant conversation between himself, Obsidian, Zotero, and ChatGPT. He uses Zotero to make notes and highlight text when reading articles, which he imports into Obsidian and categorizes using tags. Afterwards, he copies those highlights from Obsidian into ChatGPT, asking it to take up the role of copy editor and summarize the text. The resulting summary, which he critically revises, is then given a place in Obsidian once again.
Next to the powerful visualization capabilities discussed by Seb, Zakaria explains that Obsidian can also be used to create subpages within notes to explain terms and concepts, provide brief biographies of important figures, and so on. These “subnotes” can be linked back to in other notes as well, resulting in a kind of personalized Wikipedia for your research topic. This can also be helpful when you’re following classes on a certain topic or revising your own teaching material!
Finally, speaking of teaching material, Zakaria points us to a couple of helpful AI tools that can be used to process video files, such as recorded lectures or talks – whether you attended them or gave them yourself. One such tool is NoteGPT, which essentially functions as a transcriber and summarizer of recordings. You can revise and copy the resulting transcriptions and summaries into Obsidian as well, further expanding the scope of your second brain. Brisk Teaching serves a similar purpose as NoteGPT, but can also be used to turn a video into a PowerPoint presentation, which can be very convenient and time-saving. By thus constructing a workflow, gradually accumulating relevant information through different tools, it becomes much easier to manage your research.
The workflows of the presenters reveal both similarities and differences, but there’s one thing all three can agree on – what’s important is to find a workflow that works for you. To that end, take inspiration from some of the tools and processes described here, but always make sure they support your specific research methods. This was emphasized in the questions as well: don’t feel pressured to adopt a tool like Obsidian, but try it out and see if it accommodates your needs. Who knows, you might uncover a more efficient workflow or see your data from a new perspective.
Happy holidays from the Artes Research team, and may your data be blessed in the year to come!
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? You can now come to one of our drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas that we can help with:
Getting started with Zotero or optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Relational databases in FileMaker
Social Network Analysis and network visualizations
Computational tools for working with texts
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
Thursday 7 November, 14h-16h, the Salon (LETT 00.24)
Thursday 5 December, 14h-16h, the Salon (LETT 00.24)
This event is only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.
The Artes Research team from KU Leuven Libraries Artes and the ABAP council will kick off the new academic year with a special “How Do You Do (It)?” (HDYDI) session dedicated to research data workflows. This special session will coincide with the start of the Digital Scholarship Module taught by the Artes Research team. It will take place on Tuesday 5 November, 13h30-16h00, in the Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven).
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Program
13h30-14h30
To help you through the afternoon slump, we will start with coffee and cookies which will be served in the main entrance hall of the Erasmushuis.
14h30-16h00
We will then move up to the 8th floor (JustusLipsiuszaal) to start the session which will feature talks from researchers at the Faculty of Arts who outline their research workflows: how do they approach their research, what tools do they use, with what kind of data are they working, etc. We will get a behind-the-scenes look from:
There will be lots of time for questions and getting to know each other’s workflows.
The event will take place in Leuven, but if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link.
Practical details
When: Tuesday 5 November, from 13h30 to 16h00
Where: coffee in main entrance hall and session in Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven) with online option: if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link
“Data are the lifeblood of research and good research data management (RDM) leads to reliable results, increased visibility, and greater impact. In light of supporting researchers to implement high quality RDM practices, the symbolic doors to our RDM support at KU Leuven will be pushed wide open from the 25th to 29th of November to celebrate best practices, tools and collaboration during The RDM Open House. The Research Data Management Competence Centre of KU Leuven invites everyone to join for training sessions, workshops, and open discussions. Whether you’re an early career researcher, a seasoned academic, research support staff or a policymaker, our doors are wide open. No prior expertise needed – just curiosity and a desire to enhance your skills in the field of Research Data Management.
Programme
Each day focuses on specific RDM topics, from sessions on the basic principles to a metadata tools fair, workshops on data protection or lectures on data sharing. You can pick and choose the days you would like to attend. There is no requirement to participate the full week. For more information about the programme, visit the website.
Knowledge Hub Community Day (28/11): Co-organized with the FRDN and hosted by KU Leuven, this event unites data stewards, RDM support staff, and professionals interested in open and FAIR data.
Practicalities
When: 25th to 29th of November 2024. You can pick and choose the days you would like to attend. There is no requirement to participate the full week.
Where: Sessions take place in Leuven’s city center. Some sessions will be organized both in-person and online for broader accessibility.
Who: the RDM Open House opens its doors to everyone: from early career researchers and senior academic staff to research support personnel, students and policy makers, whether affiliated with KU Leuven or external institutions.
RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend these upcoming training sessions to get yourself aquinted with RDM.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.
RDM Workshop for PhDs in Humanities and Social Sciences
Program
Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP).
Practicalities
When: 21 March 2024, 14h00 -16h00
Where: Online
For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
Price and registration: free but registration is mandatory
Workshop Documentation & Metadata in Humanities and Social Sciences
Program
In this workshop we will focus on documentation and metadata. Through an introductive presentation, interactive exercises, polls and brainstorms the participants will go over the following topics: Organising files and folders, identifying information within data files and in datasets, searching for a metadata standard, metadata schemes, depositing data in the institutional data repository RDR.
Practicalities
When: 18 April 2024, 13h00 -16h00
Where: Physical event at AGORA, M00.E67 Collaborative Study Space
For who: This workshop is intended for researchers in need of knowing the basics of documentation & metadata.
Price and registration: free but registration is mandatory
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment with Artes Research to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool? You can now come to one of our drop-in sessions, and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
Some areas that we can help with:
Getting started with Zotero
Optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
Thursday 25 January from 10h30-12h30, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.16)
Thursday 22 February from 10h30-12h30, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.16)
Thursday 18 April from 10h30-12h30, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.16)
Thursday 30 May from 10h30-12h30, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.16)
Each academic year, we, at Artes Research, kick-off the Digital Scholarship Module – a training for first-year PhD researchers at the Faculty of Arts – with a session dedicated to research data workflows. Three researchers from the Faculty of Arts offer a behind-the-scenes look at their research workflows by outlining how they approach and structure their research, the tools they use, and with what kind of data they are working. The goal of this session is to provide examples of more advanced workflows for the first-year PhD researchers as they embark on their research journey. Hopefully this recap of the session can spark some inspiration for you!
Vicente Parrilla López – Plain text and structured notetaking
Vicente’s research, which is in the field of musicology, focuses on reviving the Renaissance practice of improvised counterpoint. Apart from a PhD researcher, he is also a musician and recorder player himself. In his research workflow, Vicente consistently seeks out tools to enhance efficiency and further streamline the structure of his work.
Vicente introduced us to the versatility and accessibility of plain text files, highlighting the benefit of this file format, as it is universally usable across various computers and software platforms. One drawback, however, lies in readability due to the absence of text formatting and smaller typography. Fortunately, applications like iA Writer, which allow users to use markdown to apply additional formatting, address this issue.
There are a wide array of digital tools for structured notetaking out there. In addition to iA Writer, other examples include Obsidian and Notion. The key is to choose the tool that suits your needs and preferences best.
Vicente highlights the advantages of using plain text files for structured notetaking in conjunction with applications like iA Writer:
Distraction-free writing: plain text notetaking ensures an undisturbed writing experience with basic formatting; once you are finished you can preview your text for example as HTML or PDF output.
Versatility: plain text files are very adaptable; they can be exported to various formats such as HTML for websites, DOC for Microsoft Word, PDF, and even transform into programming language files like Python, Java, JSON, CSS, XML, LaTeX, among others.
Interconnectedness: notetaking tools like these often incorporate a tagging system that facilitate connections between concepts and ideas.
Search capability: these tools also offer robust search functionalities, ensuring swift and efficient retrieval of desired information.
An important aspect of Vicente’s notetaking workflow is the integration of structured metadata. Vicente implements a dedicated metadata section at the beginning of each note, enhancing the categorization and contextualization of his notes. In general, adding metadata in a systematic way offers several advantages. By recording key details like creation date, authorship, and related keywords, metadata enriches a note by adding surrounding context. Additionally, metadata enhances searchability by allowing the user to search for specific information or themes across an entire note repository. Lastly, structured metadata can foster collaboration between various users but also across different projects.
Vicente also introduced us to the concept of text expanders. The purpose of this type of software is to replace designated keystrokes, known as ‘shortcuts’ or ‘abbreviations,’ with expanded text segments. Its strength lies in expediting the writing process by swiftly inserting frequently used words or phrases into articles, grant applications, and more. It can also help to easily integrate standardized metadata and bibliographic entries. Using the text expander software allows Vicente to have a streamlined writing experience. When used systematically, it also helps him create consistency across various documents. Moreover, the program saves him the time that would be spent on manually inserting phrases or words he uses frequently in his research and writing.
Stijn Carpentier – Digitized source material and distant reading
Within the Negotiating Solidarity project, Stijn’s research aims to uncover and contextualize the wide variety of contacts between actors within Belgian civil society and the rapidly growing influx of foreign guest workers from the 1960s to the 1990s. Despite labeling himself as a hobbyist in the Digital Humanities realm, Stijn presented to us an inspirational workflow where he merges historical research with digital tools.
Stijn’s journey into DH was triggered by his source material. For his research, he wanted to explore how guest workers in Belgium were communicating about their activities and their ideas through periodicals and other types of serial sources. As the term suggests, serial sources are published at regular intervals, resulting in an overwhelming volume of material that cannot always be read entirely during the timeframe of a PhD project. Consequently, Stijn sought an efficient method to comprehensively analyze this extensive array of sources without having to read them all in full.
The first step to achieve this goal was digitization. Stijn encountered both undigitized and poorly OCR’d digitized sources, prompting him to undertake the digitization process himself. However, digitization is time-consuming; hence, Stijn emphasizes the importance of collaboration with the archives or institutions housing the materials. They may offer assistance in digitizing the content or provide access to their scanning equipment and OCR software. Stijn stresses that while digitized sources offer many advantages such as searchability, it remains crucial to engage with the physical materials. Understanding the contextual nuances of their creation and preservation is imperative, rather than treating them merely as isolated PDF files.
Once he tackled the first hurdle of digitization, Stijn delved into distant reading, a text analysis method enabling insights into vast corpora without the need for exhaustive reading. To conduct this analysis, he used the software AntConc.
AntConc is a free, cross-platform tool for corpus analysis. There are also other tools with similar features such as Voyant, Hyberbase, and Sketch Engine.
Upon uploading his documents to AntConc, Stijn could perform basic word searches and proximity-based word analysis. The tool also enables tracking keyword mentions over time, which helps to get an overview of patterns and how they evolved. As a result, Stijn could efficiently extract core ideas from an extensive corpus, a task that would have been impossible for him to complete during his PhD if he were using close reading methods. Such tools not only extract information but also foster creativity in research, encouraging novel perspectives on the research material that might otherwise remain unexplored.
Stijn concluded by comparing Digital Humanities to a Swiss army knife: it is like a versatile tool that doesn’t necessarily need to be the focal point of your project but serves as a valuable instrument for exploring both your sources and your research domain. Beyond that, DH facilitates connections with peers. Belgium boasts a vibrant Digital Humanities community, offering ample opportunities for networking and learning from a diverse group of experts and enthusiasts.
If you want to get involved in the DH community in Belgium you can join the DH Virtual Discussion group for Early Career Researchers. The discussion group meets on a monthly basis via MS Teams. Each meeting features a presentation from a member of the Belgian DH community, a moment to share DH-related news, and a chance to network.
Tom Gheldof – A day in the (tool) life
Tom Gheldof is the CLARIAH-VL coordinator at the Faculty of Arts. Throughout the years, he was involved in several projects in the field of Digital Humanities such as the Trismegistos project at the Research Unit of Ancient History. Currently, he is a scientific researcher of the ‘CLARIAH-VL: Advancing the Open Humanities Service Infrastructure’ project that aims at developing and enhancing digital tools, practices, resources, and services for researchers in many fields of the humanities.
Tom provided an insider’s view of his typical day, shedding light on the various tools he employs:
Identification: to introduce himself, Tom showcased his ORCID iD, a persistent digital identifier that sets researchers apart regardless of name similarities. It serves as a central hub to which you can link all of your research output. Not only does it boost the visibility of your work, it also streamlines administrative tasks, as you only need to update one platform that you can then connect with your funder, publishers, etc.
Text recognition: given that Tom’s research relies on manuscripts, he has familiarized himself with automated text recognition. His primary tool for this is Transkribus, a platform that uses machine learning technology to automatically decipher handwritten and printed texts. Through a transcription editor, users within the Transkribus community transcribe historical documents, training the system to recognize diverse text forms – be it handwritten, typewritten, or printed – across various languages, predominantly European.
Annotation: Tom relies on Recogito for his research on place names. This online annotation tool offers a user-friendly interface for both texts and images. Recogito provides a personalized workspace to upload, collect, and organize diverse source materials such as texts, images, and tabular data. Moreover, it facilitates collaborative annotation and interpretation of these resources.
Coding: for coding tasks, Tom uses Visual Studio Code, a free coding editor compatible with multiple programming languages. To collaborate and access code with open licenses, he turns to GitHub, a repository where people share their code, fostering a collaborative coding environment.
Relational databases: Tom has a lot of expertise when it comes to building relational databases. A relational database allows you to represent complex datasets and the connections between and within different types of data. He uses the FileMaker environment, which has broad functionalities and permits export of the data to any other format.
Tom has given trainings about relational databases in general, and FileMaker in particular, in the past. An overview of existing training material can be found on the DH@rts website.
To familiarize yourself with these and similar tools and methods, Tom recommends exploring the tutorials that are available at The Programming Historian, a DH journal that offers novice-friendly, peer-reviewed instructional guides.
Through trial-and-error, the presenters have figured out their workflow, which can hopefully inspire you to tailor your personalized data management processes. However, they all emphasized that the best research workflow is the one that works for you. For further inspiration when it comes to DH and research data, consider joining DH Benelux 2024, hosted by KU Leuven. This year’s conference, with the theme “Breaking Silos, Connecting Data: Advancing Integration and Collaboration in Digital Humanities”, is sure to bring much more inspiration when it comes to organizing, manipulating, and sharing research data.
This event is only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.
The Artes Research team from KU Leuven Libraries Artes and the ABAP council will kick off the new academic year with a special “How Do You Do (It)?” (HDYDI) session dedicated to research data workflows. This special session will coincide with the start of the Digital Scholarship Module taught by the Artes Research team. It will take place on Tuesday 7 November, 13h30-15h30, in the Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven). Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Program
13h30-14h
To help you through the afternoon slump, we will start with coffee and cookies which will be served in the main entrance hall of the Erasmushuis.
14h10-15h30
We will then move up to the 8th floor (Justus Lipsiuszaal) to start the session which will feature talks from researchers at the Faculty of Arts who outline their research workflows: how do they approach their research, what tools do they use, with what kind of data are they working, etc. We will get a behind-the-scenes look from:
There will be lots of time for questions and getting to know each other’s workflows.
The event will take place in Leuven, but if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link.
Keep an eye out for the next HDYDI event that will take place in Spring!
Practical details
When: Tuesday 7 November, from 13h30 to 15h30
Where: coffee in main entrance hall and session in Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven) with online option: if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link
KU Leuven Libraries has developed a game focused on the possibilities, requirements, and best practices regarding Open Access, Research Data Management, and in the future also Information Retrieval.
The Research Survival Game follows a researcher who is stranded on a desert island and can only leave by acquiring knowledge. This knowledge is obtained by correctly answering and subsequently collecting the Q&A cards. As the players advance along the gameboard, both the spaces they land on and the Q&A cards will help familiarize them with some of the key concepts of a research project. The game is won by collecting the most cards, as this means enough skills have been obtained to properly conduct the research and the researcher is thus ready to leave the island.
Who can play the game? The target audience is both researchers, in any stage of their career, and research support staff. But anyone who is interested can get in touch!
How can I reserve the game? You can request a game session with one of our staff members via the Open Science Helpdesk.
How to play the game? Check out the website to find out more about the game!
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment with Artes Research to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool? You can now come to one of our drop-in sessions, and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
Some areas that we can help with:
Getting started with Zotero
Optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Stop by on one of the following dates this fall and we will be glad to help you:
Thursday 28 September from 13h-15h, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.17)
Thursday 26 October from 13h-15h, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.17)
Thursday 30 November from 13h-15h, Erasmushuis (LETT 01.17)
Are you ready to delve into the use of the data management platform ManGO?
During three training sessions on the 21st of August, 4th of October and 14th of December you will be introduced to the ManGO platform and receive a hands-on training for the web interface.
Programme
The ManGO platform is based on the open source software IRODS and offers the following functionalities:
Storing Data on reliable and secure systems hosted by ICTS KU Leuven.
Describe data and files using metadata. These metadata can be added using templates, via automatic metadata extraction or completely manually.
Automating data workflows.
Sharing files with other users (groups) inside and outside the university.
During the first part of the training you will get an introduction to ManGO and its available clients.
During the second part of the trainigg, researchers will get the opportunity to try things out in MAnGO and explore the different functionalities in the user interface.
Practicalities
When and where:
21 August, 14h00-16h00 (in person at ICTS in Heverlee)
4 October, 14h00-16h00 (in person at ICTS in Heverlee)
14 December, 14h00-16h00 (in person at ICTS in Heverlee)
Who: The trainings are open for both ManGO users and prospective users who want to get to know the platform. External (non-KU Leuven) collaborators of an existing ManGO project can also join the training sessions. To do so, please contact rdm-icts@kuleuven.be.
NOTE: if you want to organize a training for your whole research group, and you can’t join the recurring trainings. Contact RDM ICTS for other possibilities.
Registration: Clickhere to register for one of the training sessions
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