Join us in Luxembourg for a fantastic new edition of the Historical Network Research conference! This is also a great venue for archaeologists to present their work.
CFP deadline: 20 February 2020.
Call for papers for HNR2020
The Historical Network Research community is very pleased to announce the call for papers for the next Historical Network Research conference which will take place at the University of Luxembourg, from Wednesday 17 until Friday 19 June 2020. The conference will run over three days opening with a workshop day and two conference days.
Social network analysis theories and methods have emerged as a persuasive extension of purely metaphorical uses of network concepts in historical research. The HNR conference series explores the challenges and possibilities of network research in historical scholarship and serves as a platform for researchers from various disciplines to meet, present and discuss their latest research findings and to demonstrate tools and projects.
The Historical Network Research community has its roots in the year 2009 when the first in a series of workshops on the application of network analysis in the historical disciplines took place. In 2019, the thirteenth workshop on „Networks Across Time and Space: Methodological Challenges and Theoretical Concerns of Network Research in the Humanities“ was hosted by the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, Germany. In 2013, the European Digital Humanities research network Nedimah enabled us to organize the first international conference on Historical Network Research in Hamburg. This was followed by conferences in Ghent 2014, Lisbon 2015, Turku 2017, and Brno 2018. From 2013 onwards, we organised sessions on historical networks at the International Sunbelt Conferences of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), and from 2014 on at the corresponding European Regional Conferences (EUSN). The year 2017 saw the publication of the inaugural issue of the Open Access Journal of Historical Network Research (www.jhnr.uni.lu). JHNR is devoted to the study of networks (social or otherwise) from a specifically historical perspective and encourages the exchange between different areas of historical research (in the broadest sense), the (digital) humanities at large as well as the social, information and computer sciences. These events and activities are supplemented by the website Historical Network Research (www.historicalnetworkresearch.org), which provides a bibliography, a calendar of events and an email newsletter.
For our 2020 conference, we welcome submissions for individual contributions discussing any historical period and geographical area. Authors may be historians, linguists, librarians, archaeologists, art historians, computer scientists, social scientists as well as scholars from other disciplines working with historical or archaeological data. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Cultural and intellectual networks
- Geospatial networks
- Citizen science, crowdsourcing and other forms of public engagement
- Networks extracted from texts
- Networks and prosopography
- Methodological contributions with immediate relevance for Historical Network Research such as missing data, temporality, multilayer networks, ontologies, linked data
- Pedagogy, teaching, and digital literacy in Historical Network Research
Keynotes
The closing keynote will be delivered by Petter Holme, Specially Appointed Professor at the Institute of Innovative Research at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the speaker for the opening keynote will be announced in the near future.
Workshops
Participants are invited to take part in one or two of three half-day-workshops:
- Introduction to Social Network Analysis (Matthias Bixler, Independent Researcher)
- Exponential Random Graph Models for Historical Networks (Antonio Fiscarelli, University of Luxemburg)
- Analysis of Two-Mode Networks with Python (Demival Vasques Filho, Leibniz Institute of European History Mainz)
Formats
For HNR 2020 we welcome three types of proposals: (1) individual papers; (2) software/tool demonstrations and (3) posters. Abstracts should clearly state the title, name and affiliation of the authors and the presenters; if you have one please include your Twitter username, too.
1) Individual papers:
abstract (500-1000 words maximum, plus 3 citations) will be required for 20-minute papers (presentation 15 mins + 5 minutes for questions). The content of your abstract should be appropriate for the nature of the paper you intend to present. Your abstract should include:
- Background – an overview of the topic and the research questions that will be addressed by your paper
- Methods and data – an overview of the data used and the methods employed in your research
- Findings – a description of the results of your research
You may also include a single figure that shows the key results or main argument of your paper. Figures should be submitted in a format that can be displayed in a standard web browser and should have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Citations should use the Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition Author Date style.
2) Software/tool demonstrations:
HNR provides an opportunity for demonstrations of software and tools for historical network analysis. Accepted demonstrations and tools will be presented within a main conference session (presentations 15 mins + 5 minutes for questions) and at demo booths during the poster presentations. Abstracts (200-500 words maximum) will be required and should include information on the novel contribution it makes, its state of development and licensing.
3) Posters:
Abstracts (200-500 words, plus 3 citations) will be required for posters. Your abstract should include:
- Background – a brief overview of the topic or research questions addressed by the poster
- Methods and data – a description of the data used and the methods employed
- Discussion/findings – a discussion of the wider implications of your research for network analysis in history.
Submissions
Please submit your abstract by Thursday 20 February, 2020 (23:59 CET) via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=hnr2020#). Papers for presentation will be selected following a double-blind peer review procedure. Notifications of acceptance/rejection will be announced by 15 March 2020. The conference language is English.
Selected papers and posters will be invited to prepare a submission for a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Historical Network Research (https://jhnr.uni.lu/).
Please do not hesitate to contact the organising team for any questions you may have at HNR2020@historicalnetworkresearch.org. Additional information on workshops, keynotes, and programme together with further practical information will be available shortly on the conference website.
Key dates
- 20.02.2020: deadline for submissions via Easychair
- 15.03.2020: notification of acceptance
- 01.04.2020: registration opening
- 15.06.2020: latest possible registration for participants
- 17-19.06.2020: conference (1 day workshops, 2 days sessions)
- 15.07.2020: invitation of selected articles to JHNR
Further information on the workshops will be provided on the conference website shortly.
Travel bursaries
Scholars without access to sufficient travel funds may apply for a travel bursary in parallel to submitting a paper or poster. A bursary will cover travel and accommodation costs for the duration of the conference. Please email a motivation letter together with a CV to HNR2020@historicalnetworkresearch.org. Only authors of accepted papers are eligible for bursaries.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
With best wishes,
The HNR 2020 Organisers:
Tom Brughmans (Aarhus University)
Aline Deicke (Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz)
Marten Düring (University of Luxembourg)
Antonio Fiscarelli (University of Luxembourg)
Ingeborg van Vugt (University of Utrecht)
Archaeological Networks 