April 21, 12-2pm
Digital Humanities in Theory, Practice, and Emergency: Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online
Quinn Dombrowski, Academic Technology Specialist in Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Research, Stanford University
Cochrane-Woods Art Center, 152
Smart Museum at the University of Chicago
5540 S. Greenwood Ave.
On March 1st, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Anna Kijas, Quinn Dombrowski, and Sebastian Majstorovic co-founded “Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online” (SUCHO) to archive Ukrainian cultural heritage websites from at-risk servers. Since then, the project has brought together over 1,300 volunteers and has secured more than 50 TB of cultural heritage data from over 4,500 websites, in addition to over 2,000 memes that capture the ups and downs of the war over the course of a year. Recognizing how little Ukrainian cultural heritage was digitized before the war, SUCHO has taken on the task of acquiring digitization equipment for archives, museums, and libraries, and supporting on-the-ground staff through training materials and developing a community of practice.
In this talk, Quinn Dombrowski (BA/MA 2006) will reflect on the work of SUCHO over the course of the last year, and trace an improbable path from rebuilding the UChicago Slavic department’s website to co-coordinating an international cultural heritage relief effort for Ukraine nearly 20 years later. What is the value of doing digital humanities work: in our promotional framing, in practice over the course of shifting career trajectories, and when faced with a crisis?
If you need any assistance to participate in the DH Forum, please contact Carmen Caswell (caswellc@uchicago.edu).