Exploring synergies in digital humanities

The success of launching our online collections platform in autumn 2023 demonstrated a significant interest in our museum’s digital offerings. Building on this momentum, we aimed to integrate more digital tools into our public programming. Examples include our new 3D printing workshop and the incorporation of digital tools into initiatives like the Kulturralleye or the City Rally.

While seemingly ubiquitous, the digital is a relatively new space that is being built by many actors with very different goals in mind. It is, therefore, important to participate in the discussions about that space, how we use it and what we want it to look like in the future. That is why we wanted to start having more conversations with digital humanities experts, including academics, cultural heritage professionals and other practitioners. There are many ways to use digital tools in the cultural sector, from creating new objects to generating and then sharing new insights. Bringing different practitioners together can broaden our perspectives and create new synergies. This was what we wanted to do with Digital Days, a two-day event exploring the intersections of culture and technology. It was during informal conversations with our colleagues from the Centre National de l’Audiovisuel (CNA) and the Musée national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN) that the idea for the event first took shape and we ended up organising it together.

Day 1: Hands-on workshops

On the 7th and 8th of November around 50 participants from different backgrounds came together for two days of fruitful exchanges. The first day was spent at the Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart where attendees explored different practical digital approaches in hands-on workshops. Half the participants spent the day with Martina Zunica, information designer, who gave a workshop on data visualisation. They explored the museum and later worked on visualising that experience using digital tools. The other half got a glimpse into editing Wikidata using Openrefine with Edurne Kugeler in the morning and learned the basics of creating 3D models using photogrammetry with Paul Braun from the MNHNin the afternoon. The workshops, and the breaks in between, provided the perfect opportunity to get to know one another and start conversations that, in many cases, continued the next day and even after the conference.

Day 2: Insightful talks

The second day, hosted at the CNA in Dudelange, featured talks by digital humanities scholars and cultural heritage professionals. Speakers shared projects in which they used digital data for their research, reconstructed lost cultural heritage through 3D, used digital tools to share their research and in which they made collections digitally accessible and reusable. A highlight of the conference was the keynote speech by Prof. Caroline Basset, who we were able to host thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture. The conference concluded with closing remarks by Eric Thill, Minister of Culture, underscoring the importance of digital innovation in the cultural sector. The event wrapped up with drinks at the Pomhouse where new connections, forged during the conference, were consolidated.

We are very thankful for the success of this pilot conference, which would not have been possible without the support and enthusiasm of everyone involved. Digital Days has set a strong foundation for future explorations into the dynamic relationship between culture and digital innovation.

Text: Edurne Kugeler / Images: Marc Kaysen / Tom Lucas

Source: MuseoMag N° I - 2025