Computational Engineering of Historical Memories

Dr. Andrea Nanetti is an award-winning and internationally recognised expert in Digital Humanities. He has carried out trailblazing research in Europe, the United States, China, Africa, and South-East Asia for over 30 years. Since 2013, he has been a Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Using the history of Venice as contextualised within late medieval Afro-Eurasian trade systems, he achieved international standing within a broad research spectrum that spans from critical editions of primary historical sources to computational applications and web-based media. As a result, several world’s top-level institutions, including Harvard University, Princeton University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, invited him to be a visiting fellow.

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 Computational Engineering of Historical Memories

1.1 Vision, Mission, and Motivation from a Human Sciences Perspective

1.2 Reloading the Treasure of Human Experiences into the Digital Time Machine

1.3 The Online System Engineering Historical Memory (EHM): Methods and Tools

2 Historians and Computers

2.1 Computers in the Historian’s Craft. Opportunities and Limits

2.2 Reflections on the Training of Machine Learning Algorithms for the Next Generation of Historians

2.3 Towards a Computational Approach to History. The Principle of Computational Equivalence and the Phenomenon of Computational Irreducibility in Historical Sciences

3 History, Films, and Online Video Streaming

3.1 Communicating History with Films

3.1.1 Documentary Films

3.1.2 Docudramas

3.1.3 Feature Films

3.1.4 Historical Dramas

3.1.5 Compilation Films

3.1.6 User-Generated Content

3.2 Animated Picture as a Privileged Medium to Screen Historical Narratives in Films

3.2.1 Using Animation to Adapt Historical Narratives in Films

3.2.2 Significant Examples of History- Driven Animations

3.3 Validating Historical Narratives in Films

3.3.1 Acquiring Knowledge from History- Based Films. Opportunities and Challenges for the Audience

3.3.1.1 Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

3.3.1.2 MUBI and Curiosity Stream

3.3.1.3 YouTube and TikTok

3.3.1.4 Vimeo

3.3.1.5 History Channel

3.3.1.6 TED

3.3.2 The EHM Approach to Computational Validation of Historical Information in Films

4 Languages and Cultures at the Computational Turn

4.1 Gazing at the World as Seen from the Others

4.2 A New Tower of Babel?

4.3 Computational Approaches as Tools to Overcome Linguistic Obstacles and Cultural Barriers in the Historian’s Craft

5 EHM Showcase on Afro-Eurasia (ca 1100–1500 CE)

5.1 EHM Computational Engineering of Afro-Eurasian Communication Networks with a Focus on Waterways

5.2 Venetian State-Run Galley Convoys as a Testbed to Design ABMs and Run Simulations

5.3 Framing EHM in the Silk Road Discourse

5.4 Epilogue without Conclusion

Index