Naoki Kokaze

FromCommunityTo
AcademyEnhancing Digital
Historical Researchin Japan through
Early-Career ResearchersMismatch

Community

AcademyMismatch in Expertise
between…

Me (Historian)…

Celeste Tường Vy Sharpe, 2019
“Digital Dissertations and theChanging Nature of Doctoral Work”
Perspectives on History

The process of doctoral students andadvisers building advising relationships
is complex from the beginning. …, butdigitalhistory
dissertations
add
another magnitude of complexity because
the gap between what advisers know andwhat doctoral students are trying to do
is often wider. Simply put, more of thestudent’s work is unfamiliar to theadvisers, who are also learning much
more than usual.

Mind Another Gap between

Using Digital Tools&Making Historical Arguments

My Journey with DH

Tokyo Digital History Symposium

University of Tokyo“General Introduction to DH”
King’s College London
Best Overall Student in the MA in DH, 2018/19

2016
2014

2020
Wheaton College, Boston
Intl. WS on HistoricalAccounts with the TEI

establishing
Tokyo Digital History

2018

Chiba University
Assist. Professor in DHMismatch

Community

AcademyTokyo Digital History
To find practical examples of how
digital technology can be used inhistorical research.
To explore how digital technology canpresent information, using the insightsfrom archival science to accesshistorical resources.

To create a space for interdisciplinaryinteraction and information exchange
between historians as data users, andarchivists, librarians, and engineers asdata providers.
To share the outcomes of collaborative
research within the group, aiming todiscuss the entire process fromobtaining to using historical resource
information in an interdisciplinary
debate, and to examine the importance ofplacing historical research in thebroader context of open science.

Symposiumin2018

MismatchCommunityAcademy

A Key Challenge
Contributions of early-career
researchers by themselves
are not enough to broaden
the scope of digital history

It is necessary to expand thescope of activities from thecommunity to the academy

Hajime Oosawa, 2020
“Electronic Libraries andDatabases in Chinese-Speaking
World and Historical Studies ofModern and Contemporary China”
Rekishigaku Kenkyu(Journal of Historical Studies)vol. 1000

Wang Tao has raised concerns about digital
history, noting that while it has potential,
many projects focus too much on presentation andtools without clearly explaining or interpretingthe content. He observes that many projects
appearincomplete,
onlyofferingmaterials
without full analysis. He attributes this to twomain
reasons:
firstly,
themajorityofresearchers in digital history are under fifty
and, despite their skill in using various tools,
they lack depth in interpretation. Secondly,
digital humanities tend to prioritize a datadriven approach, distancing themselves from theargument-driven methods typical of traditional
historical research.

Kazuhiko Kondo, 2020
“The Digital Universe ofHistorical Resources as seen fromECCO”
Rekishigaku Kenkyu(Journal of Historical Studies)vol. 1000

When articles that make use of extensive digital
databases are published, they can sometimes
cause unease among the older generation. Theconcern raised is that historical sources are
more than just data; the origin and physicalcharacteristics of manuscripts and printed books
are crucial, and conducting historical researchwithout acknowledging the value of historical
heritage is deemed unacceptable. … This does notmean, however, that such valid concerns should
inhibit the freedom of research. To address thisgap, there should be an emphasis on mutual
learning across generations within academic
institutions, complemented by a process of trial
and error among individuals and their colleagues,
which paves the way for new discoveries.

Conclusion
Meaningful exchanges andconstructive dialogues acrossdifferent generations, eachbringing their unique levels ofexperience and viewpoints on
digital technologies to thetable
The importance of engaging in anexperimental trial-and-error
process