Pro-amateur information space: www.bildungsgeschichte.ch

Abstract

The paper discusses the possibilities and prospects of a disciplinary search portal for sources and data on the history of education in Switzerland called " Bildungsgeschichte Schweiz" (www.bildungsgeschichte.ch). The open-access and multilingual portal offers a combined full-text and metadata search of historic holdings from different collections and providers. In the context of increasing digitisation and public accessibility of historical materials and the ongoing digital transformation of the humanities, the goal is to create a user-friendly "information space" for researchers and non-researchers alike. The paper focuses on the ideas behind building up this information space and on the possibilities that are given with the application of a search function to a large and diverse data basis. Particular attention is paid to the reuse of research data in the light of current open research data strategies. New technologies, new inputs, new criticismRecently, the digital transformation in the humanities brought up many questions regarding the conditions under which (historical) knowledge is, was, and even will be produced, communicated, and preserved. A turn towards an increasing awareness of the "digital" in historical research is reflected in terms such as "Digital history" (Cohen & Rosenzweig 2006), "Digitale Geschichtswissenschaft" (Schmale 2010) or "E-History" (Schaser 2006). Following the "digital humanities" discussion, digitalisation is ascribed a catalytic function on at least three levels: That is (1) the technical-material properties of the information and communication technologies for research, (2) the research objects, materials and artefacts, and (3) the methods, practices and social contexts in knowledge production, communication and preservation (Berry & Fagerjord 2017;Stehr & Adolf 2018). Thus, whether it is the methods and tools, the research infrastructures, or the specific representational forms of knowledge and information, digitalisation is generally regarded to impact how we research the past. Digitalisation also brings new opportunities for the access to different types of sources and resources. Nowadays, more and more printed texts, manuscripts,