{"id":4380,"date":"2024-02-02T10:17:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T09:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projekt-mida.de\/?p=4380"},"modified":"2024-02-02T10:26:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T09:26:15","slug":"whats-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projekt-mida.de\/en\/4380\/whats-new\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s New?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I. Concluding Remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After nine years of work\u00ading togeth\u00ader and on the cusp of our final fund\u00ading peri\u00adod, it seems appro\u00adpri\u00adate to look back at the road already travelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Novem\u00adber 2014 a ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded team of stu\u00addents, coor\u00addi\u00adna\u00adtors, prin\u00adci\u00adpal inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtors, and our inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive tan\u00addem-duos, team\u00ading up Indi\u00adan and Ger\u00adman pre- and post-docs, began with the iden\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion and descrip\u00adtion of archival hold\u00adings stored in Ger\u00adman archives that are of inter\u00adest to the his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan of mod\u00adern India and\/or Indo-Ger\u00adman entan\u00adgled his\u00adto\u00adry. With the launch of the MIDA<\/span> web\u00adsite in May 2019, this grow\u00ading dataset could be accessed through our data\u00adbase, accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by our open-access jour\u00adnal MIDA<\/span> Archival Reflex\u00adi\u00adcon<\/em>. The Reflex\u00adi\u00adcon<\/em> \u2013 as we affec\u00adtion\u00adate\u00adly call it \u2013 cre\u00adates a space for con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00ading the method\u00adolog\u00adi\u00adcal and epis\u00adte\u00admo\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal ques\u00adtions that arise from work\u00ading with these under\u00ades\u00adti\u00admat\u00aded resources, which are housed in archives not com\u00admon\u00adly asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with the col\u00ado\u00adniza\u00adtion of the sub\u00adcon\u00adti\u00adnent, whilst show\u00ading the poten\u00adtial of con\u00adcrete archival hold\u00adings with spe\u00adcif\u00adic the\u00admat\u00adic examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon there\u00adafter it became clear that anoth\u00ader medi\u00adum was need\u00aded to ade\u00adquate\u00adly dis\u00adplay research data emerg\u00ading from the project, which did not fit the frame\u00adwork of the data\u00adbase or the Reflex\u00adi\u00adcon,<\/em> but was too pre\u00adcious to just keep in our dig\u00adi\u00adtal draw\u00aders \u2013 lead\u00ading to the birth of the MIDA<\/span> The\u00admat\u00adic Resources<\/em>. Through this for\u00admat, we pub\u00adlish data sets in a pag\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded pdf ver\u00adsion, which can be cit\u00aded, as well as a spread\u00adsheet file, which can be sort\u00aded, searched through, and analysed fur\u00adther. Georg Lilie\u2019s list<\/a> shows the true poten\u00adtial of the for\u00admat to open up the field for sev\u00ader\u00adal pos\u00adsi\u00adble research projects, by list\u00ading a large amount of valu\u00adable fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal research on the exchange between trade unions of India and the GDR<\/span>. Ger\u00addi\u00aden Jonker\u2019s 2021 Post\u00adscript<\/a> to her Reflex\u00adi\u00adcon <\/em>entry orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly pub\u00adlished two years pri\u00ador on the oth\u00ader hand demon\u00adstrates the advan\u00adtage of pub\u00adlish\u00ading online, name\u00adly the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty to update and expand upon ear\u00adli\u00ader work and even open\u00ading up a dia\u00adlogue with one\u2019s readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guid\u00aded by the the\u00admat\u00adic sign\u00adposts intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal, polit\u00adi\u00adcal, eco\u00adnom\u00adic, and mis\u00adsion his\u00adto\u00adry, the work on the data\u00adbase and the two pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion series and the indi\u00advid\u00adual projects with\u00adin our tan\u00addem-duos<\/a> expand\u00aded into numer\u00adous work\u00adshops, con\u00adfer\u00adences, lec\u00adtures, sem\u00adi\u00adnars, mis\u00adcel\u00adla\u00adneous pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions<\/a> and even a fea\u00adture-length film<\/a>, there\u00adby exem\u00adpli\u00adfy\u00ading the vast\u00adness of this often untouched source base. And aside all the knowl\u00adedge pro\u00adduc\u00adtion and trans\u00adfer the team grew togeth\u00ader and stayed in con\u00adtact, across the dis\u00adtance between our two seats Berlin and G\u00f6t\u00adtin\u00adgen and often beyond one\u2019s time in the project, with the high\u00adlight being the ear\u00adly morn\u00ading walks and late-night chats dur\u00ading our aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic retreats in our beloved Akademie Wald\u00adschl\u00f6ss\u00adchen near G\u00f6ttingen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

II<\/span>. Knowledge Transfer and Accessibility<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three fund\u00ading peri\u00adods after the begin\u00adning in 2014, BAs turned into MAs, pre- into post-docs, and the data\u00adbase has grown to now con\u00adtain 88 archives and 2710 hold\u00adings. With the relaunch of our web pres\u00adence in 2023, the MIDA<\/span> pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions team put its focus even more on reach\u00ading a wider and more diverse audi\u00adence and mak\u00ading our pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions work for our read\u00aders as well as our authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To broad\u00aden our reach, we have teamed up with the Max Weber Forum Del\u00adhi<\/u><\/a> and have repub\u00adlished all our arti\u00adcles and research data col\u00adlec\u00adtions via the Max Weber Foundation\u2019s dig\u00adi\u00adtal repos\u00adi\u00adto\u00adry Perspectivia.net <\/em>in the tried and trust\u00aded for\u00admats MIDA<\/span> Archival Reflex\u00adi\u00adcon<\/u><\/em><\/a> and MIDA<\/span> The\u00admati<\/u><\/em>c Resources<\/u><\/em><\/a>. The pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions now all car\u00adry a DOI<\/span> and are trans\u00admit\u00adted into a wide net\u00adwork of open-access data\u00adbas\u00ades and aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic search engines via perspectivia.net<\/em>. The licens\u00ading of the pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions with CC-BY-ND<\/span> 4.0 guar\u00adan\u00adtees the open-access nature which was at the core of the MIDA<\/span> pub\u00adlish\u00ading con\u00adcept from the very begin\u00adning as well as our authors\u2019 rights to be giv\u00aden appro\u00adpri\u00adate cred\u00adit when their work is shared. In addi\u00adtion, our pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions team tire\u00adless\u00adly adds find\u00adings from our pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions into rel\u00ade\u00advant Wikipedia-arti\u00adcles, there\u00adby con\u00adtribut\u00ading to the spread of aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic results whilst height\u00aden\u00ading the projects vis\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty in the pub\u00adlic arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look\u00ading at the over\u00adhauled web\u00adsite itself, the min\u00adi\u00admal and respon\u00adsive design of the HTML<\/span> ver\u00adsion of our arti\u00adcles enables com\u00adfort\u00adable access even with slow\u00ader inter\u00adnet con\u00adnec\u00adtions and on all stan\u00addard mobile devices. The down\u00adload\u00adable PDF<\/span> ver\u00adsions allow track\u00ading one\u2019s own thoughts \u00ad\u2013 dig\u00adi\u00adtal\u00adly or on the paper \u2013 and have been opti\u00admized for screen read\u00aders in an effort to reduce the lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions one\u2019s eyes can pose on the gath\u00ader\u00ading of infor\u00adma\u00adtion in a most\u00adly text based aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic dis\u00adcourse. With one of the ele\u00adments of this task being the descrip\u00adtion of visu\u00adal sources (i.e. pho\u00adtographs, scanned doc\u00adu\u00adments) dis\u00adplayed in the arti\u00adcle, a seem\u00ading\u00adly tech\u00adni\u00adcal task turned into a sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly cre\u00adative one. To light\u00aden this load for the pub\u00adlish\u00ading team we kind\u00adly ask authors of future pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions to include detailed descrip\u00adtions of the visu\u00adal mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal they want to use in their articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our heart\u00adfelt thanks go to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n