The Digital Humanities in Switzerland: an overview

di Enrico Natale
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 40 (2012), p. 183

In the last few months, several universities and research agencies in Switzerland disclosed their plans to open new programs in the Digital Humanities. Starting from this observation, this article aims to outline the state of the art of the Digital Humanities in Switzerland. A first part deals with the institutional framework of the Swiss research landscape and mentions recent developments that led to a cross-disciplinary and widespread interest for the Digital Humanities in Switzerland. This first part includes also a short historical overview of the uses of digital technologies in the humanities and  the library sector In Switzerland. The second part is a typology of the digital humanities in Switzerland segmented in five categories: Research projects, Digital collections, Tools, Digital publishing, E-learning & Information literacy. For each category the article provides a critical assesment of the field and a description of the major projects. The typology is intentionally inclusive to reflect the diversity of the actors involved and the distribution of Digital Humanities skills among several fields. In conclusion, the article traces possible scenarios for the institutionalization of Digital Humanities in Switzerland. Key words: Switzerland, Digital Humanities, Libraries, Information Science, Digital Libraries, Humanities