At the IMAREAL, we use the potentials of digitisation for research and teaching in cultural studies. We apply and design methods and technologies that process, visualise and make available digital data on material culture.

Detecting Patterns and Particularities

This approach allows us to see new correlations in the data pool with the digital humanities promoting new interpretations and asking innovative questions in medieval and early modern period research.

Applying digital technologies

The digital resources of the IMAREAL offer public online access to the results of basic research (REALonline image database) and themed research projects like RaumOrdnungen, NÖ-Burgendatenbank, and archREAL. In ongoing projects, the existing possibilities of data modelling, information design and visualisation are being explored using graph technologies, 3D models and semantic web technologies. The open-access online journal MEMO offers a platform to present research results on the material culture of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Applications for the collaborative set-up of a pool of knowledge like RechtsAlterTümer online or an e-learning site developed in cooperation with students (Virtueller Altar) testify to the institute’s long-standing experience in the digital humanities, making other research institutes to bank on this expertise. The Literatur und Wandmalerei project database on literature and wall paintings, for instance, is hosted at the IMAREAL.