Research

Research at the Methodikum

We are actively engaged in interdisciplinary research initiatives that use digital methods to explore complex cultural, historical, and societal phenomena. By supporting collaborative research projects, facilitating access to technological resources, and promoting data-driven analysis, we aim to expand knowledge in the (digitally engaged) humanities, address current challenges, and contribute to broader academic discourse.

The Methodikum supports collaborative research projects that bring together scholars from across disciplines. In addition to advising on the conception and implementation of interdisciplinary projects—including assistance with grant proposals and coordination of joint funding applications—we provide key resources that facilitate methodological exchange and collaborative work. Our services include:

• Methodological consulting: Support in all phases of a research project, from idea development and research data management to tool selection and the implementation of digital analyses.
• Weekly consultation hours: Every Thursday at 2:00 p.m. (HK16, Room 311), we offer open office hours where specific questions related to digital methods and research processes can be discussed.
• Tools and resources: We facilitate access to the technical infrastructure and data platforms essential for conducting data-driven research.
• Workshops and colloquia: A range of events where current digital approaches, best practices, and methodological innovations are discussed.
• Networking and collaboration: We actively promote interdisciplinary exchange through targeted network building and partnerships within and beyond the university.

The Methodikum supports the use of both established and emerging tools, as well as access to technical infrastructures for digital research in the humanities. This includes specialized software environments, physical laboratory spaces, and virtual work environments.

We offer support and consultation for the following environments:

• INCEpTION – a collaborative platform for semantic annotation, relation extraction, and active learning (local instance: inception.phil.uni-passau.de)

• Transkribus – AI-supported platform for handwriting recognition and transcription of historical documents

• Corpus search – use of established text corpora and search systems such as COSMAS II, DWDS, DeReKo-Web, Google Books Ngram, and others

• Additional tools and platforms such as forTEXT, Voyant Tools, CATMA, OpenRefine, etc.

Infrastructure Access

INN.KUBE (GitLab Documentation)
Technical infrastructure for collaborative research and digital tool development at the University of Passau. Services include:
– version-controlled project environments
– containerization (e.g., via Docker)
– collaborative documentation and deployment
– support for interactive interfaces (e.g., notebooks, web applications)

Associated Labs

• SKoLa – Language and Cognition Lab
  Infrastructure for psycholinguistic and cognitive science experiments, surveys, and studies (HK 14b)
  www.uni-passau.de/skola

• Cultural Heritage Digitization Lab
  Facilities for 2D/3D digitization, OCR, data analysis, and web publishing (HK 16)
  www.geku.uni-passau.de/ch/labor-fuer-kulturgut-digitalisierung

Further insights into our research activities

Learn more about specific research projects, technical environments, and publications on the following pages:
– [Projects]: Insights into current and completed research projects that are methodologically supported by the Methodikum
– [Labs]: Overview of technical infrastructures and experimental environments available for digital research
– [Publications]: Scholarly contributions and methodological concepts that have emerged from the Methodikum's work