The Digital Orientalist

The Digital Orientalist

@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

https://digitalorientalist.com Dedicated to discovering and sharing insights on digital humanities in an inclusive environment! Join us・انضم إلينا・参加しませんか・bize katıl・kasance tare damu. 🗃️ 🌐

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The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Where They Actually Went: The Presence Problem in Digitised Travel Writing “…till 7 in the Morning the 22th, seeing Molalia playn N.N.W. we stood away N.W. and N. about the west ende of the Island, and Came to Anchor on the North syde in a little Bay in 24 fadome water... Molalia is one of the 4…

digitalorientalist.comWhere They Actually Went: The Presence Problem in Digitised Travel Writing“…till 7 in the Morning the 22th, seeing Molalia playn N.N.W. we stood away N.W. and N. about the west ende of the Island, and Came to Anchor on the North syde in a little Bay in 24 fadome water... Molalia is one of the 4 Islands of Comory, Angazesia, Juanny, and Mayotta beinge the other three… These three Islands are veary full of good refreeshinges, but Principally Mayotta, as I was enformed by the Arabs trading in Molalia; and the Dutch stoppe thear.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

The OBU: An Interview with Khemarato Bhikkhu The Open Buddhist University (OBU) is an unaccredited, freely accessible digital resource founded in 2020. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive, English-language curriculum in Buddhist Studies, open to all. I had the pleasure of interviewing…

digitalorientalist.comThe OBU: An Interview with Khemarato BhikkhuThe Open Buddhist University (OBU) is an unaccredited, freely accessible digital resource founded in 2020. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive, English-language curriculum in Buddhist Studies, open to all. I had the pleasure of interviewing Khemarato Bhikkhu,1 who developed and maintains this exceptional resource, to learn more about the creation and evolution of OBU, the challenges and potential of open-source infrastructure, and the ways in which digital resources like the OBU can enrich monastic and academic approaches to Buddhist Studies.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

On Digital Humanities in Japan, the Public Humanities and Digital History: An Interview with Prof. Kikuchi Nobuhiko (NIHU DH × The DO Interviews #2) This is our second interview as part of the NIHU DH × The DO Interviews. This series features interviews with researchers working at institutions…

digitalorientalist.comOn Digital Humanities in Japan, the Public Humanities and Digital History: An Interview with Prof. Kikuchi Nobuhiko (NIHU DH × The DO Interviews #2)This is our second interview as part of the NIHU DH × The DO Interviews. This series features interviews with researchers working at institutions affiliated with the National Institutes for the Humanities exploring different projects, ideas, and initiatives. This interview was conducted with Prof. Kikuchi Nobuhiko, the Vice-Director of the Center for Data-Driven Research on Premodern Japanese Texts at the…
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

The Open Buddhist University This is a guest post by Khemarato Bhikkhu. Shortly after ordaining, a young monk in Thailand will be given a small, cardboard box. Heavier than you might expect for its small size, it’s tightly packed with six paperback volumes. These books contain everything a young…

digitalorientalist.comThe Open Buddhist UniversityThis is a guest post by Khemarato Bhikkhu. Shortly after ordaining, a young monk in Thailand will be given a small, cardboard box. Heavier than you might expect for its small size, it’s tightly packed with six paperback volumes. These books contain everything a young monk will need to know to pass Thailand’s standardized “Nak Tham” exams, administered at the end of each rainy season in each province across the country.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

This is the final 🧵of our @digitalmedievalist.bsky.social takeover! How important are the conventions we choose? 👀🔍

Digital Medievalist@digitalmedievalist.bsky.social

👋 Still the DO here for the takeover ! Here is a small puzzle from my work. We ran a text-similarity test on two Ottoman fatwā collections. Word for word, two copies of the same ruling should have scored 1.0, but came out at 0.82. The algorithm was fine, so the missing 0.18 needed explaining. 🧵

The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

From Scanned Travel Books to a Page-Aware Corpus: Testing Microsoft Foundry for Historical Research on Central Asia This is a guest piece by Aizat Ishembieva. This post describes how structured text extraction and the creation of a page-referenced corpus can support research on nineteenth- and…

digitalorientalist.comFrom Scanned Travel Books to a Page-Aware Corpus: Testing Microsoft Foundry for Historical Research on Central AsiaThis is a guest piece by Aizat Ishembieva. This post describes how structured text extraction and the creation of a page-referenced corpus can support research on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century travel writing about Central Asia. My broader research examines how Central Asian peoples, places, livelihoods, and material culture were observed and described through Western lenses during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Digital Orientalist reposted

Dr N. Kıvılcım Yavuz
@nkivilcimyavuz.bsky.social

Fab thread on #dragons from @digitalorientalist.bsky.social who took over @digitalmedievalist.bsky.social account earlier today! #digitalmedievalstudies #manuscriptstudies

Digital Medievalist@digitalmedievalist.bsky.social

Hello again, the DO here for the takeover! Many of us work from digitised archives, which let us set side by side manuscripts that never shared a room. As a small experiment, I follow one creature, the dragon, across the Western and Islamicate traditions, in three pages from the BnF. 🐉🧵

The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Today's 🧵 is all about 🐉📜!

Digital Medievalist@digitalmedievalist.bsky.social

Hello again, the DO here for the takeover! Many of us work from digitised archives, which let us set side by side manuscripts that never shared a room. As a small experiment, I follow one creature, the dragon, across the Western and Islamicate traditions, in three pages from the BnF. 🐉🧵

The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

✨ Day two of our @digitalmedievalist.bsky.social takeover! Today's 🧵looks at some of the challenges we face when applying digital tools to non-Western manuscripts...

Digital Medievalist@digitalmedievalist.bsky.social

👋 Hello, this is the Digital Orientalist again, still on our takeover week! We share our digital toolbox with medievalists: same HTR, the same pipelines. What changes, once you turn those tools on non-Western manuscripts, is the method. This thread is about where these approaches meet and part.🧵

The Digital Orientalist reposted

Brian Wong
@brianthwong.bsky.social

My latest post for @digitalorientalist.bsky.social. I experimented with Codex and IMMARKUS to extract and map geographical data from wartime Japanese directories. Click on the post to play with the interactive map!

The Digital Orientalist@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Mapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime Japan The Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth…

digitalorientalist.comMapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime JapanThe Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth through semi-compulsory bond sales, taxation, and savings campaigns. In addition to implementing propaganda campaigns at the grassroots, the government encouraged commercial banks to expand their branch networks to absorb people’s savings.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

🚨 New piece by brianthwong.bsky.social! A must read for those interested in mapping and understanding the full process of data extraction through to visualisation.

The Digital Orientalist@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Mapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime Japan The Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth…

digitalorientalist.comMapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime JapanThe Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth through semi-compulsory bond sales, taxation, and savings campaigns. In addition to implementing propaganda campaigns at the grassroots, the government encouraged commercial banks to expand their branch networks to absorb people’s savings.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Mapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime Japan The Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth…

digitalorientalist.comMapping Prefectural-Level Financial Mobilisation in Wartime JapanThe Japanese government was able to sustain total war against the Allied Powers for almost half a decade after losing foreign loans and reserves and being subject to sanctions. It did so by systematically mobilising civilian wealth through semi-compulsory bond sales, taxation, and savings campaigns. In addition to implementing propaganda campaigns at the grassroots, the government encouraged commercial banks to expand their branch networks to absorb people’s savings.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Looking forward to our takeover of @digitalmedievalist.bsky.social next week! 👀

Digital Medievalist@digitalmedievalist.bsky.social

📜 Get ready for a takeover! Next week, @digitalorientalist.bsky.social is taking over the Digital Medievalist account! Join us as we explore digital humanities shared practices. Stay tuned for exciting insights, project highlights, and more. Don't miss out and turn on your notifications 🔔 !

The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Digital Humanities and Ottoman Studies: A Review Witnessing Ottoman Studies’ recent integration of AI is exciting for the field’s development in terms of its inclusion of wider, more global audiences, the emergence of new research fields, the application of advanced technologies to archival…

digitalorientalist.comDigital Humanities and Ottoman Studies: A ReviewWitnessing Ottoman Studies’ recent integration of AI is exciting for the field’s development in terms of its inclusion of wider, more global audiences, the emergence of new research fields, the application of advanced technologies to archival collections, and the discovery of new materials for study. Hence, while technological innovations have been reshaping historical research and methodology, they have also added new dimensions to historiography and contributed to the development of Digital Ottoman Studies.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Editor’s Digest – Central Asia 2025/6 2025/6 was my first year as editor for Central Asian Studies at The DO, having previously been a contributing writer for Northeast Asian Studies. It has been an illuminating experience to collaborate with the Central Asian Studies writers over the last 12…

digitalorientalist.comEditor’s Digest – Central Asia 2025/62025/6 was my first year as editor for Central Asian Studies at The DO, having previously been a contributing writer for Northeast Asian Studies. It has been an illuminating experience to collaborate with the Central Asian Studies writers over the last 12 months and be offered a window into their research interests and ongoing work. Now is the perfect time to reflect as the dawn breaks on a new publishing year.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Oral Histories from Sindhi Libraries in India: Infrastructures around Sindhi Literature My previous work on Sindhi literature in post-Partition involves PG Sindhi Library, Sindhi Halchal Archive, and Sindhi Sanchaya. Posts dealing with each of these projects can be found here. In this post, I…

digitalorientalist.comOral Histories from Sindhi Libraries in India: Infrastructures around Sindhi LiteratureMy previous work on Sindhi literature in post-Partition involves PG Sindhi Library, Sindhi Halchal Archive, and Sindhi Sanchaya. Posts dealing with each of these projects can be found here. In this post, I discuss an oral history project from libraries that house Sindhi books in India. In the process of learning about Sindhi language and literature and while working on Sindhi Sanchaya, I came across these libraries and their journeys of struggles around preserving Sindhi books and reading-writing culture.
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

On TRAJECTORIA: An Interview with Prof. Kawase Itsushi (NIHU DH × The DO Interviews #1) This is our first interview as part of the NIHU DH × The DO Interviews. This series features interviews with researchers working at institutions affiliated with the National Institutes for the Humanities…

digitalorientalist.comOn TRAJECTORIA: An Interview with Prof. Kawase Itsushi (NIHU DH × The DO Interviews #1)This is our first interview as part of the NIHU DH × The DO Interviews. This series features interviews with researchers working at institutions affiliated with the National Institutes for the Humanities exploring different projects, ideas, and initiatives. The first interview with Prof. Kawase Itushi focuses on the National Museum of Ethnology's journal, TRAJECTORIA, its history, the difficulties associated with setting it up, and the ways in which it advances multimodal representation of research.

The Digital Orientalist reposted

ANTIDOTE - Advanced Training in Digitization of Older Texts
@antidote-network.bsky.social

📢 Applications are now open for the 3rd Year of the #ANTIDOTE training programme! Learn to model digital editions in Klosterneuburg 🇦🇹 and Prague 🇨🇿 Application deadline: 7 October antidote.hi.is/apply

antidote.hi.isApply - ANTIDOTEApply Advanced Training in Digitization of Older Texts —ANTIDOTE 2026–2027The University of Iceland (Reykjavík), Charles University (Prague), Klosterneuburg Abbey Library (Klosterneuburg, Austria), Co...
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Beyond #SouthAsianStudies we're seeking contributors across: #AfricanStudies, #CentralAsianStudies, #ChineseStudies, #MiddleEasternStudies, #NortheastAsianStudies, #SoutheastAsianStudies, and related fields like #BuddhistStudies, #GLAM work, and #OceaniaStudies! #digitalhumanities #digitalarchives

The Digital Orientalist reposted

🇯🇵 辻󠄀 博仁 Hirohito TSUJI 💙💛
@tsujihirohito.bsky.social

私が大会委員長兼編集委員を務めております、オンライン学術誌『The Digital Orientalist @digitalorientalist.bsky.social 』では、来年度の常任寄稿者及びSNSマネージャーを公募しております。アジア研究(日本研究含む)・アフリカ研究・オセアニア研究及び中東研究各分野におけるデジタル人文学に興味・関心がある方であればどなたでも応募可能です。研究者は勿論、大学院生、司書、学芸員、アーキビスト、エンジニア、プログラマー、デザイナー、翻訳家、ジャーナリスト、法曹関係者等、幅広い背景の皆様からのご関心をお待ちしております！(公用語は英語です)

The Digital Orientalist@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Join our team ! The Digital Orientalist is pleased to announce its annual open call for contributors and team members for the 2026-2027 academic year. digitalorientalist.com/2026/06/05/c...

The Digital Orientalist reposted

Stacy Fahrenthold
@sfahrenthold.bsky.social

A fantastic two year postdoctoral opportunity in Persian Literature here at UC Davis. Come join us and share widely with folks in MLA and Middle East studies! mesana.org/resources-an...

mesana.orgMiddle East Studies AssociationThe Department of Comparative Literature and the Program in Middle East/South Asia Studies invite applications for the newly established Bita Daryabari Endowment Postdoctoral Scholar/Lecturer position...
The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

We are seeking individuals who work at the intersection of #digitalhumanities and #areastudies. For more information on the positions available and application process: 👉 digitalorientalist.com/2026/06/05/c...

digitalorientalist.comCFA: Join The DO Team 2026/27The Digital Orientalist is pleased to announce its annual open call for contributors and team members for the 2026-2027 academic year.  New to our work? Learn more about The DO here.  We seek indiv…

The Digital Orientalist reposted

🇯🇵 辻󠄀 博仁 Hirohito TSUJI 💙💛
@tsujihirohito.bsky.social

私が大会委員長を務めました、令和7年5月開催『The Digital Orientalist @digitalorientalist.bsky.social 』誌主催国際会議のプロシーデイングス無料Web公開が進んでいます。今回は、シンガポール国立大学の杜琳先生による「The Evidence of the Small: Digital Historical Forensics and What Big Data Cannot See in Wartime Chinese Propaganda」です。是非ご覧下さい!

The Digital Orientalist@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

In our new article, Lin Du proposes the methodology of Digital Historical Forensics (DHF), a method designed to recover the editorial micro-decisions that propaganda's surface works to conceal. Read more on our website: digitalorientalist.com/2026/05/29/t...

The Digital Orientalist
@digitalorientalist.bsky.social

In our new guest post, Damian Mandzunowski describes how COVID-19 restrictions shifted his historical research to visual sources and lead to the creation of "Reading in China Photographed," a WordPress repository of 385 tagged historical photographs. Read more on our website ⬇️