Computational Engineering of Historical Memories

Nanetti outlines a methodology for deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance historical research.

Dr. Andrea Nanetti is an award-winning and internationally recognised expert in Digital Humanities. He has carried out trailblazing research in Europe, the United States, China, Africa, and South-East Asia for over 30 years. Since 2013, he has been a Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Using the history of Venice as contextualised within late medieval Afro-Eurasian trade systems, he achieved international standing within a broad research spectrum that spans from critical editions of primary historical sources to computational applications and web-based media. As a result, several world's top-level institutions, including Harvard University, Princeton University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Ca' Foscari University of Venice, invited him to be a visiting fellow.

List of Figures List of Abbreviations Foreword Preface Acknowledgements 1 Computational Engineering of Historical Memories 1.1 Vision, Mission, and Motivation from a Human Sciences Perspective 1.2 Reloading the Treasure of Human Experiences into the Digital Time Machine 1.3 The Online System Engineering Historical Memory (EHM): Methods and Tools 2 Historians and Computers 2.1 Computers in the Historian's Craft. Opportunities and Limits 2.2 Reflections on the Training of Machine Learning Algorithms for the Next Generation of Historians 2.3 Towards a Computational Approach to History. The Principle of Computational Equivalence and the Phenomenon of Computational Irreducibility in Historical Sciences 3 History, Films, and Online Video Streaming 3.1 Communicating History with Films 3.1.1 Documentary Films 3.1.2 Docudramas 3.1.3 Feature Films 3.1.4 Historical Dramas 3.1.5 Compilation Films 3.1.6 User-Generated Content 3.2 Animated Picture as a Privileged Medium to Screen Historical Narratives in Films 3.2.1 Using Animation to Adapt Historical Narratives in Films 3.2.2 Significant Examples of History- Driven Animations 3.3 Validating Historical Narratives in Films 3.3.1 Acquiring Knowledge from History- Based Films. Opportunities and Challenges for the Audience 3.3.1.1 Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ 3.3.1.2 MUBI and Curiosity Stream 3.3.1.3 YouTube and TikTok 3.3.1.4 Vimeo 3.3.1.5 History Channel 3.3.1.6 TED 3.3.2 The EHM Approach to Computational Validation of Historical Information in Films 4 Languages and Cultures at the Computational Turn 4.1 Gazing at the World as Seen from the Others 4.2 A New Tower of Babel? 4.3 Computational Approaches as Tools to Overcome Linguistic Obstacles and Cultural Barriers in the Historian's Craft 5 EHM Showcase on Afro-Eurasia (ca 1100-1500 CE) 5.1 EHM Computational Engineering of Afro-Eurasian Communication Networks with a Focus on Waterways 5.2 Venetian State-Run Galley Convoys as a Testbed to Design ABMs and Run Simulations 5.3 Framing EHM in the Silk Road Discourse 5.4 Epilogue without Conclusion Index