The prototype of the DisComPose digital archive was presented on 23rd November to an audience of researchers, students and high school teachers. The software was conceived and developed by students of the Apple Academy to make the research results available to a wider audience. It was tested by a group of researchers from different backgrounds and is now being finalized. Once completed, it will allow the integration of a very large corpus of documents composed of manuscripts, printed texts and images relating to different spatial and temporal contexts. The research will be performed with reference to places, types of catastrophe and events that occurred in the territories of the Hispanic monarchy. Each natural disaster will be marked with a pin on the map and, with a simple click, you will be able to access further information, documents and images relating to that event. The software will be useful both to make the research accessible to a non-expert public, and to make clear, through a graphical representation, the links necessary to continue the investigation and study the event in more detail.
“This digital archive will allow us not only to share knowledge but to create it, elaborate on it – points out the DisComPoSe P.I., Prof. Domenico Cecere – It is also a valid means of gaining a greater awareness of the fact that risks are inherent in certain territories which are cyclically subject to the threat of some types of potentially calamitous events. For some of these natural disasters we have developed a good forecasting capacity. For others appropriate risk prevention policies are indispensable to mitigate the threats affecting the vulnerable environment in which we live”.
The students who are working on the project are keen to clarify that this is a tool to overcome the spatial and temporal barriers accentuated by the pandemic and this will allow us to reach a wider audience and ensure the reliability of the sources. The digital archive will be fine-tuned in the coming months and will be available at the beginning of 2021 through the official project website.
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