RESAW 2027
Telling Stories of the Web
Engaging Public Internet Histories
University of Groningen
9, 10, 11 June 2027
Introduction
RESAW 2027 addresses the theme Engaging Public Internet Histories, bringing together theoretical, methodological, empirical, and creative reflections on the role and value of public history in shaping understandings of the web of the past. In recent years, web historical research has steadily increased. Histories have more impact when translated into forms that engage wider publics. By drawing on the practices and principles of public history, web history can move beyond academic scholarship to foster dialogue, participation, and critical reflection on the internet's cultural, social, and political significance. Ideally, as Faye Sayer put it, 'public history in action acts to [...] help communities to understand their place in modern society and the world around them' (Sayer, 2015, p. 3). The conference therefore explores how the stories of the web can be researched, interpreted, communicated, and co-created with diverse audiences, ensuring that internet histories become meaningful public histories.
'The public' in public history should not be seen as monolithic. This conference urges scholars to take up the question of how to write not just about, but for and with specific audiences, to do justice to the multivocality of the past. This is increasingly happening amid rapid technological innovation and global conflicts. Phenomena such as polarisation and generative AI increasingly reshape how heritage data is accessed, owned and controlled, and definitions of 'access,' 'memory,' and 'publicness' become blurred. What does it mean to engage in public web history in such contexts, where topics are often highly contemporary and may provoke public debate or backlash? 'The web' is not a fixed object; it means different things at different times for different people, invoking different practices. To adequately preserve digital heritage and write public history, we need to bring together various approaches and perspectives from the field. How can researchers navigate their own positionality and potential vulnerability, particularly for early-career scholars? How do we do justice to personal experiences of (everyday) people without disregarding established narratives of designers and pioneers? Ideally, this call benefits a more lively, representative, and inclusive understanding of web history.
Based on this central theme, we invite scholars, archivists and other professionals to reflect on topics including, but not limited to, the following:
Groningen, host city of RESAW 2027
1) Contemporary Challenges and Technologies
- Impact of societal tensions and developments, such as polarisation and geopolitical conflicts, on public web history.
- Emerging questions concerning the usage of generative AI (e.g. accessibility, surveillance, ownership, research).
- Forms of crisis archiving and the inclusion of citizens in bottom-up processes.
- Potential and blind spots of technostalgic initiatives and collections.
2) Inclusive Public Histories
- Regional and local histories.
- Marginalised communities, for example, LGBTQ+ communities, the role of women in building the web.
- Non-Western perspectives, particularly from the Global Majority.
- Age and generational experiences of and on the web.
3) Sources and Methods
- User-generated content across different timelines (early web, social media, metaverse).
- Reflections on common or novel methods in doing public web history research.
- Including the public: community-driven initiatives, citizen science, participatory action research, oral history.
4) Narrative Forms and Formats
- Data stories (e.g. interactive timelines, emulations, visualisations, interactive interfaces).
- Storytelling and narration (e.g. documentaries, personal reflections, micro-histories or grand-narratives).
- The inclusion of personal sources or private/domestic archives.
- Presentations and exhibitions.
Possible Formats: Conference
- Individual papers of 15 minutes (500-word abstract).
- Panel sessions consisting of three individual papers of 15 minutes, introduced by a chair (500-word abstract for each paper, a brief 300-word description of the purpose of the panel).
- Other unconventional proposals, such as lightning talks, roundtables, etc., are welcome (300-word abstract).
- Demonstrations and (virtual) exhibitions (500-word abstract including specific requests concerning technology or space).
- "My PhD in 5 Minutes" (300-word abstract).
Acceptance of submissions is based on double-blind peer review.
⚠ Please note: RESAW 2027 is an in-person conference only. Online and hybrid participation are not offered.
Possible Formats: Pre-Conference Day
Submissions related to web archives are welcome from all fields and disciplines, and we would particularly encourage workshops related to tools, hands-on, as well as training sessions and demos.
- Workshops, demos or hands-on sessions (500-word abstract, specifying the expected duration).
- Q+A or discussion sessions (for example, for early-career scholars).
Submission Deadline
The deadline for submissions (including the pre-conference day) is 15 November 2026.
Submit your proposal via: EasyChair
See also the conference website: resaw27.neocities.org
Timetable
- 15 November 2026: Deadline for submissions
- January 2027: Notifications of acceptance
- February 2027: Preliminary Programme
- March 2027: Registrations open (fees: 90 euros for advanced scholars, 50 euros for PhD students)
- 9 June 2027: Pre-conferences and demos
- 10-11 June 2027: Conference at University of Groningen
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Helle Strandgaard Jensen
Helle Strandgaard Jensen is Professor of Cultural and Digital History at the Department of History and Classical Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark and holds a joint-directorship at Center for Digital History Aarhus (CEDHAR). She is the PI of the ERC Consolidator project WEB CHILD 'Changing Childhoods in the Early Era of the WWW'.
Jensen received her PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, in 2013. She has since been a visiting fellow at several universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Canada, Australia, and Sweden.
Jensen is the author of Sesame Street. A Transnational History (Oxford University Press, 2023) and From Superman to Social Realism: Children's Media and Scandinavian Childhood (John Benjamins Publishing Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in Media History; Journal of Children and Media; Media, Culture & Society; Journal for the History of Childhood and Youth; Memory Studies; The Programming Historian; and elsewhere.
Avery Dame-Griff
Avery Dame-Griff is a Lecturer in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Gonzaga University. His award-winning first book, The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet (NYU Press, 2023) tracks how the Internet transformed transgender political organising from the 1980s to the contemporary moment. He founded and serves as primary curator for the Queer Digital History Project (queerdigital.com), an independent community archive cataloguing and archiving pre-2010 LGBTQ spaces online.
Local Organisers, University of Groningen
Susan Aasman- Nathalie Fridzema
- Marije Miedema
- Rik Smit
- Jesper Verhoef
In Collaboration with the RESAW Conference Committee
- Niels Brügger, Aarhus University (organiser 2015)
- Jane Winters, University of London (organiser 2017)
- Anne Helmond, Utrecht University (organiser 2019)
- Valérie Schafer, C²DH, University of Luxembourg (organiser 2021, coming organiser 2029)
- Sophie Gebeil, Aix-Marseille University (organiser 2023)
- Sebastian Gießmann, CRC, Siegen University (organiser 2025)
- Susan Aasman, University of Groningen (organiser 2027)
RESAW 2027 Programme Committee
- Susan Aasman, University of Groningen, NL
- Gabriele Balbi, USI, Lugano, SW
- Miglé Bareikyte, Frankfurt/Oder, GER
- Anat Ben David, The Open University of Israel, IL
- Emmanuelle Bermès, École des Chartes, FR
- Nicola Bingham, British Library, IIPC, UK
- Paolo Bory, Politecnico di Milano, IT
- Niels Brügger, Aarhus University, DK
- Marcus Burkhardt, CRC, Siegen University, GE
- Beatrice Cannelli, University of London, UK
- Frédéric Clavert, C2DH, University of Luxembourg, LU
- Sophie Gebeil, Aix-Marseille University, FR
- Friedel Geeraert, Royal Library of Belgium, BE
- Sebastian Gießmann, CRC, Siegen University, GE
- Anne Helmond, Utrecht University, NL
- Emily Maemura, University of Toronto, CA
- Ian Milligan, University of Waterloo, CA
- Carmen Noguera, C2DH, University of Luxembourg, LU
- Johannes Paßmann, University of Bochum, GER
- Sebastian Randerath, Bonn University, GE
- Marcus Rommel, CRC, Siegen University, GE
- Valérie Schafer, C2DH, University of Luxembourg, LU
- Inga Schuppener, CRC, Siegen University
- Tatjana Seitz, CRC, Siegen University, GE
- Yarden Skop, CRC, Siegen University, GE
- Helle Strandgaard Jensen, Aarhus University, DK
- Fernando van der Vlist, University of Amsterdam, NL
- Jane Winters, University of London, UK
For questions or comments regarding RESAW, email the webmaster
n.fridzema@rug.nl