War documentation and archiving are closely tied to methodological reflections on the production of knowledge. Answers to the questions about how to collect materials, how to preserve them, and how to make them accessible shape the epistemic landscape that will enable certain projects in the future. From decisions about the use of specific methods, the chronology, and geography of data collection – to the completeness of metadata descriptions and the flexibility of digital solutions, this is an often invisible yet crucial aspect of academic routines that this research focus builds on. Recognizing the importance of the content of the collected data, the emphasis of scientific inquiry shifts to studying the development of research infrastructure surrounding materials of “the most documented war”.
This research focus is informed by collaborative and participatory science. Rooted in traditions of digital humanities, critical archival studies, and indigenous methodologies, it attempts to outline the contours of communities that emerge around documentation projects. It also proposes a chronology for which the collection of material is only the first stage of the work, thus offering a view of the social life of documentation projects.
Two projects constitute the core of this research focus. Taras Nazaruk offers an in-depth study of assembling the Telegram Archive, and Dr. Natalia Otrishchenko builds on her experience of conducting and preserving testimonies of war and displacement. Both works refer to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a starting point, but they are connected to research practices before 2022. They also construct a chronology of temporal connections in which the future becomes a significant reference point.
Within this research focus, two international network projects are being implemented: "Documenting Russia's War on Ukraine" (LivArch) and "Researching the Collecting, Preserving, Analyzing, and Disclosing of Ukrainian War Testimonies" (UCORE). UCORE aims to create a digital environment for a transnational database of war testimonies and contribute to a diverse culture of memory in Ukraine. It is implemented in cooperation of the Center for Urban History with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH). LivArch seeks to improve the methods and theories of collecting, preserving, and enriching digital sources while advancing responsible representation, publication, reuse, and long-term archiving. This is a joint initiative of the Herder Institute for East Central European Studies (Marburg), Leibniz Institute for European History (Mainz), Center for Urban History (Lviv), Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (Fairfax), Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Marburg Center for Digital Culture and Infrastructure (MCDCI), University of Marburg, and Justus Liebig University Giessen. This research focus is also reflected in the symposium series "The Most Documented War," which the Center for Urban History has been implementing in cooperation with partners since 2023.
Credits
Cover Image: photo by Viacheslav Ratynskyi / Visual Documentation of War collection / Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History
