Niels Brügger - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Niels Brügger

Internet Histories, Oct 2, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2022

The web and tomorrow's historiography. Since the 1990s the world wide web (or simply, the web... more The web and tomorrow's historiography. Since the 1990s the world wide web (or simply, the web) has been an integral and important part of the communicative infrastructure of modern societies. On the one hand the web has developed as a new medium in its own right, in continuation of other media types such as newspapers, film, radio and television. On the other hand, the web has been intimately entangled in the social, cultural and political life taking place outside of the web. For example, within the realm of politics the web has been essential for the extreme left and right since the mid 1990s (as a platform for discussion and mobilisation as well as for the diffusion of political ideas). And in everyday life an important part of modern youth culture has for a number of years been closely connected to such web phenomena as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

NORDMEDIA, 2013

In this paper, we discuss how methods of archiving data on social network sites such as facebook ... more In this paper, we discuss how methods of archiving data on social network sites such as facebook necessarily reflect deletions (or selections) brought on by technical arrangements and theoretical interests. While collecting facebook data can be accomplished in a number of ways, eg. user diaries, observational notes etc., we discuss in particular the process of archiving the data from the web for analysis and documentation. Web data created in and by the process of archiving can be considered 'reborn' digital material, ie. an unique version of the material which we can never expect to find in the form it actually took on the web (Brügger, 2010a, 2011). Web data created in and by the process of archiving can also be considered both "found", ie. created through unobstrutive measures, and "made" insofar as they require a series of methodological choices and considerations to be meaningfully implemented in a research process (Jensen, 2012; Lomborg, 2012, cf. Brügger 2005). Furthering this body of research, we show in what ways four specific methods of web archiving each in its own way provide both limited and privileged access to the original data and, accordingly, frame what research questions can be answered. The four methods are 1) still image, 2) screen filming, 3) harvesting via API, and 4) web crawling. In addition, it is discussed how broad webarchiving in national web archives affect the possibilities for writing historical studies of, for instance, Facebook in the future, just as the interplay between internet and television archives is debated. In order to illustrate and feed the discussion, we build on an ongoing case study in which we have used all three methods. The case study is about the interplay between real-time internet and live television in the Danish talent programme Voice (Laursen, Sandvik, & Brügger, 2012).

Slagmark - Tidsskrift for idéhistorie, 2018

Oral Histories of the Internet and the Web

Internet Histories, 2019

This conversation brings together leading experts within the field of computational methods. Part... more This conversation brings together leading experts within the field of computational methods. Participants were invited to discuss "Internet histories and computational methods", and the debate focused on issues such as why scholars of internet histories should consider using computational methods, what scholars should be looking out for when they use these methods, how the process of collecting influences computational research, what impedes the use of computational methods, to what an extent internet historians should learn to code (or conversely, if developers should learn about historical methods), what are the most defining moments in the history of computational methods, and, finally, the future of using computational methods for historical studies of the internet.

Preface Writing Cultural History: The Challenge of Radio and Television Theoretical Reflections o... more Preface Writing Cultural History: The Challenge of Radio and Television Theoretical Reflections on Media and Media History The Change of News Structure: Danish Newspapers 1873-1914 When the 'Wireless' Became Radio Reflections on Writing Radio History: An Essay Proximity and Distance: Perspectives for Analysis of TV Fiction and its History National Identity and the Dutch Monarchy in Historical Fiction: Revisioning 'The Family on the Throne'.

Internet Histories, Oct 2, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Sep 16, 2022

The web and tomorrow's historiography. Since the 1990s the world wide web (or simply, the web... more The web and tomorrow's historiography. Since the 1990s the world wide web (or simply, the web) has been an integral and important part of the communicative infrastructure of modern societies. On the one hand the web has developed as a new medium in its own right, in continuation of other media types such as newspapers, film, radio and television. On the other hand, the web has been intimately entangled in the social, cultural and political life taking place outside of the web. For example, within the realm of politics the web has been essential for the extreme left and right since the mid 1990s (as a platform for discussion and mobilisation as well as for the diffusion of political ideas). And in everyday life an important part of modern youth culture has for a number of years been closely connected to such web phenomena as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

NORDMEDIA, 2013

In this paper, we discuss how methods of archiving data on social network sites such as facebook ... more In this paper, we discuss how methods of archiving data on social network sites such as facebook necessarily reflect deletions (or selections) brought on by technical arrangements and theoretical interests. While collecting facebook data can be accomplished in a number of ways, eg. user diaries, observational notes etc., we discuss in particular the process of archiving the data from the web for analysis and documentation. Web data created in and by the process of archiving can be considered 'reborn' digital material, ie. an unique version of the material which we can never expect to find in the form it actually took on the web (Brügger, 2010a, 2011). Web data created in and by the process of archiving can also be considered both "found", ie. created through unobstrutive measures, and "made" insofar as they require a series of methodological choices and considerations to be meaningfully implemented in a research process (Jensen, 2012; Lomborg, 2012, cf. Brügger 2005). Furthering this body of research, we show in what ways four specific methods of web archiving each in its own way provide both limited and privileged access to the original data and, accordingly, frame what research questions can be answered. The four methods are 1) still image, 2) screen filming, 3) harvesting via API, and 4) web crawling. In addition, it is discussed how broad webarchiving in national web archives affect the possibilities for writing historical studies of, for instance, Facebook in the future, just as the interplay between internet and television archives is debated. In order to illustrate and feed the discussion, we build on an ongoing case study in which we have used all three methods. The case study is about the interplay between real-time internet and live television in the Danish talent programme Voice (Laursen, Sandvik, & Brügger, 2012).

Slagmark - Tidsskrift for idéhistorie, 2018

Oral Histories of the Internet and the Web

Internet Histories, 2019

This conversation brings together leading experts within the field of computational methods. Part... more This conversation brings together leading experts within the field of computational methods. Participants were invited to discuss "Internet histories and computational methods", and the debate focused on issues such as why scholars of internet histories should consider using computational methods, what scholars should be looking out for when they use these methods, how the process of collecting influences computational research, what impedes the use of computational methods, to what an extent internet historians should learn to code (or conversely, if developers should learn about historical methods), what are the most defining moments in the history of computational methods, and, finally, the future of using computational methods for historical studies of the internet.

Preface Writing Cultural History: The Challenge of Radio and Television Theoretical Reflections o... more Preface Writing Cultural History: The Challenge of Radio and Television Theoretical Reflections on Media and Media History The Change of News Structure: Danish Newspapers 1873-1914 When the 'Wireless' Became Radio Reflections on Writing Radio History: An Essay Proximity and Distance: Perspectives for Analysis of TV Fiction and its History National Identity and the Dutch Monarchy in Historical Fiction: Revisioning 'The Family on the Throne'.

The World Wide Web has now been in use for more than 20 years. From early browsers to today’s pri... more The World Wide Web has now been in use for more than 20 years. From early browsers to today’s principal source of information, entertainment and much else, the Web is an integral part of our daily lives, to the extent that some people believe ‘if it’s not online, it doesn’t exist’. While this statement
is not entirely true, it is becoming increasingly accurate, and re ects the Web’s role as an indispensable treasure trove. It is curious, therefore, that historians and social scientists have thus far made little use of the Web to investigate historical patterns of culture and society, despite making good use of letters, novels, newspapers, radio and television programmes, and other pre-digital artefacts. This volume argues that now is the time to ask what we have learnt from the Web so far. The 12 chapters explore this topic from a number of interdisciplinary angles – through histories of national web spaces and case studies of di erent government and media domains
– as well as an Introduction that provides an overview of this exciting new area of research.