As “some” people have commented (thanks LK), I have missed my once-a-month mark of updating my journal by quite some time. Reason being that I was occupied by a conference, that went on the entire last week. I applied with a one-day workshop on computational methods to study source code. I collected a few important takeaways from the workshop, and one personal one.

The conference in question was DHd 2025, the largest conference of the German-speaking Digital Humanities, which invites scholars from Switzerland, Germany and Austria every year. I was happy to be present with my workshop, because, besides it, there were no topics of interest to me present. This way, I was at least able to meet and talk with people, that share an interest in working with source code. That is not to imply that the conference was boring or not of any relevance. It just means, that I’m digging in some niche corners. (Reflection)

I started organising the workshop “Quellcodekritik aus der Ferne” (page 70) some month ago. I ended up documenting most of it on a dedicated repository a dedicated repository (which is in German of course). Roughly summarized, the workshop had four blocks - two with theoretical inputs, and two for practical exercises. I was lucky enough to persuade Vera Piontkowitz, Stefan Höltgen, and Daniel Gammenthaler to collaborate and bring in their expertises and perspective. Without them the workshop wouldn’t have been half the fun. (Takeaways)

Reflection

Despite having a good time at the conference, it cost me a massive amount of energy. Disruption of routines, sleeping in another place, being social all day long, not eating properly, sitting too much left with more-than-average migraine. I tried to balance that out with engaging with the conference as little as necessary. After my workshop, I visited only one or two panels per day (out of up to four). I walked a lot and tried to enjoy the sun as well.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t have missed it. I got much good feedback after the workshop, and it opened the door to some serious interesting discussions. At one moment I felt ashamed to admit feeling like I probably profited the most from the day I organized. People assured me that this counts as a very good outcome, so I take that as something positive. I have a bunch of Takeaways that I need to weave into my research now.

The thing that cost me most of my energy was myself. As usual, I became “stressed” weeks in advance. Something I experienced as something negative again and again, and which actually led me to get checked for mental health after finishing my Master. Only this time I figured that I’m not really stressed. At least not in the sense of being late for the train, having lost my keys and trying to find them, knowing that friends are about to become parents, or briefly before a presentation. Being able to reflect on it, the weeks before the workshop felt like a negative hyperfocus. The workshop and its organization occupied my focus from the moment I got up until I went to bed. I talked with a neurospicy friend and the description of a negative hyperfocus resonated a lot with them. So I guess that’s that for now.

I’m quite happy with the outcome of the workshop. The scheduling and scope of the inputs worked very well.

The first practice block worked quite well along the line of engaging on a qualitative level with source code. We worked in groups on

Engaging the participants with a qualitative reading of source code took of the rough edge and showed them, that code actually can be a source for humanistic or heuristic inquiry. That is a fundamental point in critical code studies.

The second practice block worked out as well, but I had a hard time preparing adequate material and exercises, since I didn’t know how it will actually attend. It turned out that most participants where in the corner of simply being interested. A key point of the discussion that I wanted to lance, is the problem of gaining technical expertise in order to study source code. Which isn’t the easiest feat to accomplish. The exercises I prepared were

Most of the participants went for working with AI/LLMs, which I didn’t create cause for celebration, but at least it gave them some positive experiences. Some went for the regex which made me very happy. Working with regex is like doing taxes - always a moment of joy.

Last but not least, I need to work on my transitions. Being low in energy, I wasn’t able to lead from block to block, or into the discussions before lunch and as a final wrap up. That is something I can improve for a next time. It also left me unsure if the participants gained much from the workshop. But, after somebody told me they want to include the workshop material in their teaching, and somebody else already organising a follow-up event, I can be sure that it worked for at least some of them.

Takeaways

Quellcode Kritik aus der Ferne?

Following a list of condensed questions that I deem relevant for my dissertation.