Programme of the symposium ‘Contemporary history in the digital age’ organised by the University of Luxembourg (Master’s in Contemporary European History) and the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) in October 2009.

Marianne Backes, Director of the CVCE, Rolf Tarrach, Rector of the University of Luxembourg, and René Leboutte from the University of Luxembourg announce the programme for the two-day symposium on ‘Contemporary history in the digital age’.

In his presentation, Marin Dacos, Director of the Centre for Open Electronic Publishing (CLEO), emphasises the idea of developing a cyberinfrastructure for the field of history, explaining the basis of this field and its need to adapt to the digital world.

In his presentation, Gino Roncaglia from Tuscia University sets out the various principles and tools of Web 2.0 and describes what it has to offer for new researchers.

In this first panel for the first part of the symposium, chaired by Philippe Rygiel from the University of Paris I, Andreas Bagias from the Archive and Documentation Centre (CARDOC) describes how the European Parliament’s archives are organised and used in an electronic environment, Annick Batard from the University of Paris XIII criticises the Web’s influence over the French mainstream written press, and Tsuriel Rashi from Lifshitz College of Education looks at the importance of building a digital memory to combat revisionism.

In this second panel for the first part of the symposium, chaired by David Bodenhamer from Indiana University Purdue–University Indianapolis, Aurore François from the Université Catholique de Louvain presents the Just-His.be portal on the socio-political history of justice administration in Belgium from 1795 to 2005, and Patrick Peccatte from Soft Experience describes the treatment of a photographic archive on the Battle of Normandy. Stefan Halikowski-Smith from Swansea University then looks at the issue of European national libraries and the digitization of history. Finally, Eva Deak from Central European University discusses the example of ‘Parallel Archive’ in managing and sharing non-published primary sources.

In this first panel for the second part of the symposium, chaired by René Leboutte from the University of Luxembourg, Genaro Oliveira from the University of Auckland looks at the development of the various software applications that offer new ways of writing history. Gerben Zaagsma from University College London then discusses the treatment of Jewish European history on the Internet. Finally, Olivier Le Deuff from Lyon 3 University examines the use of new tools, particularly Web 2.0, for the contemporary writing of history.

In this second panel for the second part of the symposium, chaired by Serge Noiret from the European University Institute, Tito Menzani from the University of Bologna discusses how the Internet can be used in the field of historiography, looking particularly at the historiography of the Italian cooperative movement. Alain Michel from the University of Evry-Val d’Essonne and Shadia Kilouchi from the French National Centre for the Digitization of Visual Sources (CN2SV) look at the cooperation between three institutions for a study on the Renault plant in Billancourt. Philippe Rygiel from the University of Paris I analyses the dissemination of historical knowledge in the Web 2.0 era. Finally, David Bodenhamer from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis addresses the question of the spatialisation of history and its educational applications.

In this first panel for the third part of the symposium, chaired by René Leboutte from the University of Luxembourg, Paul Arthur from Umeå University compares digital history in Australia and New Zealand. Marie-Pierre Besnard from Saint-Lô IUT speaks about the experience of the e-museum. Cristina Blanco Sio-Lopez from the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) and Milagros García Pérez from the Local Studies Library in A Coruña then discuss the cooperation between the Local Studies Library and researchers in contemporary history. Finally, Grégory Miura from the University of Bordeaux 3 and the Human Sciences Observatory for Digital Worlds (OMNSH) looks at Web archaeology as an auxiliary science of contemporary history.

In this second panel for the third part of the symposium, chaired by Marianne Backes, Director of the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE), Richard Hacken from Brigham Young University considers the development of online documentation in contemporary history over the past twelve years. Enrica Salvatori from the University of Pisa discusses teaching history with and without the Internet.

In her conclusion, Marianne Backes, Director of the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE), looks back at the contributions made during the two days of the symposium, particularly the idea of a manifesto as a starting point for an interdisciplinary reflection on new technologies and contemporary history.