DISSINET
@dissinet.bsky.social
The Dissident Networks Project (DISSINET), an ERC-funded inititative at Masaryk University’s Centre for the Digital Research of Religion, applies SNA, GIS, and computational text analysis to explore dissident and inquisitorial cultures in medieval Europe.
There are 4 days left to apply for this paid research position! 🗓️ Applications are due Monday, 25 May.
DISSINET@dissinet.bsky.social · 5mo agoInterested in the computational analysis of medieval hate speech? 🧑💻👹 Apply for a salaried visiting researcher position at DISSINET! 🗓️ Applications are due 25 May 2026.
Interested in the computational analysis of medieval hate speech? 🧑💻👹 Apply for a salaried visiting researcher position at DISSINET! 🗓️ Applications are due 25 May 2026.
OP JAK CoRe welcomes visiting researchers for 3-8 month stays
The Johannes Amos Commenius OP project “Beyond Security: Role of Conflict in Resilience-Building” invites doctoral, postdoctoral or senior researchers to apply for 3–8‑month salaried visiting stay, f...
dissinet.cz
How can digital humanists capture structured data from texts without losing the nuance that comes with close reading? DISSINET's solution: Computer-Assisted Semantic Text Modelling (CASTEMO), an approach that not only captures informational content but also its discursive and contextual embedding.
Coding a heresy trial, one clause at a time
Our new article published in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities uses the trial record of Bernard-Oth of Niort and his family to demonstrate the benefits of Computer-Assisted Semantic Text Modelling...
dissinet.cz
How can digital methods help us study underprivileged groups in past societies? 🗓️ Join us Wed., 25 March at 10 am for the lecture "From Archives to Algorithms: Digital Methods for Studying Imperial Commoners of Brazil and West Africa (1640-1822)" by Agata Błoch of the Polish Academy of Sciences!
CEDRR talk: From Archives to Algorithms: Digital Methods for Studying Imperial Commoners of Brazil and West Africa (1640-1822) | Dissident Networks Project (DISSINET)
Join the DISSINET team for another CEDRR talk as Agata Bloch from the Polish Academy of Sciences demonstrates how algorithms, archival research, and critical digital humanities approaches transform ou...
dissinet.cz
📖 New publication announcement! 📖 Our study published in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities uses network and temporal data from Peter Zwicker's inquisition in Stettin (1393–94) to examine how information gathered from deponent testimonies affected subsequent interrogations.
How inquisitive was medieval inquisition?
Kaarel Sikk, David Zbíral, and Reima Välimäki have published a new study in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities that examines how Peter Zwicker's inquisition in Stettin (1393–94) utilised informatio...
dissinet.cz
🎓 Funded Postdoc! 🎓 DISSINET is offering support for MSCA postdoc applications to work on our digital humanities project using large‑scale computational methods to study medieval hate speech and anti‑heretical discourse. 🗓️ Preliminary proposals are due 16 March 2026! 🔁 Please repost and share.
Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Support in submitting a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoc application (MSCA-PF), expression of interest by 16 March 2026
Doctoral graduates are invited to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action postdoctoral fellowship (MSCA-PF) within our digital humanities project using large‑scale computational methods to study med...
dissinet.cz
🧑🎓 Funded Ph.D. Opportunity! 🧑🎓 M.A. graduates are invited to apply for fully funded Ph.D. studies within our digital humanities project using large‑scale computational methods to study medieval hate speech and anti‑heretical discourse. 🗓️ Proposals are due 16 March 2026! 🔁 Please repost and share.
Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Funded Ph.D. opportunity, deadline for expressions of interest: 16 March 2026
M.A. graduates are invited to apply for fully funded Ph.D. studies within our digital humanities project using large‑scale computational methods to study medieval hate speech and anti‑heretical discou...
dissinet.cz
📖 New publication announcement! 📖 Our study in Historical Research applies computational semantic modeling to systematically analyse hundreds of crime summaries from Peter Seila’s 1241–42 inquisition register, revealing how the voices of inquisitor, notary and suspects were interwoven.
How do trial records tell stories of heresy? A computational analysis of narrative in Peter Seila's 1241-42 inquisition register
Recently published in Historical Research, a study by Robert L. J. Shaw, Tomáš Hampejs, and David Zbíral applies computational semantic modeling to Peter Seila’s 1241–42 inquisition register. By analy...
dissinet.cz
Our DISSICON dataset (which stands for DISSINET Conceptual Network) is available on Zenodo, offering an ontology for analysing medieval inquisition records and other trial documents. It formalizes actions, concepts, and their relationships to support computational analyses of historical material.
DISSICON: DISSINET lexico-semantic dataset now online
We have published the DISSICON dataset (which stands for DISSINET Conceptual Network), offering an ontology for analysing medieval inquisition records and other trial documents. It formalizes actions,...
dissinet.cz
📖 New publication announcement! 📖 Our new study in Reti Medievali Rivista challenges old ideas about the roots of religious dissent in medieval Bologna. Rather than being related to economic status or craft affiliation, heresy clustered in specific neighborhoods due to social and spatial networks.
Occupation, socioeconomic status, and dissidence in medieval Bologna revisited
In an innovative new article published in Reti Medievali Rivista, Katia Riccardo, David Zbíral, and Zoltán Brys provide new insights into the occupation and socioeconomic status of religious dissident...
dissinet.cz
Large Language Models (LLMs) have invaded various aspects of our lives 🤖 🧠 Despite understandable skepticism, LLMs can serve as valuable tools for research-oriented information extraction from historical texts 📜 Read our methodological reflections on working with LLMs: dissinet.cz/news/article...
Extracting data from historical texts using Large Language Models
Large Language Models (LLMs) hold significant promise for extracting information from historical texts. If used appropriately, they can speed up the research process, compensating for resource limitat...
dissinet.cz
DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Go to dissinet.cz/news/article... to find out more. Proposals are due 31 July 2025! Please share with anyone who might be interested.
Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Funded Ph.D. opportunity, deadline 31 July 2025
DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies focusing on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Send us a preliminary res...
dissinet.cz
How did medieval inquisitors weigh the extent of heretics' guilt? ⚖️ Have a look at our interactive visualisation of the relationship between heretical crimes and sentencing in the register of Peter Seila (1241-2). dissinet.cz/data-snapsho...
Variation and order in the stories of guilt in Peter Seila's register: From Seeing to Belief
The inquisitional register of Peter Seila (1241-2, Languedoc) is evidence of a thorough investigation trying to weigh the extent of guilt carefully. Allow detailed counting of individual misdeeds of 6...
dissinet.cz
How can historians benefit from digital methods without sacrificing the rigours of close reading and source criticism? Read our recently published article in Acta Historica Tallinnensia to find out! dissinet.cz/news/article...
DISSINET publishes most comprehensive statement of its research agenda
The article recently published in Acta Historica Tallinnensia argues for the importance of integrating digital history methods with source criticism and highlights DISSINET's contributions to this fie...
dissinet.cz
Reminder: join us tomorrow at 🕓 4 pm CET!
DISSINET@dissinet.bsky.social · last yr.If you are interested in the study of generative network models, join us next week on 29 May for a talk by Daniel Gotthardt of the University of Hamburg, who will present on "Analyzing non-local influence processes in dynamic networks". Click here for the Zoom link: dissinet.cz/news/events-...
The popular online publication Aktuálně.cz has used our comprehensive dataset of witchcraft trials in Czech lands to create a new map! Their article also features several other helpful visualisations and findings based on our data. Click here to read more: dissinet.cz/news/article...
DISSINET Data on Witchcraft Trials featured on Aktuálně.cz
Our comprehensive dataset of witchcraft trials in Czech lands has been utilised by the popular online publication Aktuálně.cz to create a new map.
dissinet.cz
If you are interested in the study of generative network models, join us next week on 29 May for a talk by Daniel Gotthardt of the University of Hamburg, who will present on "Analyzing non-local influence processes in dynamic networks". Click here for the Zoom link: dissinet.cz/news/events-...
Did the people investigated by the inquisition in Bologna form a few cohesive communities, or are they better understood as many small groups or individuals who drew the attention of the inquisitors separately? To find out, take a look at our most recent data snapshot! dissinet.cz/data-snapsho...
Only one more day left to apply!
DISSINET@dissinet.bsky.social · last yr.DISSINET is offering support for MSCA postdoc applications on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Go to dissinet.cz/news/article... to find out more. Preliminary proposals are due 15 April 2025! Please share with anyone who might be interested.
The deadline is tomorrow!
DISSINET@dissinet.bsky.social · last yr.DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Go to dissinet.cz/news/article... to find out more. Proposals are due 15 April 2025! Please share with anyone who might be interested.
One of the most common ways inquisitors determined whom to investigate was by asking deponents to incriminate others. Interestingly, men and women exhibited different patterns when providing incriminations. Find out more in our recent study published in PLOS One: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Gender, kinship, and other social predictors of incrimination in the inquisition register of Bologna (1291–1310): Results from an exponential random graph model
The medieval inquisition of heresy strongly relied on depositions, where witnesses were expected to report on the crimes of others and oneself. The resulting patterns of incrimination could be influen...
journals.plos.org
DISSINET is offering support for MSCA postdoc applications on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Go to dissinet.cz/news/article... to find out more. Preliminary proposals are due 15 April 2025! Please share with anyone who might be interested.
Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Support in submitting a Marie Skłodowska Curie postdoc application (MSCA-PF)
DISSINET is searching for Ph.D. graduates inerested in applying for a post-doc position focusing on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Send us a preliminary re...
dissinet.cz
DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Go to dissinet.cz/news/article... to find out more. Proposals are due 15 April 2025! Please share with anyone who might be interested.
Medieval anti-heretical hate speech: Funded Ph.D. opportunity
DISSINET is offering support to M.A. graduates applying for fully funded Ph.D. studies focusing on medieval anti-heretical hate speech using digital and quantitative methods. Send us a preliminary res...
dissinet.cz
Our principal investigator @davidzbiral.bsky.social and research fellow K. Suba recently investigated the Cathar practice of endura. The results are available as a pre-print on Zenodo: zenodo.org/records/1373....
David Zbíral@davidzbiral.bsky.social · last yr.It was exciting to delve again in data about endura, Cathar pre-mortal fasting (ca. 1275-1325), with K. Suba from our @dissinet.bsky.social, reviewing contexts and demographics. Not exactly religious suicide (not always in any case), no normal fasting either. Pre-print: zenodo.org/records/1373...
