The IAHR 2015 is over, and the first IAHR THATCamp took place in Erfurt. Given the huge competition of concurrent panels, there was quite a bit of interest in discussing the use of technology in the study of religion.

Instead of summarizing all of the lively discussions, I just want to use this post to collect links to the different projects that were mentioned during the session:

(social) media projects

• Nieuw wij community
• Religious Studies Project podcast
• Marginalia collaborative blog

Text analysis

• Voyant Tools text analysis suite

Feel free to add links or remarks in the comments!

A major branch of the much discussed so-called digital humanities is computational text analysis. This quantitative approach to the study of texts requires—preferably large—collections of digital (or: digitized) texts.

Since an important branch of religious studies is also textual scholarship, it might be worthwhile to discuss if and how religious studies can benefit from these new methods. But it is also important to discuss the prerequisites and implications of such approaches.

In the session, I would like to give a very short introduction to computational analysis, but then mainly discuss with the participants:

• What computational methods are already applied in religious studies?
• What new methodological developments are potentially fruitful for religious studies?
• Which digital collections of religious texts exist, and how can they be used?
• How can the accessibility and interoperability of text collections be enhanced?

From August 23–29 2015, the conference of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) will take place in Erfurt, Germany. As part of this conference, a THATCamp is planned. It will take place on two days: Monday, August 24, 1:30-3 p.m. and Friday, August 28, 1:30-3 p.m. at CT (the white tent at the university entrance).

The THATCamp is an open space: There will be no fixed schedule until the day of the camp itself. Instead, the camp provides an opportunity for people interested in the use of technology in the study of religions to exchange about any topic they like.

You can all contribute to the camp and make sure the topics you care about are addressed.

1. If you want to contribute to the program, please create an account. (Even if you just want to attend, you may like to register. All registered participants will appear on the campers page, so you can see who else is joining.)
2. Once your registration is confirmed, you can propose a session. Due to the limited time, sessions will probably be ~10–20 minutes long. If you propose a session, please be ready to facilitate it.
3. Spread the word about the THATCamp and your session. If you use twitter, you can use the hashtags #thatcamp #iahr2015.
4. Come to the camp, no matter if you proposed a session or are just curious. Help set the agenda and have a nice time!