Maastricht University gets new Virtual Knowledge Studio
20 Nov 2007
What does digitalization mean for the social sciences?
The Virtual Knowledge Studio (VKS) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam has opened a new site at Maastricht University. The studio was established to study the impact of ICT on the humanities and social sciences. Sally Wyatt, Professor of Digital Cultures at Maastricht, has been appointed Director of the new studio. The Virtual Knowledge Studio now has sites at Maastricht University and at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Both sites are joint ventures between KNAW and the two universities.
Sally Wyatt studied in Canada and the UK (MA in Theory of Economic Policy & Planning) and obtained her PhD in Science and Technology Studies from the Maastricht University (Netherlands). The title of her PhD thesis was ‘Technology’s Arrow, Developing Information Networks for Public Administration in Britain and the United States’.
Two projects
The Maastricht Studio opens with two projects. The first looks into how academic disciplines and social groupings deal with information gathered from simulations. Simulated models are constantly improving and are playing an increasingly important role in technology decision-making. But is this justified when taking decisions that will have great social consequences?
The second project builds on existing research by Maastricht University into the cultural heritage of Maastricht. Experts and residents work together to collect the history of Maastricht and conserve it using digital technologies. The project investigates how digital archives, compiled jointly with residents, can be prepared for future use by historians and urban planners. Does this kind of digital cultural biography offer new prospects for a town?
New questions and answers
“The Maastricht Studio is an exciting development for Maastricht University and for KNAW,” explains its Director, Sally Wyatt. “Scientists can come to us with their fundamental research questions on the new data flows being generated by digital technologies. While this will produce some new questions, it will produce new answers too.”