Editorial: Visualizing big culture and history data

Florian Windhager, Steffen Koch, Sander Münster, Eva Mayr

Abstract: Visualizing big, multi-sourced data of the past is not simply a technical challenge, it is an intellectual and 10 interpretive one. While early efforts in digital humanities focused on digitizing and representing discrete 11 collections, the growing complexity of the field manifests in projects going beyond individual datasets.12 Nowadays, scholars connect local case studies, create contextual linkages, and connect microhistorical 13 details to macrohistorical frameworks, as seen in large-scale initiatives such as the European Data Space The visualization of cultural and historical data also raises ethical questions. Visualizations are not 27 neutral; they reflect the decisions, biases, and goals of both their creators and the initial data collectors.They foreground certain perspectives and narratives, obscuring others, and play a major role in shaping 29 how audiences (scholars, students, and the public) engage with the past. This makes visualization design 30 not just a technical endeavor but also a deeply critical and reflective one.This special issue explores these intersections of technology, theory, and interpretation. It showcases 32 pioneering works combining humanities scholarship with computational methods and visualization to 33 uncover patterns, connections, and narratives within complex cultural datasets. Together, they offer insights 34 into how the field can reshape the ways we study, share, and understand cultural and historical knowledge.