Prosopographical databases are an increasingly core part of the study of the past, with their ability to provide easily accessible information on, and far better overview assessments of, large sets of historical people. Collating information on a person-byperson basis can give us far better tools to evaluate past societies, and the move towards searchable online prosopography systems has been a huge advance in this field.

A number of technical challenges remain in the world of prosopography. How best to link between online databases and share information between them, whether underlying systems can be made more generic, and what models and linkages to use within any given database system are all current concerns. The Uni Vienna Digital Humanities team are hosting this three day hackathon to look at these and other current issues in prosopography, bringing together a range of programmers and prosopographers with the intention of taking steps towards developing technical solutions to these issues.

We are inviting all interested digital humanists with an inclination for coding to partake in this event in Vienna, which will run from Feb 13 to Feb 15 with a meal for participants on the 15th. We are able to offer small bursaries to offset travelling costs.

If you would like to attend, please send a message to james.baillie@univie.ac.at with “Prosopography Hackathon” in the subject by 31 December 2018, stating your current institutional affiliation (if any) and your motivation for participating in the hackathon. Please also specify whether you are applying for a bursary.

Yours truly,

Uni-Wien DH Team

Tara Andrews, James Baillie, Mária Vargha, and Maxim Romanov