Toolbox

Published

2 September 2026

Modified

22 September 2026

Everything the Lab installs, calls or relies on, roughly in the order it comes up. Items tagged install need to be on your own laptop.

The Intro keeps a complementary list of tools and reference works.

Programming Historian
tutorial
essential

Peer-reviewed tutorials on digital methods, written for humanists. The place to go when you want to go further than a session did.

15 Sept 2026
GitHub
tool
essential

Hosting for repositories, issues and Pages. Apply for the free GitHub Education benefits with your university address.

22 Sept 2026
VSCodium
editor
install

A build of VS Code without Microsoft’s telemetry and branding. Our default editor from Session 3. Open a folder, not a file.

29 Sept 2026
Obsidian
notes
install

Note archive built on a plain folder of Markdown files on your own disk. Linked notes, tags, plugins — including a Zotero integration.

29 Sept 2026
Markdown basics (GitHub)
reference

The reference for GitHub Flavored Markdown. Everything on this site is written in it.

29 Sept 2026
Git
tool
install

Version control. Install it in Session 3; you will use it every week afterwards. The Pro Git book is free and the first three chapters are enough.

29 Sept 2026
draw.io / diagrams.net
modelling

Free diagram editor that runs in the browser and saves locally. Used for conceptual data models in Session 4.

6 Oct 2026
QuickDBD
modelling

Type a schema in shorthand, get a diagram and DDL. Fast way from a sketch to actual tables.

6 Oct 2026
SQLite
database
install

A complete relational database in one file, no server. The replacement for the spreadsheet you should not be using.

6 Oct 2026
DB Browser for SQLite
database
install

Graphical front end for SQLite: create tables, import CSV, run queries. The gentle way in.

6 Oct 2026
CIDOC-CRM
ontology

The event-centric reference model for cultural heritage. Session 5.

13 Oct 2026
Records in Contexts (RiC-O)
ontology

The ICA’s ontology for archival description, replacing the single-hierarchy view with a graph. Session 5.

13 Oct 2026
IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM)
ontology

Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item — the conceptual model behind modern library cataloguing. Session 5.

13 Oct 2026
Zotero Web API
api

Retrieve your library programmatically. Create a key in your Zotero settings first. Session 6.

20 Oct 2026
IIIF
api
standard

The interoperability standard for images and their presentation. If an institution offers IIIF, use it.

20 Oct 2026
Cultural heritage API examples
api

Collected examples of APIs offered by cultural heritage institutions, gathered for the Lab.

20 Oct 2026
TEI Guidelines
standard

The reference for encoding texts. Large; learn to navigate it rather than read it. Session 7.

27 Oct 2026
Omeka
publication

Publication platform for collections, built on Dublin Core. Session 8.

3 Nov 2026
Analysing a bibliography with Gephi
tutorial

A worked example from RISE Basel: turning a bibliography into a network and analysing it.

3 Nov 2026
Google Colab
notebook

Jupyter notebooks in the browser with free compute. Convenient — but do not put sensitive or licensed material in it.

10 Nov 2026
Noto (EPFL / SWITCH)
notebook

The Swiss academic JupyterHub. Use this instead of Colab when data protection matters.

10 Nov 2026
OpenRefine
cleaning
install

Cleaning and reconciling messy data, with a replayable operation history. Runs locally; your data stays on your machine. Session 10.

17 Nov 2026
eScriptorium
htr

Segmentation, transcription and HTR model training, built on Kraken. Session 11.

24 Nov 2026
Kraken
htr

The OCR/HTR engine underneath eScriptorium. Useful on its own from the command line.

24 Nov 2026
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