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The workshop "Thinking in Practice" aimed to integrate both theoretical and practical methodologies. Therefore, we organizers decided to combine free discussions with more playful moments, along with some focused confrontations. These playful moments were intended to establish each workshop participant's position with respect to modelling, as well as to grasp and stress the most salient concepts emerging during the different sessions and discussions. This was in fact a purposeful methodological choice that allowed us to correlate the use of certain metaphors as models for the discussion, and as paths and guidelines for the various focus-exercises.

This volume presents an exploration of Digital Humanities (DH), a field focused on the reciprocal transformation of digital technologies and humanities scholarship. Central to DH research is the practice of modelling, which involves translating intricate knowledge systems into computational models. This book addresses a fundamental query: How can an effective language be developed to conceptualize and guide modelling in DH?

Modelling, with its historical roots, carries multifaceted meanings influenced by various disciplinary contexts. Modelling Between Digital and Humanities innovatively connects DH with the historical tradition of model-based thinking in the humanities, cultural studies, and the sciences. It endeavors to reshape interpretative frameworks by contextualizing DH's modelling practices within a broader conceptual landscape.

Through an exploration of digital, visual and data models, the book asserts that DH holds the potential to be a cornerstone of a novel cultural literacy paradigm. By probing the interplay between technology and thought, the book ultimately positions DH as a catalyst for transformative cultural insights.

This Supplement of Historical Social Research stems from the contributions on the topic of modelling presented at the workshop "Thinking in Practice", held at Wahn Manor House in Cologne on January 19-20, 2017. With Digital Humanities as starting point, practical examples of model building from different disciplines are considered, with the aim of contributing to the dialogue on modelling from several perspectives. Combined with theoretical considerations, this collection illustrates how the process of modelling is one of coming to know, in which the purpose of each modelling activity and the form in which models are expressed has to be taken into consideration in tandem. The modelling processes presented in this volume belong to specific traditions of scholarly and practical thinking as well as to specific contexts of production and use of models. The claim that supported the project workshop was indeed that establishing connections between different traditions of and approaches toward modelling is vital, whether these connections are complementary or intersectional. The workshop proceedings address an underpinning
goal of the research project itself, namely that of examining the nature of the epistemological questions in the different traditions and how they relate to the nature of the modelled objects and the models being created. This collection is an attempt to move beyond simple representational views on modelling in order to understand modelling processes as scholarly and cultural phenomena as such.

In this introduction of the HSR Supplement "Models and Modelling between Digital and Humanities - A Multidisciplinary Perspective" we refrain from providing a normative definition of 'model' and 'modelling' and rather attempt at encircling the current state of the art. In the first instance this chapter provides a very brief overview on modelling as intended as a research strategy applied to scientific fields in the 20th-21st centuries. This overview is followed by a short introduction to modelling in digital humanities, focusing on how modelling has developed into a practical strategy and how it has been theorised. The third part of the introduction presents the scope of the project "Modelling between digital and humanities: Thinking in practice". The aim of a project workshop held in 2017, of which this volume collects the proceedings, was to present a multitude of modelling practices from various disciplines together with different theoretical frameworks. The fourth part of this introduction offers an overview of each of the papers in this volume. Finally, a fifth section constitutes the first item of the proceedings as it reproduces an adaptation of the dialogue which was performed to introduce the main topics of the workshop and the scope of the project at the event itself. It serves to illustrate the way we organised the workshop and how the exchanges amongst participants were facilitated.

We here introduce the latest issue of Historical Social Research Supplement (No. 31). In "Models and Modelling between Digital and Humanities - A Multidisciplinary Perspective" we refrain from providing a normative definition of 'model' and 'modelling' and rather attempt at encircling the current state of the art. In the first instance this chapter provides a very brief overview on modelling as intended as a research strategy applied to scientific fields in the 20th-21st centuries. This overview is followed by a short introduction to modelling in digital humanities, focusing on how modelling has developed into a practical strategy and how it has been theorised. The third part of the introduction presents the scope of the project "Modelling between digital and humanities: Thinking in practice". The aim of a project workshop held in 2017, of which HSR Supplement 31 collects the proceedings, was to present a multitude of modelling practices from various disciplines together with different theoretical frameworks. The fourth part of this introduction offers an overview of each of the papers in that volume. Finally, a fifth section constitutes the first item of the proceedings as it reproduces an adaptation of the dialogue which was performed to introduce the main topics of the workshop and the scope of the project at the event itself. It serves to illustrate the way we organised the workshop and how the exchanges amongst participants were facilitated.