Nederlab makes 12 centuries of humanities searchable

24 March 2015

The first version of Nederlab, a website with all digitised Dutch texts from about 800 AD to now was officially opened on 13 March 2015 by Antal van den Bosch, professor at Radboud University Nijmegen. Nederlab is funded by the NWO programme Investment Subsidy NWO Large.

The opening was part of the official starting meeting of CLARIAH, a research programme that brings together a digital infrastructure with large collections of data and software from different humanities disciplines.

Nederlab

Nederlab contains a large collection of Dutch texts since about 800 AD. The texts can be easily searched and analysed as a result of which changes in the language and culture can be investigated.

In Nederlab researchers and students can search all digitised Dutch texts from about 800 AD to now and analyse these using user-friendly text analysis software. Nederlab therefore provides a laboratory for research into the changing patterns in Dutch language and culture.

Nicoline van der Sijs, professor of Historical Linguistics of Dutch in the Digital World at Radboud University Nijmegen and project leader of Nederlab (from the Meertens Institute) previously said about this project: 'Nederlab must close the gap between the research methods from the digital world and the average humanities researcher, so to speak. It should become possible to tackle both simple and complex research questions using Nederlab. So not only: when did this word or that one first occur? But also: what was written where, when and by who about female emancipation?'

CLARIAH

In July 2014, CLARIAH (Common Lab Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities) received 12 million euros in funding from the NWO programme National Roadmap Large-Scale research facilities.

Further information

• Nederlab - Laboratory for research into the changing patterns in Dutch language and culture (Dutch)
• CLARIAH, Common Lab Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities

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