en4/2 | Research Strands / Virtual Biographies
Virtuelle Biographik
The projects in the research strand ‘Virtual Biography’ are a continuation of the theoretical reflections and the pilot projects of the Institute’s first project phase in the area of digital biography.
As a critical engagement with traditional forms of biographical narration, which aim to create a closed subject whose story can be narrated in a linear way, this research strand is dedicated to developing new, innovative forms of biography and alternative modes of biographical representation. The first projects in this research strand were the Hugo von Hofmannsthal-Wiki and the Ernst Jandl-DVD. The approaches pioneered there are now being developed into models of virtual biography and extended conceptually and theoretically. In the meantime, work on the knowledge platform Biographeme has been finalized. It is an innovative, adaptable and developable toolkit for biographical narration and serves as a basis for the institute’s current virtual projects.
The close relationship of the Institute to archives, both on an institutional level and in our work, including the study of papers, manuscripts, and audio-visual material, allows the materiality of biographical sources to become a central aspect. The virtual biography of Karl Kraus brings together parts of the Kraus archive that have previously been difficult to access, and is structured to reflect the interacting biographical roles of this writer. The bio(biblio)graphy of Ernst Jandl chooses a related, yet very different biographical approach to large data sets, putting the spotlight on the concept of biobibliography.
