The world in Norwegian: 

A digital exploration of bibliomigration and reviews of translated fiction (2023-2025).

Background

The project “The world in Norwegian” will contribute to library development and infrastructure in the field of Digital Humanities (DH) and aims to fill a scientific void in the field of Translation Studies through methodological exploration and empirical data.

Digital methods are increasingly explored in the context of academic libraries, but relatively few studies combine DH methods with Translation Studies and library development, especially in case studies involving minor languages like Norwegian.

“The world in Norwegian” is a collaboration project over a two-year period between the NTNU library, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (HiNN), Østfold University College (HiØ) and the DH-lab at the National library. The project is funded by Bibliotekutvikling at the National library.
 

We create openly accessible digital academic resources: 

• An interactive map depicting the patterns of bibliomigration for translated fiction in Norway.

• A search app for fiction translated into Norwegian.

• A dynamic corpus of a selection of Norwegian newspaper reviews of translated fiction within the same time frame.

The map and the corpus will reveal trends in which cultures are (or are not) translated into Norwegian, how ideologies are spread, and can be used to challenge the existing canon of translated fiction. Based on research findings from the first phase, we will select a significant number of works and collect their reviews. The aim is to facilitate analysis of these texts using digital methods like topic modeling and sentiment analysis, exploring criteria used to assess translated literature and whether these vary depending on which part of the world the literature comes from. 

Our project can be defined as "Big Translation History" (see Fólica, 2021). where digital methods and tools are applied to large data sets to uncover and raise awareness of historical contexts and trends that are challenging to discern manually. The project will be integrated into the development of NTNU's D-Lab, enhancing digital research and dissemination competencies. 

Activities and resources

DHKO conference UiO, October 24 2023
Presentation at «Digital Humanities in Norway - Looking back, and taking a (big?) step forward?» organized by National Network for Digital Humanities and Culture Organization (DHKO).
Presentation from the DHKO conference, UiO, October 2023.

HF Innovation days, NTNU University Library March, D-lab, 12 and 13 2024
Presentation in the D-lab at NTNU University library «Visualization of data in the humanities and the social sciences». Presentation from the HF Innovation days, NTNU University library, March 2024 (Norwegian).

DHNB conference, Reykjavik, May 29-31 2024
We participated and presented at the Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic countries 8th conference, in Reykjavik. Presentation from the DHNB conference, Reykjavik, May 2024. 

Information-resources

Project application [pdf]

Contact the project group 

Project lead: Inger Hesjevoll Schmidt-Melbye NTNU University library
Siri Fürst Skogmo Innland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Marcus Axelsson Østfold University College
Lars Magne Tungland DH-lab, the National library 

If you have other questions, contact NTNU Help or ask your local library.