New Dataset: ‘Following the Smartphone: Ethnography of the Emergent Urban Cultures of Networked Individuals’

A new dataset titled ‘Following the Smartphone: Ethnography of the Emergent Urban Cultures of Networked Individuals’ has been published in the QDA. Its author is Dr. Mirosław Filiciak, Assistant Professor at the SWPS University. The project from which the data came was devoted to the use of smartphones in the big city. The researchers explored how individuals representing diverse social groups (with different social status, levels of education, income, and age) use new personalized, portable technologies, understood as carriers of networked individualism. The study was conducted in 2021-2023 in Warsaw. The researchers conducted nearly 120 interviews (including expert interviews) and observations. Due to the lack of respondents’ consents, only 15 interview transcriptions are available in the QDA.

The study was funded by the National Science Centre under grant no. 2019/33/B/HS2/02856.

Oral History Seminar: Interview from the Project ‘Czechoslovak-Polish Scholarly Entanglements in the Cold War Between High Politics and Individual Strategies’

On January 24, 2024, the subsequent Oral History Seminar took place at IFiS PAN. During the meeting, Dr. Tomáš W. Pavlíček and Barbora Kulawiaková from the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences, presented an interview with a woman, a Polish professor of mathematics. The interview is part of the project titled ‘Czechoslovak-Polish Scholarly Entanglements in the Cold War Between High Politics and Individual Strategies’ (funded by the National Science Centre, poland, OPUS LAP NCN – LA GACR, 2021/22-2024), led by Tomáš W. Pavlíček and Jan Surman from the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The project aims to document and analyze Polish-Czech scientific networks among mathematicians and physicists in the second half of the 20th century, including contacts, inspirations, joint research, conferences, publications, and research visits. The main theme of the seminar was the relationship between the ‘internal’ development of mathematics and its social and cultural history.

The Oral History Seminars are co-organized by the Faculty of Culture and Arts at the University of Warsaw, the Qualitative Data Archive at IFiS PAN, and the Polish Oral History Association. The initiative is under the patronage of the “Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej (Wrocław Yearbook of Oral History)”. If you would like to participate in future meetings or receive more information, please contact us: seminariumoralhistory@gmail.com.

Oral History Seminar: Interview form the Project ‘Oral History of the LGBT+ Community in Poland’

Participants in the seminar, held at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences on December 20, 2023, analyzed an interview from the project “Oral history of the LGBT+ community in Poland,” which was conducted by the Lambda Warsaw Association in cooperation with the History Meeting House. The interview was conducted and presented by Adrianna Kapała, a historian, archivist, and PhD student at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. She is also the coordinator of training and education at the Centre of Community Archives.

The Oral History Seminars are co-organized by the Faculty of Culture and Arts at the University of Warsaw, the Qualitative Data Archive at IFiS PAN, and the Polish Oral History Association. The initiative is under the patronage of the “Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej (Wrocław Yearbook of Oral History)”.

If you would like to participate in future meetings or receive more information, please contact us: seminariumoralhistory@gmail.com.

New Dataset: ‘Resettlement in the Revitalization of Polish Cities: Individual In-depth Interviews with Tenants from Łódź, Warsaw and Wałbrzych’

A first version of a dataset titled ‘Resettlement in the Revitalization of Polish Cities: Individual In-depth Interviews with Tenants from Łódź, Warsaw, and Wałbrzych,’ authored by Dr. Barbara Audycka, has been published in the QDA.

The provided data are the result of a research conducted on revitalization-related resettlements in Polish cities. The research aimed to: (1) analyze the practical organization of relocations by local authorities, (2) gather information on opinions, attitudes, and actions of relocated tenants within the municipal housing stock. The study involved tenants residing in buildings within revitalization areas earmarked for major renovations requiring the residents to move out.

The research was funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (under the Miniatura grant), and the University of Warsaw (IDUB program).

The current version of the dataset contains interview transcripts from Warsaw and Łódź, as well as contextual materials. Transcripts from Wałbrzych will be included in the next version of the dataset.

Workshop within the Data Steward Programme at the University of Silesia

On December 4, 2023, Maciej Melon from the Quality Data Archive team led a workshop at the University of Silesia in Katowice for people who want to become data stewards in several departments at the University. The meeting consisted of three parts – a presentation of a typical data management plan, a discussion of data steward tasks from the practical side, and a commentary on the support tools developed at the University for researchers carrying out projects where research data is managed.

Oral History Seminar: Interview from the Emerging Archive of Oral History at the Museum of Cinematography in Łódź

On November 22, 2023, the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN) hosted an Oral History Seminar, during which participants analyzed an interview with a renowned film critic, theater scholar, and journalist. The interview was conducted by Anna Michalska, an employee of the Museum of Cinematography in Łódź and a co-author of articles and books on cinematography, as well as a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Humanities at the University of Łódź. The interview was conducted for the purposes of the Archive of Oral History, which is being created by Ms. Michalska as part of the Museum.

The Oral History Seminars are co-organized by the Faculty of Culture and Arts at the University of Warsaw, the Qualitative Data Archive at IFiS PAN, and the Polish Oral History Association. The initiative is under the patronage of the “Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej (Wrocław Yearbook of Oral History)”. If you would like to participate in future meetings or receive more information, please contact us: seminariumoralhistory@gmail.com.

New Datasets: ‘Multilevel Governance of the Humanitarian Crisis Caused by the Russian Aggression on Ukraine’

Two interconnected datasets, collectively titled ‘Multilevel Governance of the Humanitarian Crisis Caused by the Russian Aggression on Ukraine: Examples from Activities in the Lubelskie Voivodeship (PL) and the Volyn Oblast (UA),’ have been published in the QDA. These collections differ in the language of the data (Polish/Ukrainian) and comprise transcripts of focus groups conducted in Lublin (Poland) and Lutsk (Ukraine). The focus group participants represented various stakeholders involved in aid activities, including representatives from central administrations in the regions, local governments, social organizations, businesses, religious organizations, and informal initiatives. The author of the collections is Dr. Karolina Podgórska from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin.

Oral History Seminars: Continuation

The Oral History Seminars, which commenced as a pilot series this spring at IFIS PAN, are set to continue. On October 25, 2023, the inaugural meeting for the new academic year occurred. During this session, participants analyzed an interview from the project titled ‘Memory and Oblivion: Sociocultural Post-War Changes in Hausdorf/Jugów in the Owl Mountains.’ This project was conducted collaboratively by the Women’s Foundation from Krakow, Integrationswerk RESPEKT e.V. from Berlin, and the Hendernyj Informacijno-Anality Center KRONA from Kharkiv. Alina Doboszewska, the project coordinator, provided the introduction to the narrative. The interview under scrutiny was recorded in 2010 and featured two female narrators, one born in 1925 and the other in 1930.

The Oral History Seminars are organized by the QDA, the Polish Oral History Association and the Faculty of Culture and Arts of the University of Warsaw. They are held under the patronage of the ‘Wroclaw Oral History Yearbook.’

Oral History Seminars during 2023/24 academic year

The new academic year will see the continuation of the Oral History Seminars – workshop meetings dedicated to the analysis of oral history interviews. The first meeting will take place on 25th October from 13.30 to 17.30 in room 154 of the Staszic Palace. Subsequent meetings will take place on the fourth Wednesday of the month (except December). At the beginning of October, the organisers of the cycle – Dr. Piotr Filipkowski from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN) and Dr. Jakub Gałęziowski from the University of Warsaw – will send out materials for the first meeting and a tentative plan for the next ones. Persons who have not participated in the Seminars before and would like to receive information on it are requested to write to: seminariumoralhistory@gmail.com.