On 13 April 2022, we had the opportunity and pleasure to present our Archive during the course ‘Oral history and biographical research in the historian’s workshop,’ conducted at the Art History Institute (Faculty of Cultural and Art Sciences, University of Warsaw) by Prof. Jerzy Kochanowski and Dr. Jakub Gałęziowski. Thank you for the invitation!

On March 16, 2022, at the Center for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin a discussion took place about the book In den Stürmen der Transformation. Zwei Werften zwischen Sozialismus und EU (Suhrkamp Verlag 2022). Piotr Filipkowski, an organizer of the event and co-author of the book, presented a methodological paper in which he recalled Andrzej Siciński’s research on lifestyles from the late 1970s. Among the families interviewed at that time were shipyard workers from Gdańsk. Materials from that study are available in the Qualitative Data Archive of IFiS PAN (collection “Lifestyles in Polish Cities”).

A new dataset entitled “Doyens of Polish Sociology of Work” has been published in the QDA. The author of the collection is Dr. Olga Czeranowska from the SWPS University. The dataset is a result of the “Doyens of Polish Sociology of Work on the Processes of Institutionalization, Crisis, and the Prospects for Development of the Sub-discipline” project, carried out by the Sociology of Work Section of the Polish Sociological Association. The project was based on research conducted through in-depth interviews (with elements of biographical narration) with persons who have contributed to the institutionalization of sociology of work and the development of labor studies in Poland. The study included both the activities of sociologists-practitioners, who were present in factories during the communist era, and sociologists-academics, who focused on research and teaching. The dataset contains 19 interviews, conducted between 2016 and 2018.

The Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences has introduced a research data management policy.

[English translation of the document]

The journal “Forum Akademickie” has just made available in open access an article by Dr. Natalia Gruenpeter entitled “Cooperation fosters data opening”. The author refers to the experience of the “Disciplinary Open Research Data Repositories” project, in which the University of Warsaw cooperated with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. The article also cites statements by QDA staff.

We were pleased to learn that Dr. Tomasz Kołodziej from the Institute of Sociology at the University of Zielona Góra decided to use the materials from our Archive during his classes entitled “Qualitative research methods”. We encourage other academic teachers to use the resources of the Archive in a similar way!

Dr. Piotr Filipkowski, head of ODA, conducts a series of three 4-hour seminars at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw on the application of oral history and biographical sociology methods in the research field of art history. Seminar topics also include existing social data archives, in particular the Qualitative Data Archive of IFiS PAN. The meetings are held as part of the Oral Histories of Modernity project, carried out jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Academy of Fine Arts. The topics of the seminars prepared by Dr. Filipkowski are:
– Oral history – between research practice and theory (of history),
– Biographical-narrative interview as a historical source and sociological data,
– Oral history and art history – from subject to object (and back).

In the 200th issue of the Bulletin EBIB, a journal addressed primarily to Polish librarians and specialists in scientific information, an article entitled ‘Qualitative Data Archive at IFiS PAN in a New Version’ appeared (authors: Maciej Melon and Danuta Życzyńska-Ciołek).

On October 19, 2021, Maciej Melon presented the Qualitative Data Archive to the participants of the second edition of the Data Steward School, organized by Visnea sp. z o. o.

In the first part of the meeting, Maciej Melon presented the history of the Archive and outlined its current tasks related to the preservation of the cultural heritage of social sciences, data reinterpretation and research revisits. He also pointed to the transparency of methods and tools used by researchers, which the Archive promotes.

The second part of the meeting was more of a workshop character. After the presentation of the Archive’s tasks related to the daily work of archiving and making research data available – including the problems and doubts that arise – there were also questions from the participants, mainly concerning technical issues.

We are grateful for the invitation and the opportunity to share our experiences!

A new dataset entitled “Towards a Model of Polish Paradiplomacy” has been published in the QDA. The author of the collection is Dr. Igor Ksenicz from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. The dataset contains transcripts of interviews with representatives of circles responsible for creating Polish paradiplomacy: local government officials, government administration employees, and experts.