From manual work to artificial intelligence: developments in data literacy using the example of the Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (2001–2024)

The Repertorium Academicum Germanicum (RAG) is a prosopographical research project dedicated to studying medieval scholars and their impact on society in Europe from 1250 to 1550. The RAG database contains approximately 62,000 scholars and 400,000 biographical entries across 26,000 locations, derived from university registers, academic sources, and general biographical records. As a pioneering project in digital prosopography, the RAG is exemplary for the development of data competences in the last 20 years. The presentation will therefore highlight the methods, procedures, best practices and future approaches used to date. What is special about the RAG is that the project not only collects data, but also analyses it in a targeted manner with a focus on data visualisations (maps, networks, time series). RAG presents the results in its own series of publications (RAG Forschungen).