Felix Herrmann, M.A.

Head of IT / Research Associate E-Research & Digital Humanities
Discuss Data Project

Room 3750 / Phone +49-421-218-69613
felix.herrmann@uni-bremen.de

 

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Brief CV

2017-2024 PhD Candidate, University of Bremen, Chair for Contemporary East European History and Culture, Project: "High-tech in the Eastern bloc. Economic cooperation between the GDR and the USSR in the computer and microelectronics industry from the 1960s to
the 1980s." (defended on June, 20 2024)

since 2017 Lead developer of the Discuss Data project, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

since 2015 Research Associate for E-Research & Digital Humanities, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen

2013–2014 Research Developer, King’s College London, Department of Digital Humanities

2011–2013 IT Consultant, Univention GmbH, Bremen

2006-2011 Software developer at the collobarative research center 640:
"Representations of Changing Social Orders", Humboldt University Berlin

2005-2008 Software developer at Clio-online/H-Soz-Kult: information services for historians

2000-2010 MA in Modern History and Computer Science, Humboldt University Berlin

Teaching experience

09/2017 DAAD-short term lectureship at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Department of History, Introduction to the Digital Humanities, Lectures and seminars for B.A. students
 
2014 University of Bremen, Institut for History, Digital History: Basics and Practice of Virtual Exhibitions, seminar for B.A. and M.A. students

2013-2014 University of Bremen, Institut for History, Digital Humanities: A Practical Introduction for Historians, seminar for B.A. and M.A. students

Publications
“No Digital Networks without Computers. The Shortcomings of the Soviet Computer Industry”, in: Internet Histories, Reassembling the Computer Networks of Eastern and Central Europe: From the Collapse of Soviet Bloc to the Russia-Ukraine War (special issue), 2026, https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2026.2642544.

“Die Folgen des russischen Angriffskrieges gegen die Ukraine für die russische IT-Industrie”, in: Russland-Analysen, Nr. 425, 2022, S.2-5, http://dx.doi.org/10.31205/ra.425.01.

Transparency and quality assessment of research data in post-Soviet area studies: The potential of an interactive
online platform, in: Journal of Eurasian Studies 10/2 (2019), 136-146, (together with Andreas Heinrich und Heiko Pleines).

Zwischen Planwirtschaft und IBM. Die sowjetische Computerindustrie im Kalten Krieg [Between Planned Economy and IBM: The Soviet Computer Industry in the Cold War], in: Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History 9 (2012), http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/site/40209278/default.aspx

Reviews:
Review of: Peters, Benjamin: How Not to Network a Nation. The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet, in: H-Soz-Kult, 03.10.2017, www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-25470.

Review of: Gold, Matthew K. (Hrsg.): Debates in the Digital Humanities. Minneapolis 2012 / Berry, David M. (Hrsg.): Understanding Digital Humanities. New York 2012, in: H-Soz-Kult, 09.01.2015, http://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-21673.

Academic Infrastructures

as lead developer:

Feniks, Software for the description of archival materials, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen

 

„Discuss Data. Open Platform for the Interactive Discussion of Research Data Quality (on the example of area studies on the post-Soviet region)“,Virtual Research Environment, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen

„PEPS database: Protest, Events, Photos, Slogans“, Research Database, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen

„‚Achtung! Feindpropaganda!‘ – Lew Kopelews Frontflugblätter 1941-1945“, Virtual Exhibition, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen
 
„Jüdische Geschichte(n) im Prenzlauer Berg – Audioguide zur deutsch-jüdischen Geschichte“, Mobile app for a Digital History Projekt, Museum Pankow and JUP e.V., Berlin
 
„Baltisches Biographisches Lexikon digital“, Digitization Project, Baltische Historische Kommission
 

as contributor:
„PRoMS – The Production and Reading of Music Sources. Mise en-page in manuscripts and printed books containing polyphonic music, 1480-1530“, Virtual Research Environment, King’s College London

 
„OCVE – Online Chopin Variorum Edition“, Virtual Research Environment, King’s College London
 
„Clio Online – Fachportal für die Geschichtswissenschaften“, Communication and information services for historical research, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
 
„H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation für die Geschichtswissenschaften“, Communication and information services for historical research, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin


Academic Presentations

“Discuss Data Community Space ‘History of Soviet Dissent and Samizdat/Samvydav’”, Workshop, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, 15.-16.7.2025, Bremen

“Discuss Data - Community Space: ‘History of Dissent and Samizdat/Samvydav in the Soviet Union’”, Archivtreffen der Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, 16.6.2025, Bremen

Training session “Preparing Data for Publication”, Symposium “The Most Documented War: Enacting Archives”, INDEX/Center for Urban History, Lviv, 22.-24.5.2025

“Discuss Data: Online Platform for Archiving, Sharing and Discussing Research Data on Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia”, KoDaNetOst Workshop, ZOiS Berlin, 25.3.2025

“No Digital Networks without Computers. The Shortcomings of the Soviet Computer Industry”, Conference “Histories and Legacies of the Digital: from Soviet Cybernetics to Local Histories of the Internet” Center for Urban History, Lviv, 3.10.2024

“Economic Entanglements in the Socialist Computer Cooperation”, Conference “Transnational Pathways to the Digital Age”, Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History (ZZF), Potsdam,
2.8.2024

“The debate about the Ryad computer series in the USSR”, INREES Summer School 2023: “Challenging Theories and Reconsidering Paradigms”, Helsinki, 28.8.- 1.9.2023

“Western Technology Sanctions and Moscow’s Countermeasures: A Comparative Perspective on the Situation in the 1980s and today”, INREES Summer School 2022: “Reorienting research projects and area studies after 24 February 2022”, Vähäjärvi, Hämeenlinna, 22.–26.8.2022

“Rote Computer: Digitalisierung und Souveränität im sowjetischen Machtbereich”, Lecture series “Digital East. Eine Region im Netz der Daten” at the Institute for East European Studies at the Free University of Berlin, 8.12.2021.

“Discuss Data: Community-zentrierter Ansatz für das Forschungsdatenmanagement in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften” (mit Daniel Kurzawe), FORGE, University of Cologne,
10.09.2021.

“Promoting Transparency and Data Quality with an Online Platform for Archiving, Sharing and Discussing Research Data with a Focus on the Post-Soviet Region”, ICCEES 2021, Montreal, 5.8.2021.

“Moskau 1988: Höhe- und Schlusspunkt der DDR-Mikroelektronik”, Kolloquium zur Osteuropäischen Geschichte, University of Bremen/University of Tübingen, 14.6.2021.

Digital Sovereignty in the Soviet Bloc, CEES Seminar, University of Glasgow, 10.2.2021 (Zoom recording).

Ostblock digital. Die Computerindustrie der sozialistischen Staaten im Kalten Krieg, Plutex Business Frühstück, Bremen, 15.11.2019.

Bei Geld hört die Freundschaft auf. Preisbildung im RGW-Handel mit Computertechnologie, Oberseminar der Abteilung für Geschichte Ost- und Südosteuropas der LMU München, 06.11.2019.

Computerindustrie in der Sowjetunion von den 1960er bis 1980er Jahren, iJIX-InnoTalk, MaibornWolff GmbH München, 06.11.2019.

Trade among Brothers. Price Formation in the CMEA Computer Industry, Workshop “Quality of Governance and the Legacy of Socialism”, Universität Bremen, 25.-26.10.2019

Research Data Management with the Discuss Data platform, Workshop “Digital Methods and Research Data Management in the Humanities and Social Sciences”, organized by the Discuss Data project, the DHI Moskau and the Centre for Digital Humanities at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau, 07.-08.10.2019, (zusammen mit Eduard Klein, Daniel Kurzawe und Ubbo Veentjer).

Money and friendship don‘t mix. Price formation in the CMEA trade with Computer Technology, Konferenz “Vse idet po planu? – Unwrapping the (un)planned Soviet economy”, Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau, 27.-28.05.2019.

Discuss Data: Interactive Research Data Management for the Area Studies on the post-Soviet region, CEES seminar, University of Glasgow, 20.03.2019.

A Global Industry. Transnational Entanglements of Soviet Computer Manufacturing, “Transnational Perspectives on Soviet Cutting-Edge Technology”, Universität Bern, 31.01.-01.02.2019.

„Discuss Data. Designing a Platform for the Interactive Discussion of Research Data Quality for the Area Studies on the post-Soviet region“, Workshop (Politics of) Digital Humanities in Eastern European Studies, September 11, 2018, Joint workshop of the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe and the Aleksanteri Institute – University of Helsinki, Helsinki

„Hightech im Ostblock. Die Wirtschaftskooperation zwischen DDR und UdSSR in der Computer- und Mikroelektronikindustrie von den 1960er bis 1980er Jahren“, Stipendiatentag des DHI Moskau, May 29, 2018, Deutsches Historisches Institut Moskau

„Institutionelle und personale Netzwerke in der Computer- und Mikroelektronikindustrie des Ostblocks (1960er bis 1980er Jahre)“, 12. HNR-Workshop: Kommunikation in Netzwerken – Netzwerke der Kommunikation. Thematische, methodische und theoretische Perspektiven  Historischer Netzwerkanalyse zwischen Geschichts- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, April 21, 2018, Universität Bremen

„Research Data Quality Assessment for the Area-Studies on the post-Soviet region: New Approaches needed?“ (Roundtable), Second Annual Tartu Conference on Russian and East European Studies, Tartu University, 05 – 06 June 2017, Tartu

„The Discuss Data Online Platform: Sharing and Discussing Research Data on the Post-Soviet Region as a Collaborative Effort“, SRC Lunchtime Seminar, 28. Februar 2017, Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo
 
„Centralization vs. Social Competition: Soviet Computer Experts and the Shaping of a new Industry in the 1960s and 1970s“, Workshop „For the 50th Anniversary of the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution...: Social and Political Foundations of the Major Ideological Campaigns of the 1965-1970s“, 27. Februar 2017, Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo
 
„Archiving and Discussing Research Data in the Digital Age“, Remembering Protest Actions, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, 4.–7. September 2016, Bremen
 
„Data Platform on Protest Actions: Concept and Implementation“, Remembering Protest Actions, Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, 4.–7. September 2016, Bremen
 
„Clouds, Crowds, and Research Data. Internet-based Presentations of Data Collections and Beyond“, Research Link between the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and the Faculty of Sociology, National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow: Concluding Conference, 25.–27. Mai 2016, Bremen
 
„Software Development for Research. From Data Collections to Virtual Research Environments“, Social Developments and New Forms of Mass Opinion Research in Contemporary Russia, 18.–20. September 2014, Faculty of Sociology, National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow