ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a practical critique of the specific challenges and affordances of the digital for the textual heritage of predominantly Arabic-speaking societies of against the backdrop of two volunteer-run research projects. Demonstrating the severe under-resourcedness of Arabic as a script and language with examples from the history of the first (global) mass medium, the periodical press, I pose that a digital episteme and infrastructures deeply rooted in 20th-century, English-speaking, American neoliberal capitalism cause a neo-orientalist silencing of the material heritage of predominantly Arabic-speaking Islamicate societies. The projects Jarāʾid (2011–) and OpenArabicPE (2015–) are part of an attempt at mitigating against this silencing. They address two interconnected needs of marginal(ized) scholarly communities with a simple idea: Creatively repurpose existing open data, tools, and infrastructures in order to provide sustainable public and free access to reliable knowledge about periodicals as well as high-quality digital editions for reading and computational analysis.
