The conference was opened by Ólafur Arnar Sveinsson, Director of Education and Communication and the first lecturer was Gudfinna Hreiðarsdóttir, director of the district archives in Ísafjörður, who explained about the registration of parishioners in the parish register, which has been carried out remotely with great success for the past 15 years.

Another database project that has been worked on in cooperation between different parts of the country is the database of mediation committee books, which has been managed by Harpa Rún Ásmundsdóttir, project manager at the University of Iceland’s Research Center in Northwest Iceland. Harpa Rún presented the database and the sources that are available through it, but it can be argued that they have been poorly accessible as sources on everyday life in Iceland in the past centuries.

Sigríður Hjördís Jörundsdóttir, archivist at the National Archives, demonstrated how databases can be used in research with interesting examples from her survey of wrecks and drifters in the countryside over a period of 300 years.

Þórunn Marel Þorsteinsdóttir, archivist at the National Archives, also showed how databases and digital reconstructions of copyrights linked to databases and accessible through the National Archives website can give new dimension to research. Þórunn followed Baldvin Hinriksson’s life in the 19th century and provided a clear picture of his quirky life.

Peter Húni Björnsson, an expert in digital humanities, went behind the door to databases and educated conference attendees about the construction and use of Historical Population and Town Statistics. Peter has a long experience in data processing and described the methodology he uses to “ reconciliate and synchronize data” into usable databases.

Finally, the Director of Digital Reconstruction at the National Archives of Iceland, Unnar Ingvarsson, discussed where the development of databases should be headed. Which databases were most useful, what should be considered when developing and recording in databases and the importance of cooperation between different parties and institutions.

It is obvious that there is a great interest in this topic and the guests’ enjoyment of the Research Day is great. Further details of the lecturers’ activities can be seen here and shortly the recordings of the lectures will be available on the website of the National Archives.

Guðfinna Hreiðarsdóttir

Panel discussion