Digital History: Reflections from the Brazilian Digital Hemerotheque and the use of CAQDAS in the re-elaboration of historical research

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the role of the use of digital tools in the research and writing of history, reflecting on the transformations and challenges in the mode of knowledge production in the practice of historical science research, addressing two fundamental aspects: a) the progressive use of research sources from digital collections or repositories, through the analysis of the Brazilian Digital Newspaper Library (HDB); and b) The way qualitative data analysis applications (CAQDAS) can serve to minimize the problems and limitations that are generated by inadvertently using and little methodological rigor in digital tools. Here we will use the program ATLAS.ti as an example. We conclude that digital search and analysis not only transforms historical research, but enables new questions, problems and answers, impacting both the theory and the method of the discipline.