The first NISE conference was held in 2010, in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. The gathering was set up as a so-called working conference, with two main topics linked intrinsically to each other: the first subject of data entry into the database and the archival situation for national movements; the link rested with the input strategy for the database.
The publication of the results, with the title Developing the NISE platform. Proceedings of the First NISE Conference. Skopje (Macedonia), 27-28 May 2010, starts with a presentation of the database framework ODIS and then discusses one of the possible choices of subject for entering information: nationalist periodicals of the 19th century, in this case the national historical journals.
To be able to enter data, they obviously have to be available, in one form or another. The situation for the sources and their holding institutes, however differs markedly across Europe, in particular the archival conditions. The mainpart of publication is therefore devoted to scouring the archival landscape for the study of national movements, presenting a selection of archival histories, sometimes interwoven with that of an institute: from Catalonia and the Basque country, from Macedonia and the Sami in Norway, and for the Kurdish people. Not all these texts have been drafted by accomplished archivists. What they however all have in common, is the great pride they show in their archival heritage, reflecting the importance of archives for national memory and underpinning national identity in the process.
They also illustrate what is the case for all heritage and research institutes with national movements as (part of their) field of interest: they are very diverse in legal status, materials, activities and the scope of their subject matter. However, they also have many things in common, confronted with problems that are specifically linked with their subject. Therefore the findings of a Round Table at the end of the conference discussing these matters were inserted into this publication, showing the way to possible structural cooperation.
The publication Developing the NISE platform. Proceedings of the First NISE Conference. Skopje (Macedonia), 27-28 May 2010. (Proceedings 1), is available at the price of 15 euro.
Order your copy here.
PDF available here.