Towards the Formalization of Metadata Network Analysis in History: a Complex and Multidimensional Case Study

This contribution focuses on understanding the structuration of scientific and cultural coordination in the inter-war period, based on the archives of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) of the League of Nations. This case study allows the establishment of a plurimethodological reflection on the contribution of network analysis in the humanities in general. This perspective, which consist in developing a quantitative and structural analysis jointly mobilizing mathematical theories, computer sciences and archival questioning, is also a way of questioning the relationship between historical research and digital technologies. Without however making these technical developments an end in itself, the contribution of such methods of social network analysis and visualization makes it possible to multiply the perspectives, to play with the scales and to allow the navigation between a global overview of the structure (here, an international organization) and an approach closer to the individuals.