Connected ogres : global sources in the digital era

The present text was produced after a year and a half of the world pandemic, lockdowns, and strange and awkward educational sequences. Remote access to sources and materials that make possible the production and conveyance of a global history" a vital, shared necessity in today's world" transformed technical issues discussed among specialists" i.e., burning issues from the news and issues of evidence" into the theme of worldwide conversation in the summer of 2021. Since during this global crisis, historians have revealed themselves to be dependent on complex and instrumented infrastructures, it seemed natural for us to open up the discussion to colleagues who had not only used digital resources, but who had also participated, in various capacities, in the development of the platforms, tools and standards that make up the historian's digital world. In this complex space, each person's experience; their inclusion in academic settings that rarely adhere to the same logic; their field of expertise; the place they hold within their institutions; and their functional role all orient their perspectives. We therefore have invited into this conversation a diverse set of colleagues active on four separate continents, and who vary in age, gender, the work they have conducted, and the nature of the functions they have exercised.