EGO | European History Online is a transcultural history of Europe on the Internet. The project investigates processes of intercultural exchange in European history whose impact extended beyond state, national and cultural borders. EGO describes Europe as a constantly changing communicative space which witnessed extremely varied processes of interaction, circulation, overlapping and entanglement, of exchange and transfer, but also confrontation, resistance and demarcation.

EGO examines 500 years of modern European history by transcending national, disciplinary and methodological boundaries. The subjects are as diverse as the communicative and transfer processes which EGO depicts. They range from religion, politics, science and law, to art and music, as well as to the economy, technology and the military. Ten thematic threads enable a systematic approach to accessing the project’s content. “Surveys” provide background information and context. “Basic elements” describe and analyse specific transfer processes relevant to Europe. “Focus elements” contain materials and information on discrete aspects or introduce particular mediators that were significant for intercultural transfer processes. Over 200 articles will be gradually published by 2013.

Multi-Media Approach

EGO links refereed academic articles to images, primary sources, statistics, animated and interactive maps, as well as audio and video clips. This multi-media network enables a journey through space, time and themes. The various elements can be browsed in all directions via links and navigation bars. In this way, EGO takes full advantage of the Internet’s multi-media potential.

All the multi-media elements are organised into a list of media. Internal links and references connect the EGO articles with one another. They connect the content of the texts to images, diagrams and tables that provide examples or additional information, or support the argument being made.

Moreover, a network is created via links to images, digitalised sources and biographical data available outside EGO, as well as to academic literature published online and other academic online resources referenced in the notes to the articles.

Access is not only provided by the threads, but also a versatile search function that offers an individualised means of viewing the project’s content. The full-text search brings up every relevant element in EGO. The simple search puts together a selection of articles based on period, topic, geography or thematic thread. The advanced search allows one to define the search by keyword, author, period, topic, geographical space and thread. It can also be restricted to specific media. The search results create a personalised short “history of Europe” that corresponds to the interests of the user.