This paper offers a methodological reflection on the practices of Digital Humanities applied to historical and cultural contexts characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity of sources and a growing need for public impact. Starting from the REDMIX project, aimed at creating a digital archive on mixed-ancestry people and groups in the Red Sea region from the 19th century to the present day, the contribution analyses how the conscious choice of digital tools should be guided by the materiality and nature of the sources, rather than by mere technological availability. Through two case studies - drawn from the private archive of Daniela Aleggiani, consisting of hybrid typewritten diaries, photographs, and drawings related to the prisoner-of-war camps in East Africa belonging to Major Umberto Aleggiani, and from the private archive of the Vento Chiaffredo family, comprising poems and songs by the young soldier Chiaffredo Vento in Libya - the paper shows how different sources require differentiated workflows. The analysis illustrates the combined use of technologies such as OCR, HTR, computational text analysis, semantic encoding in XML-TEI and space-time visualisations, highlighting their limitations, potential and methodological implications. The case studies serve as a laboratory for the design of the REDMIX project infrastructure, conceived as a participatory digital archive and Digital Public History platform. The contribution argues that the adoption of hybrid, open and transparent workflows allow not only for a scientifically rigorous enhancement of sources, but also for their transformation into tools for public engagement and the co-construction of memory. In this perspective, methodological reflection becomes the technical and ethical prerequisite for the creation of inclusive, sustainable digital archives capable of communicating with non-specialist audiences.
Tiziana Pasciuto (Sun,) studied this question.