How will digitalization influence historical research in the future? Will it lead to further specialization and compartmentalization, or to more cooperation and communication between disciplines? There are different views on what the future will bring in this regard. Some believe that the digital turn favours quantitatively oriented research, others that the same turn will lead to a convergence of research methods (quantitative and qualitative) and bring about collaboration across disciplines. I believe that general speculations about future trends in research are shaky, as these trends are not only shaped by technology, but also by things such as institutional preconditions and theoretical...