Midnight Foil: Batts are Burning!

February 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm · Filed under gadfly

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Intelligence (squared)

February 26, 2010 at 11:48 am · Filed under deliberation

A interesting crew from Sydney called Intelligence Squared that run deliberative Town-Hall style debates and online forums.  The first one in Melbourne is on the Nuclear Energy debate on March 4 and is run in conjunction with the new Wheeler Centre.

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How to approach a stranger in London

February 25, 2010 at 9:34 am · Filed under gadfly

Thanks to Alexis B for the link

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The Past’s Digital Presence: Database, Archive, and Knowledge Work in the Humanities

February 24, 2010 at 3:15 pm · Filed under conferences, digital humanities, humanities computing

This conference recently held at Yale looks very interesting. One of the organisers, Miriam Posner, also has a Digital Humanities blog (link).

How is digital technology changing methods of scholarly research with pre-digital sources in the humanities? If the “medium is the message,” then how does the message change when primary sources are translated into digital media? What kinds of new research opportunities do databases unlock and what do they make obsolete? What is the future of the rare book and manuscript library and its use? What biases are inherent in the widespread use of digitized material? How can we correct for them? Amidst numerous benefits in accessibility, cost, and convenience, what concerns have been overlooked? (link)

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4th Symposium, Cultural Heritage Knowledge Visualisation, CHKV

February 23, 2010 at 10:45 am · Filed under conferences, digital humanities

Second Call For Papers

4th Symposium, Cultural Heritage Knowledge Visualisation, CHKV

A symposium in the 14th International Conference Information Visualisation, 26,
27-29 July 2010, London South Bank University, London, UK.

http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/IV10/ Click on Symposia hypertext

Important Dates:
1 March 2010: Submission of papers
16 April 2010: Notification of Peer Review Result
30 April 2010: Submission of camera-ready
7 May 2010: Early registration closes

Paper Format Guide: (Not more than 6 pages – excess pages at 25 GBP per page.)
http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/IV09/INSTRUCTION.htm

Over the last 2 decades we have seen a shift from the physical confines of the
‘houses of knowledge’ – traditional museum, cultural galleries, knowledge
institutes – to more online, mobile, accessible interactive displays of
cultural heritage knowledge. From books, physical displays and site-specific
places of cultural heritage significance, many more can now access these
repositories remotely. As touring 3D installations, interactive online
applications, images, text, audio and video, access to cultural heritage
knowledge has never been so accessible. What does this mean to those who’s
heritage is on display? What protocols are needed to protect the integrity of
the knowledge included? And, what new knowledge do we gain through these
technological interventions and expositions of cultural heritage? These are
only some of the many questions raised in this emerging field of Cultural
Heritage Knowledge Visualisation.

The symposium seeks original projects that deal with, but are not limited to,
the following topics:
Read the rest of this entry »

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What is VeRSI?

February 23, 2010 at 10:27 am · Filed under collaboration, data, e-science, eresearch

Overview of VeRSI from VeRSI on Vimeo.

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Data-Intensive Research: how should we improve our ability to use data

February 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm · Filed under data

Today there is a growing abundance of data often in large-scale collections or with great complexity. It is pertinent to every pressing strategic challenge, to the deep questions that research addresses and the urgent application sciences. A great deal of thought is needed to improve our capabilities to use data well in a wide variety of research endeavours. The workshop will bring together practitioners, theoreticians and technologists with a wide range of viewpoints to shape a strategy for the thinking and research that is needed.
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Digital Classicist

February 22, 2010 at 2:28 pm · Filed under conferences, digital humanities, humanities computing

Call for Presentations

The Digital Classicist will once more be running a series of seminars
at the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, with
support from the British Library, in Summer 2010 on the subject of
research into the ancient world that has an innovative digital
component. We are especially interested in work that demonstrates
interdisciplinarity or work on the intersections between Ancient
History, Classics or Archaeology and a digital, technical or
practice-based discipline.

The Digital Classicist seminars run on Friday afternoons from June to
August in Senate House, London. In previous years collected papers
from the DC WiP seminars have been published* in a special issue of an
online journal (2006), edited as a printed volume (2007), and released
as audio podcasts (2008-9); we anticipate similar publication
opportunities for future series. A small budget is available to help
with travel costs.

Please send a 300-500 word abstract to by
March 31st 2010. We shall announce the full programme in April.

Regards,

The organizers
Gabriel Bodard, King’s College London
Stuart Dunn, King’s College London
Juan Garcés, Greek Manuscripts Department, British Library
Simon Mahony, University College London
Melissa Terras, University College London

* See http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/journal/4/ (2006),
http://www.gowerpublishing.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=1064&sort=pubdate&forthcoming=1&title_id=9797&edition_id=12252
(2007), http://www.digitalclassicist.org/wip/index.html (2008-9).

– Dr Gabriel BODARD (Epigrapher & Digital Classicist) Centre for Computing in the Humanities King’s College London 26-29 Drury Lane London WC2B 5RL Email: gabriel.bodard@kcl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 1388 Fax: +44 (0)20 7848 2980 http://www.digitalclassicist.org/ http://www.currentepigraphy.org/

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DHO Summer School 28 June – 2 July 2010, Trinity College, Dublin

February 22, 2010 at 10:26 am · Filed under collaboration, digital humanities, humanities computing

Registration is now open for the 2010 Summer School. Please see the registration page for further details.

The Digital Humanities Observatory in conjunction with NINES and the EpiDoc Collaborative is pleased to offer the DHO Summer School 2010. It will bring together 60 Irish and International humanities scholars undertaking digital projects in diverse areas to explore issues and trends of common interest. Workshops and lectures will offer attendees opportunities to develop their skills, share insights, and discover new opportunities for collaboration and research. Activities focus on the theoretical, technical, administrative, and institutional issues relevant to the needs of digital humanities projects today.
The full summer school package offers participants four week-long workshop strands to choose from, a second day–long workshop and two lectures all on innovative topics by leading experts and theorists in digital humanities with additional options of private consultation time with a digital humanities specialist and evening social activities.
For those unable to attend the full Summer School, it is possible to register for the one-day workshop and/or one or both of the lectures (link)

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SPARC Authors Addendum

February 19, 2010 at 4:44 pm · Filed under creative commons

If you have written an academic paper and wish to publish it in a journal, you are often asked to sign away your rights to that journal so that it may not be distributed in any other form. The SPARC Authors Addendum (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is one way to distribute your article in ePrints or other repositories that are based at your university or within your broader field. It is a legal device, placed as an addendum to the usual Rights form submitted with your article. Details (US Organisation) may be found here (link). Thanks to Nick T for the link.

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TED Talks: How to make the data look interesting…

February 16, 2010 at 10:08 am · Filed under web2.0

You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.”

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Scientists dispute climate sceptic’s claim that US weather data is useless

February 16, 2010 at 9:56 am · Filed under blogs, data

An interesting twist on the Climate Change debate. When data is made public, so too is the basis in which this data was collected. Data is part of a scientific argument; it isn’t ‘absolute truth’.

It appeared to have shaken the credibility of one of the most important global warming data sets in the world. A blog-inspired campaign by amateur climate sceptics seemed to show that numerous weather stations across the US were so poorly located they could not be relied upon (link).

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The Google Book Settlement 18th February 2010

February 9, 2010 at 3:18 am · Filed under books, digital humanities, digitisation

I am just reading Professor Robert Darnton’s new book titled ‘The Case for Books’. Darnton is a well know book historian, especially of the French Enlightenment, and made the bold career move to become Harvard’s Librarian. Admittedly ‘the Case for Books’ is not that good, especially for those who have been involved in academic publishing debates for quite some time. In the quest to reach larger audiences, the book appears to have lost some rigour and Darnton’s first-person monologue is a little too personal at times (he should keep a blog). Still, there is a lot of information on the Google Book project, especially as it relates to the looming legal decision in which I am admittedly not on top of.

Here is a initiative from the UK’s JISC (The Joint Information Services Committee) who have attempted to create a ’social software’ solution for broader public consultation. Almost always these social software solutions do not work (as it the case here) as the sites lack of community feedback. Still there there is an excellent summary of the case and key issues (link to JISC’s site).

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What is Culture24?

February 9, 2010 at 2:57 am · Filed under art, communuity informatics, digital humanities

Culture24 exists to promote and support the cultural sector online and to serve the needs of online audiences. We are a not-for-profit online publisher, working across the arts, heritage, education, and tourism sectors.

A wonderful initiative. Also, check out there data-feeds that contain data from 4300 cultural venues across the UK…wow! (link).

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Making Government Better: New Online Tool

February 9, 2010 at 2:36 am · Filed under governance

A team of researchers from the LSE Public Policy Group and the OII have developed an online tool to help government organisations improve their communication with customers. The team was led by Patrick Dunleavy (LSE) and Helen Margetts (OII), and Tobias Escher (OII) developed and programmed the online checklist.

More information, access to online tool and report downloads:
http://www.governmentontheweb.org/

Paper forms, online applications and call centre scripts are the ‘face of government’ for most citizens. Earlier research by the team found that often forms were long, with confusing numbering. Some forms asked for the same information more than once and also requested information from customers that the government body already held. Our research found that this leaves customers frustrated, wastes the time of both customers and government staff, and often leads to inaccurate information where questions are badly designed.

The checklists were designed following work undertaken by the same research team for the UK National Audit Office on the Department for Work and Pensions. They allow government department staff to work through current forms (whether paper based, online or phone based) and identify aspects that are most difficult for customers to follow. They cover the language used, how customers prove their identity, how well help and guidance is provided for customers completing the form and the documentation customers are required to provide.

The online tool was launched last week at a seminar addressed by Sir Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions, hosted by the Institute for Government.

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