engaging and supporting researchers who want to use the british library’s digital collections and...
TRANSCRIPT
1 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Engaging and Supporting Researchers who want to use the British Library’s Digital Collections and DataExamples and Lessons from the British Library Labs ProjectMahendra Mahey
1045 – 1130, Wednesday, 11th May 2016,Engaging and Supporting Researchers, CPD25 (M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries), Woburn House Conference Centre, London.
2 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Overview
Interestingexamples
ExperiencesChallenges
Lessons LearnedWorking and Communicating
Researchershttps://goo.gl/WutNyi
Artistshttp://goo.gl/nNKhQ2
LibrariansCurators
https://goo.gl/9NWZUW
Software Developershttps://goo.gl/7QQ5Tf
Archivistshttps://goo.gl/x7b4tg Educators
https://goo.gl/qh01Mi
3 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
The British Library
Inside the British LibrarySpace for 1200 readers, around 400,000 visitors per year
Uses low oxygen and robotsReading room and delivery to London
Document Supply and Storage at Boston Spa
Stockton-on-TeesAuthor right to payment each time their books
are borrowed from public libraries.
St Pancras, London, UKMany books are stored 4 stories below the buildingLegal Deposit Library – Reference only
4 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Living Knowledge Vision (2015 – 2023)
Custodianship Research Business
Culture Learning International
To make our intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment and be the most open, creative
and innovative institution of its kind by 2023.
Document: http://goo.gl/h41wW7 Speech: https://goo.gl/Py9uHK
Roly Keating (Chief Executive Officer of the British Library)
To make our intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment and be the most open, creative
and innovative institution of its kind by 2023.
5 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
British Library Collections> 180* million items
> 0.8* m serial titles
> 8* m stamps
> 14* m books
> 3* m sound recordings> 4* m maps
> 1.6* m musical scores
> 0.3* m manuscripts
> 60* m patents
King’s Library *Estimates
6 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labsFunded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
7 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labsFunded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
8 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
#bldigital1-2 %* digitised
* estimate
Digitisation
Partnerships Commercial & Other Organisations
Amountincreasing rapidly
Bias in digitisation
http://goo.gl/bR9UJL Sample Generator
9 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
digitalData all around us!
/
Knowledge Quarter London55 knowledge organisations within 1 mile radius of Kings Cross
http://www.knowledgequarter.london
https://goo.gl/pGO7QY
digitalData all around us!
10 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Finding Open Digital Collections• Where is it, is it accessible?
• Licensing?Internal Access and Reuse and Licensing Group (Risk assessment group – Strategic, Commercial, Copyright, Curatorial, Technical Stakeholders all have a say)
• Curated?Learn the story behind a collection!Is there a human who knows the ‘story’ about the collection, who wants it used, are there any surprises lurking?
• Metadata available? What state is it and does it need cleaning?
11 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
only in Reading
Rooms due to ©
only on site due to
© or ethical etc
not online / available –
various storage devices,
personal data
online and open
British Library
online behind paywall
Challenges of Digital access at the Library
12 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://www.bl.uk/subjects/digital-scholarship
http://labs.bl.uk/Digital+CollectionsOver 100 collections described
62 Open through Access and Reuse
Soon…http://data.bl.ukFew public APIs as yet…
Over 120 guides available to date
Finding Digital Collections
13 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Playbills, Books, Newspapers (includes OCR)
Digital collections and Datasets
British National Bibliography
http://bnb.data.bl.uk
http://sounds.bl.ukhttp://dml.city.ac.uk/
Music (Recordings & Sheet) & Sounds
http://goo.gl/frSMJt
Broadcast News (TV and Radio)http://goo.gl/cwThHw
http://goo.gl/pBkisZhttp://goo.gl/E8aRyQ
Usage dataImages, Manuscripts & Maps
http://www.qdl.qa/
Qatar Digital Libraryhttp://idp.bl.uk/
International Dunhuang
Project
Mapshttp://www.bl.uk/maps/
Hebrew Manuscriptshttp://goo.gl/4sbCp9
Flickr & Wikimedia Commons
https://goo.gl/LZRmaZ
14 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
The Digital Scholar
Digital
NetworkedOpen
From Digital Scholar : How technology is transforming scholarly practice, Martin Weller, Bloomsbury Academic, 2011, page 4
Specialist who employs digital, networked and open approaches to demonstrate their specialism.
15 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Distant Reading
https://goo.gl/ln04pM
Adam Crymble
16 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Digital research methods
Visualisations
Using Application Programming Interfaces for datasets e.g. Metadata, Images Annotation
Location based searching & Geo-tagging CrowdsourcingHuman Computation
17 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Wider Audience
Researchershttps://goo.gl/WutNyi
Artistshttp://goo.gl/nNKhQ2
LibrariansCurators
https://goo.gl/9NWZUW
Software Developershttps://goo.gl/7QQ5Tf
Archivistshttps://goo.gl/x7b4tg Educators
https://goo.gl/qh01Mi
18 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Your Audience and You
Audience research &
Digital interests
Digital collections you have
This is where Labs works
It starts with a conversation, content not always easy to find!
Only a small amount of content is digitised!Might not be the treasure expected at the end of a digital journey!
19 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
You might get very lucky!Digital Fly fishing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2TilNclT8k
20 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
How?
21 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Competition
Awards
Projects
Tell us your ideas of what to do with our digital content
Show us what you have already done with our digital content
Talk to us about working on collaborative projects
22 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
•Submit ideas in April.
•Two finalists announced late May.•Residency June – October.•Up to £3600 support, technical, curatorial etc.
•Showcase @ Symposium Nov.
•Winner £3000 & Runner up £1000!
Competition
23 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
•Projects already using BL digital content in interesting and innovative ways.
•Submit projects (previous and new) by 5 September 2016.
•Artistic, Commercial, Research and Learning / Teaching categories.
•Winners announced @Symposium 7 Nov 16.
•£500 Winner & £100 Runner Up.
Awards Live!
24 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Projects• Ideas change once you try to access, examine and use the data!
•Talk to us about working on potential ideas / projects.
25 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Who?
26 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Competition
27 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Finding things in messy data
Mrs Folly• Clean up manually• Get ground truth• Write code to find things
reliably in it automatically• Try code on messy content• Tweak if necessary
28 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Katrina Navickas (2015) Political Meetings Mapper
http://politicalmeetingsmapper.co.ukhttps://goo.gl/Qq78Oa
Labs Symposium 2015
https://goo.gl/BSA3be
Interview 2015
The Chartist Newspaperhttp://goo.gl/vOLSnH
Chartist Monster Meeting
29 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Chartists Un-CoveredHistory in London
The Red Lion Pub, SohoChartists Re-enactment
Chartist’s Meeting Locations in London
Chartist’s Meetings Heatmap in London
Chartist’s London Walking Tour 21 Sep 15
30 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Chartists Re-enactment London
https://goo.gl/BSA3be
31 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Victorian Meme Machine (2014)
https://goo.gl/HMqDt3
Bob Nicholson
http://victorianhumour.tumblr.com/
32 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://victorianhumour.tubmblr.com
Victorian HumourPublic Engagement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRgj7Q5OM0
Rob Walker, Victorian Mother-in-law Jokes
Bob Nicholson interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Making History Programme:
http://goo.gl/fmV9ep
And telling jokes to the public:http://goo.gl/xIDRhz
33 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Rob WalkerVictorian Mother-in-law Jokes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRgj7Q5OM0
34 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Awards
35 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Commercial (2015)Etsy project by Dina Malkova
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DinaMalkova
https://goo.gl/OfJujM
Labs Symposium 2015http://goo.gl/pbxZUv
36 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/projects/spatialhum.wordpress/
Labs Symposium 2015: https://goo.gl/ZCU56a
Research (2015)Spatial Humanities: Lancaster University
Combining Text and Geographic Informationhttp://goo.gl/yZ3xCJ
Investigating geographical representation of disease in digitised 19th Century newspapers
37 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Projects and Ideas
38 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Creative with Wildlife Sounds
Sound Edit Wildlife Films Competition 2013
http://goo.gl/s7siv0
http://vimeo.com/60401313
'Dave's Wild Life' by
Samuel de Ceccatty, won first prize!
http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment
Work @ BL by Cheryl Tipp
39 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Dave’s Wildlife
Spotting the London Hipster
40 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Off the Map 2013 – 2015Exhibition themed asset packs
Video: https://goo.gl/jNrpj5
2013
Pre Great Fire
of London
Pudding Lane Productions: De Montford University, Ian Hargreaves, Joe Dempsey,
Luc Fontenoy, Dominic Bell, Daniel Peacock and Chelsea Lindsay.
Blog: http://goo.gl/XPBmq1
Vote1 2 3
Video: https://goo.gl/WGfJGo
2014
Gothic
Nix: University of South Wales, Jackson Rolls-Gray, Sebastian Filby
and Faye Allen.
Blog: http://goo.gl/mZ2X3T
2015
Alice’s Adventures
Off Our Rockers: De Montfort University,Dan Bullock, Freddy Canton, Luke Day, Denzil
Forde, Amber Jamieson and Braden May
Video: https://goo.gl/fPDZHE
Blog: http://goo.gl/MYih7C
Work @ BL by Stella Wisdom
2 3
41 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
2016 Competitionhttp://gamecity.org/off-the-map
Closing date: Monday 6th June 2016Work @ BL by Stella Wisdom
42 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
What can 65,000books tell us?
Image: Artwork by Alicia Martin
Just one digital collection
43 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Worked better for female faces than men’s
Press
http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.comPosts image every 30 minutes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/
1,020,418 imagesneed tagging!
Creative uses of images
Face recognition
Mechanical Curator
http://goo.gl/qPPgxX
Flickr
Snipping out imagesfrom 65,000 Digitised Books*
>400,000,000 views
>500,000 tags
https://goo.gl/FgZ4HM
Work @ BL by Ben O’Steen, Labs
and Digital Research Team*Matt Prior - http://goo.gl/j29Tnx
44 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
On each Flickr Image - Opportunities – increasing traffic to Library services
You can purchase a ‘High Res’ Copy
View in the Library Item Viewer
Download .pdfAll illustrations
in book
Other illustrations in booksPublished in same year
View the item in the Library Catalogue Tags auto generated
User generatedTag
Grouping for image
Work @ BL by Ben O’Steen, Labs
and Digital Research Team
45 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Tagging a million imagesIterative Crowdsourcing
http://goo.gl/j6fxac
Cardiff University’sLost Visions Project
http://www.metadatagames.org/
Metadata Games
James Heald
Mario Klingemann
Chico 45
Use computational methods
Human Tagger
Top British Library Flickr Commons Taggers
http://goo.gl/8SkfM1
Machine LearningSearch Engine
& Google Imagesearch
46 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Visibility - Technology Strategy Board Competition Winner 2014
Understanding value / impact of making the BL’s data open / in the public domain
Analytics dashboard for the Library showing what is happening to our Flickr Images
Presentation: https://goo.gl/phtgqv
Challenge details: http://goo.gl/Hb6l4A
47 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Curious Images Event 2014https://goo.gl/ubL0AO
Labs Symposium 2015https://goo.gl/gRZ5Ia
44 Men who Look 44(Notice the direction faces)
Tragic Looking Women
Collage Art
Artistic (2015)Mario Klingeman - Quasimondo
Blog post: http://goo.gl/dM8ieA
A Hat on the GroundSpells trouble
48 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Special Jury’s Prize (2015)James Heald – Wikimedia and Map work
https://goo.gl/WYZCB2
http://goo.gl/HNQq5e
https://goo.gl/VPgffL
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
https://goo.gl/djtm1b
Labs Symposium (2015)Geotagging maps
49 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Adam Crymble (2015)Crowdsource Arcade
What if crowd sourcing
looked like this?
http://goo.gl/LBfJ4W
http://goo.gl/OH9pOZ
https://goo.gl/7z0j8p
30 mins talkLabs Symposium (2015)
https://goo.gl/SSRsdd
5 min interview (2015)
http://goo.gl/0APpE8
Game Jam
50 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Art Treachery and Tag Attack
You choose!
https://goo.gl/vVMPuL
Art TreacheryJanuz Druz
Tag AttackAntonio Padial
https://goo.gl/engC6A
1 2
51 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
David Normal
https://youtu.be/Q3SBxO34Zlc
‘It was beyond my wildest dreams’
52 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Finding one image on Flickr
Finding many more!Make collagesMake 4 paintingsExhibit light boxes at Burning Man 2014
In Nevada USA
Work with Labs & British Library to installLight boxes in London
In 2015
Where did we put it?
53 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Let’s have a party!Exhibited from June to Nov 2015
20th June 2015
Music mix by DJ Yoda using British Library Sounds: https://goo.gl/z3k4JT
David Normal’s Art work: http://www.crossroadsofcuriosity.com & http://www.davidnormal.com
Images from Burning Man and Flickr brought into the Poet’s Circle
Physical
DigitalDigital
Physical
54 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
By Kestrel Moon https://goo.gl/QilqqT
Animating static images
55 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Challenges
56 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Starting a ConversationLanguage Problems• Finding the intersection…
• Understanding researchers
• Understanding the Library culture
• Misunderstood words–Access–Collections–Content–Crowdsourcing
57 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Data Problems [stuff goes in here]
•Metadata isn’t as clean as many
•Square brackets to indicate inferred information
•Code to plot when a record had square brackets by Ben O’Steen
58 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
59 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Data ProblemsOptical Character Recognition
60 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Simple Data structures (if only)
•Everything has a URL
•URL links to page which tells you about the thing
•Link to other things
•URL readable by machine not just a human
•Not there yet!
61 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Get the data to them however
•Internet / APIs (not there yet completely)
•Post hard drives
•MiniNAS
•Don’t worry about cleaning it up
62 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Training / Teaming up with Expert?• Many researchers have the domain knowledge but lack the technical skills to use Digital Research methods
• Should our support be more focused on training?
• There are plenty of computational experts looking for problems to solve
• Should they be teamed up with those that have problems that need solving
63 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Why is the Library doing this?
64 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
SupportingDigital Experiments better
BL Labs Git Hub Site Re-OCRing Newspapers Flickr API
BL Explore – Search Catalogue Python Code
65 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
only in Reading
Rooms due to ©
only on site due to
© or ethical
not online / available –
various storage devices,
personal data
online and open
British Library
online behind paywall
Digital access at the Library
Labs Residency Modelhttps://goo.gl/tvNVRB
http://goo.gl/ii0XHG
66 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Lessons…
•Huge appetite to use digital content & data (e.g. Flickr Commons stats)
•Identifying / bridging gaps for researchers to use data.
•Can help researchers navigate through the Library to get the data they want.
67 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Open your doors!• Let researchers in that want to use your digital collections and are
willing to understand the culture and start conversations.
• Start small and simple e.g. one person!, but think big!
• Embrace serendipity, work fast, give it energy.
• If we focus too much on perfection, we will never get anything done!
• Learn the lessons, tell the positive stories and move on!
• Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail!
• Failure seen as negative but how do we really learn?
68 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
Fail fasterSmall experiments!
https://goo.gl/Vlv3Yu
Let yourself reboot!
69 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
1045 – 1130, Wednesday, 11th May 2016,Engaging and Supporting Researchers, CPD25 (M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries) Woburn House Conference Centre, London.
http://goo.gl/
Engaging and Supporting Researchers who want to use the British Library’s Digital Collections and DataExamples and Lessons from the British Library Labs ProjectMahendra Mahey
70 @BL_Labs @cpd25_M25 #bldigital #cpd25_esr http://goo.gl/tz7V3p
Questions?
Prompt QuestionI didn’t understand…. Can you tell me more about…Why did you… I am not sure about…What if… Why didn’t you…What’s the best thing about… What was the worst thing…If you could have your time again, …
How did you…
I am not sure I agree about… What was the biggest challenge…
What was the most successful thing about…
Who did…