Unlocking the ivory tower: FOSS in collaborative humanities research

Unlocking the ivory tower FOSS in collaborative humanities research Claudine Chionh University of Melbourne 20 January 2010 / LCA2010 Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 1/ 40 20 January 2010 1 / 40

Unlocking the ivory tower 1 Founders and Survivors 2 Humanities computing 3 Why FOSS? 4 Challenges Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 2/ 40 20 January 2010 2 / 40

Founders and Survivors The Claudine Woolwich 24/aug/1821 to Hobart 15/dec/1821 – 113 days at sea 160 male convicts boarded, 159 survived/landed (not a bad record) Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 3/ 40 20 January 2010 3 / 40

Founders and Survivors Journal Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 4/ 40 20 January 2010 4 / 40

Founders and Survivors Conduct registers Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 5/ 40 20 January 2010 5 / 40

Founders and Survivors Archives of Tasmania convict index Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 6/ 40 20 January 2010 6 / 40

Founders and Survivors Founders and Survivors Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 7/ 40 20 January 2010 7 / 40

Founders and Survivors Van Diemen’s Land Transportation period, 1803-1853 ∼ 13,000 female convicts ∼ 25,000 male convicts ∼ 1 million rows of data Quantiﬁable data: conduct registers, BDM. . . Text: journals, newspaper reports Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 8/ 40 20 January 2010 8 / 40

Founders and Survivors Genealogists What happened to convicts after they were freed? Links with genealogists for lives of convicts and their families. Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 9/ 40 20 January 2010 9 / 40

Founders and Survivors The ‘factory plan’ Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 10/ 40 20 January 2010 10 / 40

Humanities computing ‘Humanities computing’ Or ‘digital humanities’ ? Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 11/ 40 20 January 2010 11 / 40

Humanities computing Old questions, new tools? Digitisation Analyse large[r] amounts of material Public access and collaboration Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 12/ 40 20 January 2010 12 / 40

Humanities computing The Valley of the Shadow Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 13/ 40 20 January 2010 13 / 40

Humanities computing The Valley of the Shadow Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 14/ 40 20 January 2010 14 / 40

Humanities computing Old Bailey Online Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 15/ 40 20 January 2010 15 / 40

Humanities computing Perseus Digital Library Virgil’s Aeneid Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 16/ 40 20 January 2010 16 / 40

Humanities computing Literary and linguistic applications Index Thomisticus (1946) Perseus Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 17/ 40 20 January 2010 17 / 40

Humanities computing Historical applications Digitisation Data analysis Collaboration Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 18/ 40 20 January 2010 18 / 40

Humanities computing Digitisation Documents Images Linked/cross-referenced presentation of sources Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 19/ 40 20 January 2010 19 / 40

Humanities computing Tasmanian Police Gazette, 1861-1933 Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 20/ 40 20 January 2010 20 / 40

Humanities computing Surgeon’s journals Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 21/ 40 20 January 2010 21 / 40

Humanities computing Conduct registers Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 22/ 40 20 January 2010 22 / 40

Humanities computing Data analysis Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 23/ 40 20 January 2010 23 / 40

Humanities computing GIS Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 24/ 40 20 January 2010 24 / 40

Humanities computing Collaboration Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 25/ 40 20 January 2010 25 / 40

Why FOSS? Why FOSS? Use of resources Community of developers Using and adapting tools Access Values Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 26/ 40 20 January 2010 26 / 40

Why FOSS? Use of resources Expenses: Processing power Storage Bandwidth Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 27/ 40 20 January 2010 27 / 40

Why FOSS? Community of developers Mutual support Don’t reinvent the wheel Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 28/ 40 20 January 2010 28 / 40

Why FOSS? Using and adapting tools e.g. TEI, GEDCOM Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 29/ 40 20 January 2010 29 / 40

Why FOSS? Access Make archival sources and research results accessible to general public e.g. online museums Sharing data with other researchers Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 30/ 40 20 January 2010 30 / 40

Why FOSS? Values Public interest Free access, free expression Dialogue Public participation Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 31/ 40 20 January 2010 31 / 40

Challenges The Two Cultures The Two Cultures and the Scientiﬁc Revolution CP Snow, Rede Lecture, 1959 Literature/humanities vs science/tech Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 32/ 40 20 January 2010 32 / 40

Challenges Many cultures? Translating between academics, IT professionals, diverse public audience Diﬀerent priorities, research questions Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 33/ 40 20 January 2010 33 / 40

Challenges Geeks and non-geeks Non-geeks may not understand the values behind FOSS Technology as magic Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 34/ 40 20 January 2010 34 / 40

Challenges Where do developers belong? Identity crisis ‘Digital humanities professional’ ? Background – IT or academic? Autonomy Career progression Where do humanities computing projects belong? Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 35/ 40 20 January 2010 35 / 40

Challenges Resources and evaluation Resource needs and output not like in traditional academic projects In: computer resources, not just research time Out: software, web, data, not just articles Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 36/ 40 20 January 2010 36 / 40

Challenges Evolving ﬁeld Challenging Exciting Where to from here? Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 37/ 40 20 January 2010 37 / 40

Challenges Links The Valley of the Shadow http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/ Old Bailey Online http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ Perseus Digital Library http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ Index Thomisticus http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/it/ Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 38/ 40 20 January 2010 38 / 40

Challenges Links Founders and Survivors http://www.foundersandsurvivors.org/ Mapping Our Anzacs http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/ Australian Newspapers (National Library) http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ Essays in Humanities Computing http://www.digitalhumanities.org/Essays/ Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 39/ 40 20 January 2010 39 / 40

Challenges This presentation http://www.slideshare.net/claudinec Claudine Chionh (University of Melbourne) Unlocking the ivory tower 40/ 40 20 January 2010 40 / 40

Unlocking the ivory tower: FOSS in collaborative humanities research

by Claudine Chionh

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