Delivered at linux.conf.au 2010.

1. Unlocking the ivory tower
FOSS in collaborative humanities research
Claudine Chionh
University of Melbourne
20 January 2010 / LCA2010
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2. Unlocking the ivory tower
1 Founders and Survivors
2 Humanities computing
3 Why FOSS?
4 Challenges
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3. 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)
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4. Founders and Survivors
Journal
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5. Founders and Survivors
Conduct registers
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6. Founders and Survivors
Archives of Tasmania convict index
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7. Founders and Survivors
Founders and Survivors
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8. 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
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9. Founders and Survivors
Genealogists
What happened to convicts after they were freed?
Links with genealogists for lives of convicts and their families.
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10. Founders and Survivors
The ‘factory plan’
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11. Humanities computing
‘Humanities computing’
Or ‘digital humanities’ ?
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12. Humanities computing
Old questions, new tools?
Digitisation
Analyse large[r] amounts of material
Public access and collaboration
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13. Humanities computing
The Valley of the Shadow
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14. Humanities computing
The Valley of the Shadow
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15. Humanities computing
Old Bailey Online
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16. Humanities computing
Perseus Digital Library
Virgil’s Aeneid
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17. Humanities computing
Literary and linguistic applications
Index Thomisticus (1946)
Perseus
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18. Humanities computing
Historical applications
Digitisation
Data analysis
Collaboration
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19. Humanities computing
Digitisation
Documents
Images
Linked/cross-referenced presentation of sources
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20. Humanities computing
Tasmanian Police Gazette, 1861-1933
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21. Humanities computing
Surgeon’s journals
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22. Humanities computing
Conduct registers
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23. Humanities computing
Data analysis
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24. Humanities computing
GIS
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25. Humanities computing
Collaboration
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26. Why FOSS?
Why FOSS?
Use of resources
Community of developers
Using and adapting tools
Access
Values
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27. Why FOSS?
Use of resources
Expenses:
Processing power
Storage
Bandwidth
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28. Why FOSS?
Community of developers
Mutual support
Don’t reinvent the wheel
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29. Why FOSS?
Using and adapting tools
e.g. TEI, GEDCOM
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30. Why FOSS?
Access
Make archival sources and research results accessible to general public
e.g. online museums
Sharing data with other researchers
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31. Why FOSS?
Values
Public interest
Free access, free expression
Dialogue
Public participation
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32. Challenges
The Two Cultures
The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution
CP Snow, Rede Lecture, 1959
Literature/humanities vs science/tech
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33. Challenges
Many cultures?
Translating between academics, IT professionals, diverse public
audience
Different priorities, research questions
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34. Challenges
Geeks and non-geeks
Non-geeks may not understand the values behind FOSS
Technology as magic
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35. Challenges
Where do developers belong?
Identity crisis
‘Digital humanities professional’ ?
Background – IT or academic?
Autonomy
Career progression
Where do humanities computing projects belong?
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36. 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
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37. Challenges
Evolving field
Challenging
Exciting
Where to from here?
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38. 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/
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39. 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/
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40. Challenges
This presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/claudinec
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