The document summarizes the CLARIAH Media Suite, which is part of the CLARIAH infrastructure project to build a virtual research environment for conducting humanities research with digital data and tools. The Media Suite focuses on audiovisual data and media studies. It provides access to collections of audiovisual sources and associated metadata through its Collection Inspector tool. The author discusses lessons learned about the need for data and tool transparency. The Media Suite aims to aggregate metadata about collections and provide tools for data and tool criticism to improve digital literacy.

1. Analyzing AV Sources as Data
Experiences Gained with Designing the CLARIAH Media Suite
Julia Noordegraaf
University of Amsterdam

2. Introduction
• Data transparency prerequisite for broad take-up DH
• Learning by doing:
– CREATE program (www.create.humanities.uva.nl)
– CLARIAH infrastructure (http://mediasuite.clariah.nl/)
• Examples:
– metadata criticism
– data and tool criticism

3. What does CLARIAH do?
Build a virtual research environment for conducting
humanities research with digital data and tools

4. Context
• Part of the National Roadmap Large-scale
Research Infrastructure
• Dutch contribution to to
the European research infrastructures for the
Humanities and Social Sciences
(CLARIN and DARIAH)

5. Focus
• Selective focus on three types of data & fields:
▪ Textual data – Linguistics
▪ Structured data – Socio-economic History
▪ Audiovisual data – Media Studies
• Aim to make collections and tools available for
other disciplines in the Humanities and Social
Sciences

8. Following the research process

9. Data in the Media suite
Overview of available
collections including
collection descriptions
(CKAN)

12. Collection Inspector Tool

13. 1.Selecting a collection

14. 2. Inspecting available metadata fields

19. 3. Selecting date & analysis fields

20. Collection
inspector
results

22. EYE metadata

26. Hoyt, Eric, Kit Hughes, Derek Long,
Anthony Tran, and Kevin Ponto. 2014.
“Scaled Entity Search: A Method for
Media Historiography and Response to
Critiques of Big Humanities Data
Research.” In 2014 IEEE International
Conference on Big Data (Big Data),
51–59.

29. Advancing tool criticism
Spinque Desk

31. Conclusions
• More data = more transparency needed
• Black-boxing versus improving digital literacy
• Solutions:
– aggregate views on collections and metadata
quality
– tools for data criticism
– tools for tool criticism

32. Launch MSv3: April 2018
http://mediasuite.clariah.nl/
Julia Noordegraaf
j.j.noordegraaf@uva.nl
http://www.clariah.nl/werkpakketten/focusgebieden/media-studies