The document summarizes a presentation by Stella Wisdom about digital research projects at the British Library. It describes how the library supports digital scholarship through making collections available online, providing research support, and hosting events like the annual Off the Map competition. The competition challenges students to creatively use the library's digital maps and other collections. Winning projects have included interactive games and virtual tours inspired by works like Alice in Wonderland and The Tempest.

1. BL Labs Roadshow 2017
University of Warwick
Slides: http://bit.ly/2p95iuy
Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator
@miss_wisdom
Blog: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/
Doing Digital Research
at the British Library
Off the Map

2. www.bl.uk 2
Digital Scholarship is using
computational methods either
to answer existing research
questions or to challenge existing
theoretical paradigms…. Geotagging
Data Visualisation
Data Mining
Georeferencing
Digital Mapping
Crowdsourcing
Text mining
Collaboration

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Meet the Digital Research Team
We support researchers in the innovative
use of British Library's digital collections and
data through:
• Working behind the scenes to get content
in digital form and online
• Offering digital research support and
guidance
• Supporting collaborative projects
• Running events, competitions, and awards

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The Off the Map Competition
• A new type of collaboration
• Explores how British Library digital collections
can be used in creative ways
• Engagement with new audiences
• Opportunity for students in the UK to
showcase their talents to industry

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C.J. Visscher, London , 1616 (detail) Maps C.5.a.6

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John Leake, An exact surveigh of the streets lanes and churches contained within the
ruines of the City of London, 1667. Maps Crace port 2.58

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2013 winning team:
Pudding Lane Productions from De Montfort University, Leicester
Created an interpretation of 17th Century London
http://youtu.be/SPY-hr-8-M0 (Flythrough starts at 0:50)

10. Gothic theme, a tie-in with the Library's exhibition
Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination
3 October 2014 - 20 January 2015
• Fonthill Abbey
Home of William Beckford, author of Vathek
• Edgar Allan Poe’s
Masque of the Red Death
• Whitby and its association
with Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:British_Library_-_Off_the_Map_Gothic_Collection
Off the Map 2014

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Image from Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey, John Rutter, 1823

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Image from Delineations of
Fonthill and its Abbey,
John Rutter, 1823

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2014 winning team: Gothulus Rift, University of South Wales
Created a Fonthill Abbey inspired game called Nix using Oculus Rift
YouTube flythrough: http://youtu.be/8ESieZO4VHw

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15. Alice’s Adventures Off the Map part of the British Library's celebrations
for the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:British_Library_-_Off_the_Map_Alice_Collection
https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/sets/alices-adventures-off-the-map
Off the Map 2015

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The original handwritten manuscript of the
story, ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’,
which was first told to Alice Liddell by Lewis
Carroll in 1862.

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2015 Winning Game:
“The Wondering Lands of Alice”
Team Off our Rockers, De Montfort University in Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/7bwx4uUnbV4

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2015 Winning Game:
“The Wondering Lands of Alice”
Team Off our Rockers, De Montfort University in Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/7bwx4uUnbV4

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#Shakespeare400
2016 commemorations of
400 years since the death
of William Shakespeare

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21. 2016 Off the Map competition
sub-themes
Castles: Scene of Ghosts and Murder
The Tempest
Forests, Woodlands and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
Team Members:
Tara Naz, Jasdev Singh, Jade Silver, Christopher Anka, Perrie Green, Joel Wilkins

23. The Tempest
The Tempest opens with a storm
battering the ship on which Alonso, the
King of Naples, and his party are
travelling. Washed ashore, Alonso’s
men find themselves on a strange
island inhabited by Prospero the
magician, his daughter Miranda, a
shape-shifting spirit called Ariel, and
the slave Caliban.
Frontispiece to The Tempest in The
Works of Mr William Shakespear (1709),
edited by Nicholas Rowe. C.123.fff.2.
Volume 1, p1

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The Tempest
Shakespeare was inspired to write The Tempest when he read of the fate of the Sea-
Adventure, a ship taking English colonists to North America which was wrecked off the
coast of Bermuda in 1609. The Bermudas were then the most feared place on earth for
sea travellers, who had heard stories about the islands being inhabited by devils.
Map of Bermuda as
published in Gerhard
Mercator and
Jodocus Hondius'
world atlas of 1633.
Maps K.Top 123

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Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y

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Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
From Boydell's Collection of Prints illustrating Shakespeare's works
http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/boydells-collection-of-prints-illustrating-shakespeares-works

28. Sound files: https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/sets/shakespeare-off-the-map

29. Off the Map 2016 2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey, London College of Communication
http://tombattey.com/portfolio-items/midsummer/
https://tombattey.itch.io/midsummer

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Off the Map 2016 2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey, London College of Communication
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/sz-IKvp62NI
Download the game: http://tombattey.com/portfolio-items/midsummer/

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http://handeyesociety.com/event/wordplay-london-photo-video-recap/
WordPlay 2016 was held on the 19th of
November at the British Library in
London as part of International Games
Day @ your Library.

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29th October to 4th November 2017
http://games.ala.org/international-games-week/

33. The Infinite Library
InteractiveFictionSummer School
17– 21July2017
www.bl.uk/courses

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Web: http://www.bl.uk/subjects/digital-scholarship
Blog:
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/
Email: digitalresearch@bl.uk
Twitter: : @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital
These Slides: http://bit.ly/2p95iuy