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Research databases in the humanities: where next? A half-day workshop, 21st January, 2 011

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What are the issues that researchers in the Humanities face when compiling data, and how can technology help or hinder? This workshop will look at the ways in which humanities researchers build, maintain, and preserve databases, along with the processes currently in place to support such activities. It will consider what tools could be developed to support the creation and use of research data, how data from different sources might be linked, and, where relevant, the role that public or private cloud services might play.

The workshop will be primarily concerned with the processes of creating databases for humanities research. As such it will be of interest to humanities researchers who are working with or considering developing research databases and who wish to stay abreast of the latest developments and opportunities. It is also likely to appeal to technologists involved in the provision of research services. We hope to provide a forum in which ideas can be exchanged and new approaches to humanities data illustrated.

The workshop is being organised as part of the Sudamih Project (Supporting Data Management Infrastructure in the Humanities), funded by the JISC.

Workshop website: http://sudamih.oucs.ox.ac.uk/databases_workshop.xml

Please register via the website or by emailing sudamih@oucs.ox.ac.uk

Date: Friday 21st January, 2011.
Location: Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA.

A buffet lunch will be provided from 12 noon, with the workshop itself commencing at 1pm and concluding by 4:45pm. There is no charge for attending the workshop.

Posted by: James A J Wilson (james.wilson@oucs.ox.ac.uk).

Vacancy: Research Associate (Digital Palaeography)

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The Centre for Computing in Humanities (CCH) seeks a suitably experienced Research Associate for a new four-year project on digital palaeography.

The post holder will be based at CCH, an academic department in the School of Arts and Humanities focusing on research into the possibilities of computing for arts and humanities scholarship. The project, ‘Digital Resource and Database of Palaeography, Manuscripts and Diplomatic’ is funded by the European Research Commission (FP7). Its primary aim is to create an online resource for palaeographical study, discovery and citation, emphasizing the vernacular scripts of eleventh-century England.

The post holder will work closely with the Principal Investigator and others in the project team to work with original manuscripts to compile palaeographical and codicological data, to prepare this data and the associated images for online delivery, to contribute to innovative ideas about the display and interrogation of palaeographical data on line, and to help disseminate the project’s findings through conferences and colloquia.

A PhD or equivalent on a relevant medieval topic involving the study of manuscripts is essential, as is an appreciation of the potentials and limits of humanities computing. A high level of skill in palaeography and codicology is required, as is working knowledge of Old English and Latin. Some experience working with XML, databases and/or digital images is desirable.

The appointment will be made, dependent on relevant qualifications and experience, within the Grade 6 scale, £33,070 inclusive of £2,323 London Allowance, per annum. Benefits include an annual season ticket loan scheme and a final salary superannuation scheme.

This post is fixed term until 30 September 2014.

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Peter Stokes on +44 (0)20 7848 2813, or via email at peter.stokes.

Further details and application packs are available on the College’s website at cass-recruitment. All correspondence should clearly state the job title and reference number G6/AAV/629/10-HK

The closing date for receipt of applications is 5 January 2011.

Posted by: Peter Stokes (peter.stokes@kcl.ac.uk).

Difficult images needed

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All,
One of our affiliated research students here at the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, shared with the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, needs some images to test his processing methods. I copy his request below. If you have any such material it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact me off-list and I’ll put you in touch: s.mahony@ucl.ac.uk Regards
Simon

“My project involves applying image processing methods to multi-spectral images in order to enhance or reveal difficult-to-read text.

The type of images that I need are the full-spectrum of unmodified, multi-spectral images of manuscripts or documents. The methods that I use will try to enhance text from this manuscripts. Ideally the images should be from palimpsestic text, where at least one of the text is very difficult to see or image with visible light captures.”

Alejandro Giacometti alejandro.giacometti.09@ucl.ac.uk
Dept. of Medical Physics & Bioengineering
Dept. of Information Studies

Survey request

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Librarians at Western Michigan University are developing a Dublin Core application profile which will provide a simple template for describing pre-modern manuscripts. This simple profile uses Dublin Core, which works with a variety of software systems (for example, CONTENTdm), and the profile was developed to allow the creation of standardized, shareable metadata and Web-accessible digital images. The perceived audience for this project includes librarians who are not specialists of pre-modern materials, small institutions and medieval scholars without metadata experience. We invite your participation in a survey of the current version of this profile at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PR5CL6N .

This profile was developed to fill a need tied to our participation in the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan, which brings over 3,000 medieval scholars to Western Michigan University annually. WMU Libraries and its digitization program have participated in workshops for the Congress which highlighted the problems of small institutions (holding only one or two items) and individual scholars who wish to provide metadata for digitized manuscripts, but do not have the right combination of technical and subject skills.

Posted by: Daniel Paul O’Donnell (daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca).

Call for submssions to Opuscula: Short Texts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (OSTMAR)

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The Editorial Board of
Opuscula: Short Texts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (OSTMAR) is pleased to announce the official launch of its website.
http://opuscula.usask.ca

We seek single-witness editions of Medieval and Renaissance texts under 6,000 words accompanied by a brief introduction (1000-1500 words) and translation. We invite submission of a broad range of pre-modern texts including but not limited to literary and philosophical works, letters, charters, court documents, and notebooks. Texts should be previously unedited and the edition must represent a discrete text in its entirety.

For more information or to view a sample edition, go to opuscula.usask.ca or write Frank Klaassen, General Editor at editor@opuscula.usask.ca.

OSTMAR is an on-line and open-access journal published by Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies at the University of Saskatchewan under a creative commons license. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer review and must be accompanied by readable digital facsimiles of the original documents.

Posted by: Brent Nelson (brent.nelson@usask.ca).