Dear all, The press release went live last week, so I can finally share a bit more detail about the project! A bit of the press release is below, or you can find out more at the project page https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/living-machines or follow our progress on twitter at @LivingwMachines. In the best spirit of the museum/GLAM technology community, we'll also be blogging and sharing findings as we go.
Cheers, Mia The Alan Turing Institute and the British Library, together with researchers from a range of universities, have been awarded £9.2 million from the UKRI's Strategic Priorities Fund for a major new project. ‘Living with Machines’, which will take place over five years, is set to be one of the biggest and most ambitious humanities and science research initiatives ever to launch in the UK. 'Living with Machines' will see data scientists working with curators, historians, geographers and computational linguists with the goal to devise new methods in data science and artificial intelligence that can be applied to historical resources, producing tools and software to analyse digitised collections at scale for the first time. In recognition of the significant changes currently underway in technology, notably in artificial intelligence, the project will use the century following the first Industrial Revolution, and the changes brought about by the advance of technology across all aspects of society during this period as its focus point. Initial research plans involve scientists from The Alan Turing Institutecollaborating with curators and researchers to build new software to analyse data drawn initially from millions of pages of out-of-copyright newspaper collections from within the archive in the British Library’s National Newspaper Building, and from other digitised historical collections, most notably government collected data, such as the census and registration of births, marriages and deaths. The resulting new research methods will allow computational linguists and historians to track societal and cultural change in new ways during this transformative period in British history. Crucially, these new research methods will place the lives of ordinary people centre-stage, rather than privileging the perspectives of decision-makers and public commentators. ‘Living with Machines’ will take a radical approach to collaboration, breaking down barriers between academic traditions, bringing together data scientists and software engineers from The Alan Turing Institute and curators from the British Library as well as computational linguists, digital humanities scholars and historians from universities including Exeter, University of East Anglia, Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London. The research methodologies and tools developed as a result of the project will transform how researchers can access and understand digitised historic collections in the future. https://www.bl.uk/press-releases/2018/december/living-with-machines -------------------------------------------- http://openobjects.org.uk/ http://twitter.com/mia_out Check out my book! http://bit.ly/CrowdsourcingOurCulturalHeritage P.S. I mostly use this address for list mail and don't check it daily On Wed, 12 Dec 2018 at 13:00, Mia <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear all, > > The Living with Machines project (on which I'm a co-investigator) is > looking for a 'research software engineer' with experience in the digital > humanities to help deliver web-based outputs for a new project combining > data science and historical research methods to examine digitised > collections at scale. I've pulled some points from the job ad below, and > I'm happy to answer questions about it, as I know that our job profiles can > be a little obscure. And as always, some elements will be more essential > than others, so I might be able to provide more background to help > potential applicants. Please help us spread the word as widely as possible! > > To my mind, work in 'digital scholarship' or 'digital humanities' includes > work in museums, libraries and archives as well as academic or other > research environments. I'm looking for a user-focused, problem solver who > enjoys collaboration to help us meet the challenges and ambitions of the > project. > > 'Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team (including curators, > historians, data scientists, computational linguists and other software > engineers), the successful candidate will help identify requirements, and > design and implement online interfaces that integrate different project > outputs to support the collections, questions and methods of the project. > They'll create outputs including creative, intuitive visualisations and > interfaces for digitised collections and derived datasets, crowdsourcing > tasks and data science outputs for project specialists, academic and public > users.' > > You may have experience as a Research Software Engineer, software > developer, creative technologist, data or visualisation specialist or > digital humanities researcher. Excellent oral and written communication > skills are also essential for this post. As with other Research Software > Engineer (https://rse.ac.uk/) posts, you'll have the opportunity to > develop their skills and play an active part in all aspects of research and > outreach, including analysis and publication. > > The link is > https://britishlibrary.recruitment.northgatearinso.com/birl/pages/vacancy.jsf?latest=01001799 > *Applications > closes January 6th.* > > (If that link doesn't work the reference number is COL02505 / > https://britishlibrary.recruitment.northgatearinso.com/birl/pages/main.jsf > ) > > Cheers, > > Mia > (Posting as Digital Curator, Western Heritage Collections, British > Library, and Co-Investigator, Living with Machines) > > *Digital Humanities Research Systems Engineer, Living with Machines* > Salary: £39,000 per annum > Location: St Pancras > Full Time, Fixed Term to 30 March 2023 > > Living with Machines (LwM) is an ambitious large-scale project in data > science and the digital humanities. LwM proposes a new research paradigm – > a radical collaboration between historians, data scientists, geographers, > computational linguists, and curators – using computational techniques and > very large textual datasets from a variety of sources in order to ask > questions about the ways in which technology altered the very fabric of > life in Britain. We will create spatial and temporal representations of > complex historical datasets, and interfaces for specific research methods > and technologies. > > We are looking for a Digital Humanities Research Software Engineer (DH > RSE) to complement our team and create online interfaces that help deliver > our goals. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the development > and implementation of the digital scholarship and public outreach streams > of the LwM project by assembling, designing, implementing, developing and > integrating a range of tools. > > Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team (including curators, > historians, data scientists, computational linguists and other software > engineers), the successful candidate will help identify requirements, and > design and implement online interfaces that integrate different project > outputs to support the collections, questions and methods of the project. > The DH RSE will create outputs including creative, intuitive visualisations > and interfaces for digitised collections and derived datasets, > crowdsourcing tasks and data science outputs for project specialists, > academic and public users. > > The DH RSE will have a good understanding of digital scholarship, > preferably gained from working in a research library, academic or other > appropriate environment. This may include work as a Research Software > Engineer, software developer, creative technologist, data or visualisation > specialist or digital humanities researcher. They will have excellent > information technology skills, including experience of the tools and > technologies that support digital scholarship. Excellent oral and written > communication skills are also essential for this post. As with other > Research Software Engineer (https://rse.ac.uk/) posts, the post holder > will have the opportunity to develop their skills and play an active part > in all aspects of research and outreach, including analysis and publication. > > This project aims to use computational techniques and very large datasets > in order to ask questions about the ways in which technology altered the > very fabric of human existence on a hitherto unprecedented scale. The > project exploits a corpus of digitised sources, including newspapers, trade > directories, census data, and patents, and other resources yet to be > digitised (the unstamped press, trade press, business archives and > autobiographies). By developing intuitive computational interfaces and a > philosophy of interdisciplinary collaboration we will enable close > interaction between computational methods and historical inquiry. > > Living with Machines is carried out in partnership between the Alan Turing > Institute, the British Library, and the Universities of Exeter, London > (QMUL) Cambridge, and East Anglia. The project is led by Ruth Ahnert > (QMUL), and co-led by Mia Ridge (BL), Adam Farquhar (BL), Emma Griffin > (UEA), James Hetherington (Alan Turing Institute), Jon Lawrence (Exeter), > and Barbara McGillivray (Alan Turing Institute and Cambridge). > > As one of the world’s great libraries, our duty is to preserve the > nation’s intellectual memory for the future. At present we have well over > 150 million items, in most known languages, with three million new items > added every year. We have manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints > and drawings, music scores, and patents. We operate the world’s largest > document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers > all over the world. What matters to us is that we preserve the national > memory and enable knowledge to be created both now and in the future. > > In return we offer a competitive salary and a number of excellent > benefits. Our pension scheme is one of the most valuable benefits we > offer, as our staff can become members of the Alpha Pension Scheme where > the Library contributes 20.9%. Another significant benefit the Library > provides is the provision of a flexible working hours scheme which could > allow you to work your hours flexibly over the week and to take up to 5 > days flexi leave in a 3 month period. This is on top of 25 days holiday > from entry and public and privilege holidays. > > For further information and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers > quoting vacancy ref:02505 > > > > > *Closing date: 6 January 2019Interview date: 15 & 16 January 2019* > We are a Disability Confident employer, and make a commitment to recruit > and support disabled people. We guarantee an interview for disabled > candidates who meet the minimum (essential) requirements for a vacancy. > > In order to apply for this vacancy, you must be able to supply the > required answers to the following questions: Do you currently have the > right to work in the United Kingdom? Are you currently a British Library > employee or agency member of staff? > > > -------------------------------------------- > http://openobjects.org.uk/ > http://twitter.com/mia_out > Check out my book! http://bit.ly/CrowdsourcingOurCulturalHeritage > P.S. I mostly use this address for list mail and don't check it daily > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
