Post on 11-Jan-2017
1 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
British Library LabsOpening up the British Library’s Cultural Heritage DataMahendra Mahey
14 December 2016,IMPACT Centre of CompetenceFundación Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de CervantesCalle del Marqués de Urquijo, 4, 28008 Madrid
https://goo.gl/sKARyf
2 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
http://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labsFunded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
3 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Living Knowledge Vision (2015 – 2023)
Custodianship Research Business
Culture Learning International
To make our intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment and be the most open, creative
and innovative institution of its kind by 2023.
Document:http://goo.gl/h41wW7 Speech:https://goo.gl/Py9uHK
Roly Keating (Chief Executive Officer of the British Library)
To make our intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment and be the most open, creative
and innovative institution of its kind by 2023.
4 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Collections – not just books!> 180* million items
> 0.8* m serial titles
> 8* m stamps
> 14* m books
> 3* m sound recordings> 4* m maps
> 1.6* m musical scores
> 0.3* m manuscripts
> 60* m patents
King’s Library *Estimates
5 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
#bldigital1-2 %* digitised
* estimate
Digitisation
Partnerships Commercial & Other Organisations
Amountincreasing rapidly
Bias in digitisation
http://goo.gl/bR9UJL Sample Generator
6 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
digitalData all around us!
/
Knowledge Quarter London55 knowledge organisations within 1 mile radius of Kings Cross, http://www.knowledgequarter.london
https://goo.gl/pGO7QY
digitalData all around us!
7 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Curators / Researchers
Access & Reuse Group
©
Developers/ Technical
Staff
Project Board
Universities & wider
The World
ResearchersBL Labs
British Library
Digital Scholarship
DigitalContent
United Kingdom
Advisory Board
Digital Research
Stakeholders involved in Labs
8 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Wider…not just Researchers
Researchershttps://goo.gl/WutNyi
Artistshttp://goo.gl/nNKhQ2
LibrariansCurators
https://goo.gl/9NWZUW
Software Developershttps://goo.gl/7QQ5Tf
Archivistshttps://goo.gl/x7b4tg Educators
https://goo.gl/qh01Mi
9 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Playbills, Books, Newspapers (includes OCR)
Digital collections and Datasets
British National Bibliography
http://bnb.data.bl.uk
http://sounds.bl.ukhttp://dml.city.ac.uk/
Music (Recordings & Sheet) & Soundshttp://goo.gl/frSMJtBroadcast News (TV and Radio)
http://goo.gl/cwThHw
http://goo.gl/pBkisZhttp://goo.gl/E8aRyQ
Usage dataImages, Manuscripts & Maps
http://www.qdl.qa/ Qatar Digital Library
http://idp.bl.uk/International Dunhuang
Project
Mapshttp://www.bl.uk/maps/
Hebrew Manuscriptshttp://goo.gl/4sbCp9
Flickr & Wikimedia Commons
https://goo.gl/LZRmaZ
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only in Reading
Rooms due to ©
only on site due to
© or ethical etc
not online / available –
various storage devices,
personal data
online and open
British Library
online behind paywall
Challenges of Digital access at the Library
11 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
The Story of the Collection!
Collection
CuratorWho paid for the digitisation?
Who did the digitisation?Technology used
Born digital?
Published
Unpublished
Where is it?
Can it still be accessed?
Generates income
Reputational Risk
Legalities
Political
Ego Surprises
Metadata
Old format not supportedWhat media was the digitisation done from?
Documentation
No Metadata
Messy Metadata
Still there?
Sometimes it’s complicated, better to know as much as possible, if you want to open it up!
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Open Licensed Digital Content?
15% Openly Licensed
Working through
Breakdown by collection*Manuscripts 59%Books 9%Maps and Views 7%Newspapers 3%Archives and Records 3%Paintings, Prints and Drawings 2%
*Based on digitisation projects
Largest proportion of fundingPublic / Private Partnership
13 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Finding Open Digital Collections• Curated?
Learn the story behind a collection!Is there a human who knows the ‘story’ about the collection, who wants it used, are there any surprises lurking?
• Where is it, is it accessible?
• Licensing?Internal Access and Reuse and Licensing Group (Risk assessment group – Strategic, Commercial, Copyright, Curatorial, Technical)
• Metadata available? What state is it and does it need cleaning?
https://goo.gl/Qjeqo1
https://goo.gl/Kfc4qc
Access & Reuse Group
©
14 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Cultural Heritage DatasetsDatasets about our collections Bibliographic datasets relating to our published and archival holdings
Datasets for content mining Content suitable for use in text and data mining research
Datasets for image analysisImage collections suitable for large-scale image-analysis-based research
Datasets from UK Web ArchiveData and API services available for accessing UK Web Archive
Digital mapping Geospatial data, cartographic applications, digital aerial photography and scanned historic map materials https://data.bl.uk
Launched November 7, 2016
Discussion list: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CULTURAL-HERITAGE-DATASETS
15 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Competition
Awards
Projects
Tell us your ideas of what to do with our digital content
Show us what you have already done with our digital content in research, artistic, commercial and learning and
teaching categories
Talk to us about working on collaborative projects
16 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Labs Engagement 2016• 18 institutions visited
• 5000 miles travelled
• 50 presentations & 25 workshops
• 900 researchers / artists/ entrepreneurs / educators
• 400 expressions of interest
• 40 researchers, artists, entrepreneurs & educators supported
• 60TB of data via post
• 9TB of data via data.bl.uk (Nov 16)
• Over half a billion views on BL Flickr Commons since launch in Dec 2013
It’s hard work!
17 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Why and how are doing this?
• Working closely with and listening to those who want use our digital collections and data for their work and helping to build services, tools and processes to support them
• We can learn how we are and should be supporting them.– Is the access to digital collections we provide sufficient?– Do we have the right tools?– Do we provide the right support?– Where are the gaps between what they want and what we can
give?– How do we build the bridges to overcome them?– Many more reasons…
18 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
READING ROOM
ON SITE
NOT ONLINE
OPEN
British Library
£
Digital access at the Library
Labs Residency Model
19 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Some Lessons Learned and Challenges so far…• Everything starts from a conversation (external and internal)!
• Need to have several conversations with several stakeholders and tap into their tacit knowledge that isn’t always written down (esp. internal).
• It’s hard work at the beginning!
• Expectations change when researchers actually see the data, systems and experience the ‘culture’ of the organisation.
• We tend to work with researchers who can be ‘flexible’ with their research questions and are willing to embrace challenges.
• Often misunderstandings because of jargon & different meaning of words.
• Embrace dirty data, it may never be perfect!
20 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Some Lessons Learned and Challenges so far…(2)
• Many researchers have the domain knowledge but lack the technical skills to use Digital Research methods. Should they be teamed up with those that have problems that need solving (Computing) or get trained?
• Identifying / bridging gaps for researchers to use data, help them ‘navigate’ through the Library to get the data they want (sometimes).
• Huge appetite to use digital content & data (e.g. Flickr Commons stats).
• Start small and simple, but think big!
• Create and embrace serendipity, stimulate the imagination, work fast, give it energy.
• Letting go of the emotional and psychological connection to “my” collection
• If digitised collections are not used, what is the point of digitising them?
• Fail faster (don’t be afraid), small experiments, reject perfectionism, good enough
21 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
What did people
actually do?
22 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Machine Learning / Reading
• Analogies to how humans read
• Machines acquire knowledge
• Use that knowledge to make sense of new situations
• Not well understood area…
23 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
The smell of soup!
Thanks to Memo Akten (@memotv on twitter) for the inspiration!
https://goo.gl/toq4Bo Nasreddin, 13th Century Turkish Sufi
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/reading/smell1.htm
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Mrs Folly
25 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
http://victorianhumour.tubmblr.com
Victorian Meme Machine (2014)
https://goo.gl/HMqDt3
Bob Nicholson
http://victorianhumour.tumblr.com/Bob Nicholson interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Making History Programme:
http://goo.gl/fmV9ep
And telling jokes to the public:http://goo.gl/xIDRhz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRgj7Q5OM0
Rob Walker, Victorian Mother-in-law Jokes
Victorian Comedy Night, 7 Nov 2016
26 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Katrina Navickas (2015) Political Meetings Mapper
http://politicalmeetingsmapper.co.ukhttps://goo.gl/Qq78Oa
Labs Symposium 2015
https://goo.gl/BSA3be
Interview 2015
The Chartist Newspaperhttp://goo.gl/vOLSnH
Chartist Monster Meeting
Chartists Re-enactment London
27 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Black Abolitionist Performances & their Presence in Britain (2016) – Hannah-Rose Murray
FrederickDouglass
EllenCraft
JosiahHenson
Ida B Wells
A Performance by Joe Williams &
Martelle Edinborough
http://frederickdouglassinbritain.com/
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Use of Overproof
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Data-mining verse in 18th Century newspapersBL Labs Project 16-17, Jennifer Batt
https://goo.gl/5Akthd
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Virtual Infrastructure for OCR text
OCT text in cloud
Jupyter note bookhttp://jupyter.org
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The Magic of Openness!
• By opening collections up we are creating the possibility to have them used in ways only restricted by human imagination.
• Need to work hard to tell people about our Digital Collections and Data especially if not easy to find, creating serendipity and opportunities for use!
• Give plenty of examples to inspire use!
• Support and celebrate the use!
32 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
What can 65,000books tell us?
Image: Artwork by Alicia Martin
Just one open digital collection
33 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Worked better for female faces than men’s
Press
http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.comPosts image every 30 minutes
http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/
1,020,418 imagesneed tagging!
Creative uses of images
Face recognition
Mechanical Curator
http://goo.gl/qPPgxX
Flickr
Snipping out imagesfrom 65,000 Digitised Books*
>600,000,000 views
>15,500,000 tags
https://goo.gl/FgZ4HM
Work @ BL by Ben O’Steen, Labs
and Digital Research Team*Matt Prior - http://goo.gl/j29Tnx
Since Dec 2013
34 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Tagging a million imagesIterative Crowdsourcing
http://goo.gl/j6fxac
Cardiff University’sLost Visions Project
http://www.metadatagames.org/
Metadata Games
James Heald
Mario Klingemann
Chico 45
Use computational methods
Human Tagger
Top British Library Flickr Commons Taggers
http://goo.gl/8SkfM1
Machine LearningSearch Engine
& Google Imagesearch
35 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Special Jury’s Prize (2015)James Heald – Wikimedia and Map work
https://goo.gl/WYZCB2
http://goo.gl/HNQq5e
https://goo.gl/VPgffL
https://commons.wikimedia.org/
https://goo.gl/djtm1b
Labs Symposium (2015)Geotagging maps
54,000 Maps
36 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Adam Crymble (2015)Crowdsource Arcade
What if crowd sourcing
looked like this?
http://goo.gl/LBfJ4W
http://goo.gl/OH9pOZ
https://goo.gl/7z0j8p
30 mins talkLabs Symposium (2015)
https://goo.gl/SSRsdd
5 min interview (2015)
http://goo.gl/0APpE8
Game Jam
37 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
SherlockNet: Competition Winner 2016Karen Wang, Luda Zhao and Brian Do
Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Automatically Tag and Caption the British Library Flickr Commons 1 million Image Collection
Classify into one of 12 categories
>15 million tags added (total now 15.5 million overall)>100,000 experimental captions
bit.ly/sherlocknet
Pooled surrounding Optical Character Recognised
text on page from similar images
Used Microsoft COCO (photographs) & British Museum Prints and Drawings
collections as training sets.
Tags Captions
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Artistic / Creative Works
Mario Klingeman (2015)
David Normal 2014 and 2015
Rob Walker 2014
Kris Hoffman (2016)
Jiayi Chong 2016Ling Low 2016
Paul Rand Pierce 2016
A Hat on the GroundSpells trouble
Tragic Looking Women44 Men who Look 44
(Notice the direction faces)
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Mario Klingemann 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgnxnmqnR7YGoogle Arts and Culture Lab – Experiments with Machine Learning
https://artsexperiments.withgoogle.com/
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New Jerusalem (2014)Michael Takeo Magruder
Papyrus 46, one of the oldestNew Testament papyri, showing 2 Cor 11:33-12:9
De/coding the Apocalypse, Somerset House, London, UK, 2014http://www.takeo.org/nspace/2014-dta-new-jerusalem/
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New Jerusalem (2014)Michael Takeo Magruder
http://www.takeo.org/nspace/2014-dta-new-jerusalem/
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13th Station of the Cross (2016)Lamentation of Christ – Michael Takeo Magruder
http://ststephenwalbrook.net/ http://www.coexisthouse.org.uk/magruder.html
43 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
Lamentation of Christ (2016)The Art Work – Michael Takeo Magruder
http://www.coexisthouse.org.uk/magruder.html
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Imaginary Cities – BL Labs Project 16-17Michael Takeo Magruder
https://goo.gl/4ARwTy
An artistic exploration seeking to create provocative fictional cityscapes for the Information Age from the British Library’s digital collection of historic urban maps
45 @BL_Labs @BL_DigiSchol #bldigital https://goo.gl/sKARyf
More ideas for inspiration!
http://labs.bl.uk/Ideas+for+Labs http://labs.bl.uk/Other+Uses+of+Collections
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Contact us
Mahendra MaheyManager of BL Labs
mahendra.mahey@bl.uklabs@bl.uk