Unseen Illustrations – British Library Labs Data Days

British_Library_Gate_Shadow

###When?
Thursday 12 December, 2013, 1400 – 2000

###Where?
Foyle Suite, Centre of Conservation, British Library

96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB

###Sign-up
This is a free event, sign-up here

###Background

This event is the first of a series of events organised by British Library Labs and the Open Knowledge Foundation aimed at showcasing open content and data which are freely available for research and development.

We have identified an exciting range of illustrations, photographs, and other evocative images held in digital formats that are available for research and in many cases, available for any purpose. They provide a rich record of creativity, endeavour and beauty, a record of history that encompasses many cultures and countries. While much of the Library’s collections have been extensively researched, there are still many thousands of photographs and illustrations that it holds that are comparatively unseen.

With your help, we hope that we can change this.

We want to get in touch with those who have burning research questions to ask, as well as those who have the capability and skill to answer them as well as those who are looking for tools to facilitate their research.We want to talk to digital arts and humanities researchers, computer scientists, statisticians, artists, hackers, and historians – and more importantly, we want them to talk to each other.

###British Library Labs 2014 Competition

Would you like to win £3000 and a chance to work on your idea in ‘residence’ at the Library? British Library Labs wants to hear about project ideas that need access to the digital collections held by the British Library. They will run a competition for the best ideas and will contribute support, some resources and even give some prize money to the winners. The competition will launch during this event, with the winning entries picked by April/May of next year. It is open to any research that might involve the Library’s public domain or openly licensed digital holdings:

  • Over half a million illustrations, maps, plates, cartoons, posters, playbills and handbills and other decorative imagery, ranging in date from the 16th to the late 19th century.
  • Images of manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road as part of the International Dunhuang Project (IDP).
  • Over 15,000 of the collection’s finest images, originally brought together by the East India Company, focussing on artists and photographers and providing an account of the landscapes and architectural heritage of South Asia.
  • Other open image collections

This is only a small sample of the available collections, and more will be shown during the day.

###Programme

  • 1330 – Registration
  • 1400 – Introduction and overview of British Digital Library content – Mahendra Mahey (BL Labs)
  • 1415 – Open image collections – Sam Leon (Open Knowledge Foundation)
  • 1430 – Tools to be used with image collections – Ben O’Steen (BL Labs) and Sam Leon
  • 1445 – Cake, Cake more Cake..tea and coffee…
  • 1500 – Announce second BL Labs Competition – Mahendra Mahey
  • 1510 – Pitch your ideas / rapid feedback on ideas – 2 minute pitches and 3 minutes of feedback from the audience
  • 1540 – Looking at the data and ideas – People work on their ideas and look at the data
  • 1700 – Coffee break
  • 1715 – Repeat (if needed for newcomers) of BL and Open image collections
  • 1715 – Continue with looking at the data and ideas
  • 1815 – Break and nibbles
  • 1845 – Continue with looking at the data and ideas
  • 1945 – Summary, review of ideas, next steps
  • 2000 – Close