Thinking about archives over CAKE

Posted on 6 February, 2018 by Eve

Last month saw the first ESRC IAA and Creative Fuse CAKE collaboration over at the Mining Institute in Newcastle. Here Frances Hardcastle from Creative Fuse summarises the main points from the afternoon presentations.

How does the digital affect archive materials? Often when we consider digital archives, we equate this with the process of digitisation – creating a digital copy of an item that can be viewed on a screen and stored on a server. But what if there was more to the digital archive than digitisation? In our 15th Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) event, we explored the changing dynamics between digital and original artefacts, and how the message can complement and be transformed by the medium.

In keeping with our theme, this month’s event blended the grandeur and heritage of the venue with a 21st Century audience; filling the library of the Mining Institute with representatives from the region’s Creative, Digital and IT sector.

Fabulous venue for CAKE 15 at the @MiningInstitute, Newcastle. Hosted by @CreativeFuseNE, four speakers will be giving their thoughts on the impact of Digital Archives! #FuseCAKE #DigitalArchives pic.twitter.com/MWfbAFDKdl

— JUMP (@yousayjump) 25 January 2018

Our first speakers were from Animating Text at Newcastle University (ATNU). Professor Jennifer Richards and her colleagues, Professor Michael Rossington, Dr James Cummings and Dr Tiago Sousa Garcia gave a lightening fast introduction to the world of digital scholarly editing and the pioneering work taking place at Newcastle University.

The team explained that animating text is nothing to do with film animation, but instead explores how technology can enhance archive materials; creating a digital edition that is more than a simple digitisation of a text.

.@AnimatingTextNU work across humanities and computing sciences – brilliant example of creative fusion! #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

The team at ATNU is made up of researchers from disciplines as diverse as English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Arts and Cultures, Modern Languages, History, Classics and Archaeology, and Computer Science. Through this blend of perspectives, ATNU will explore how digital technology can produce different ways of understanding, explaining and experiencing a text; whilst also re-imagining the reading experience itself.

.@AnimatingTextNU is all about creating immersive experiences between text and reader. #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Projects at ATNU can be generally aligned within three themes: Manuscript & Print, Performance, and Translation, and their new project “The Reading Sensorium” incorporates all three.

The Reading Sensorium – a large scale research project. How text on the page (or screen) already incorporates its own performance – or, more simply, how should we read it aloud? #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

ATNU want to develop a web-based platform where users can direct computers how to read particular texts, making them up to allow the computer to produce an expressive reading.

The Reading Sensorium’s main challenge? Robot speak; old texts, with old spellings, and limitations of SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) There’s no instruction for irony, for example #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Despite a few research and development challenges, the potential is truly massive for re-imagining our experiences with the written word.

Computers reading text with feeling. Amazon need to hear this #FuseCAKE

— andy frith (@seussmad) 25 January 2018

Our second speaker was Dr Jenna Ashton, Creative Director at Digital Women’s Archive North (DWAN). DWAN is a feminist arts and heritage organisation, based in the North West. They support women and girls to identify, collect, disseminate and celebrate their cultural heritage through creative and digital activities.

@dwarchivenorth now speaking about the role of digital archiving in the preserving, the promoting and the politics of feminism’s cultural heritage #FuseCake pic.twitter.com/RvKjNwCPJB

— Concision (@concision) 25 January 2018

Jenna spoke about the nature of digital archiving, and tackled some common misconceptions about these methods.

Misconceptions are rife as to the nature of digital methods in archives – not a replacement for physical items, a complementary system that audiences can interact with in a different way. #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

A digital archive is sometimes automatically considered as a tool through which expanded access and participation can be achieved. However, Jenna encouraged us to view this assumption with a degree of caution. Much like physical spaces, digital spaces are not necessarily inclusive or welcoming to all people.

How can digital spaces be truly participatory, and not a reflection of offline spheres that can exclude others? Jenna asks some brilliant questions at #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Of course, these issues must be considered as part of any digital archiving project. Jenna asked us all to consider what kinds of spaces we wanted or needed online. As part of DWAN’s work, they take in “orphan collections” of archive materials that can not be housed elsewhere, illustrating Jenna’s point well. Through this, DWAN re-imagines digital spaces as a home for a diverse range of marginalised voices, which may have been excluded from other physical spaces.

Next up was Sue Bradley, Research Associate in Oral History, based at the Newcastle University Centre for Rural Economy.

Third speaker at #FuseCAKE talking about digital archives, oral history and the tools we need to be heard in a world that is getting louder #wordsmatter pic.twitter.com/33gn0CQ6WC

— Concision (@concision) 25 January 2018

As with Jenna’s presentation, Sue also embedded her work within the wider social and ethical contexts associated with digital archiving.

Using the example of her work collecting oral histories, Sue discussed how digital methods have been able to connect us more closely with those telling their stories – capturing and sharing the voices themselves as opposed to a written transcript of the conversation. However, along with new methods of recording and disseminating historical sources, comes new questions surrounding the usage of the material and new mechanisms needed to make sense of the volume of information:

Oral testimony is living testimony, when a recording is made, can we be prepared for it’s future life in an archive? How will its contents affect those who are left behind when the speaker is no longer around? Interesting ethical questions here #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

We record people’s history in real time with the likes of Twitter: bringing a massive surge of voices to the public sphere. This is where digital archives and oral history can come into their own – tools to make sense of all the voices are more vital than ever before #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

CAKE’s final speaker was artist and writer Stevie Ronnie. Stevie is an interdisciplinary artist with a background in computer science – another great example of the fruitful fusion of creative skills and technology expertise.

Stevie Ronnie, writer and artist, on how to combine tech and art #FuseCAKE

— ATNU (@AnimatingTextNU) 25 January 2018

Stevie discussed his creative approach, combining the traditional and the digital. One installation, Brass Book, challenged fears that technology will replace printed books. The exhibition featured traditionally bound books, embedded with technology. Visitors were invited to interact with both elements, and was very well received.

Linking back to @AnimatingTextNU , Stevie’s ideas consider the concept of digital books offering something more than being simply a digitised version of the paper copy. Beautifully illustrated by a book physically bound together by cables #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Stevie’s creative practice explores the harmonies between books and technologies, pushing at the notion that “the book is more than just the text it contains.”

Q&A

With our four speakers throwing out plenty of exciting ideas in the realm of digital archiving, it was time to open the floor to questions and further discussion from our audience:

Q & A time – and stunned silence – all the amazing ideas still sinking in #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Q: With oral narratives, how can one separate the history from the fiction?
A: In long term historical interests, some speakers can ask for sealed recordings – with no-holds barred narratives #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Q: How can we futureproof our digital archives? Remember minidiscs/Laserdiscs?
A: You can’t but recovery of data is possible. The book is a great example of futureproof tech! #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Q: The Lindisfarne Gospels were created over long period of time – how does the speed of digital methods affect the way we archive our heritage?
A: It can be good to slow down a little – think about what people value, what people might want to interact with #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Q: Interview design in oral histories – how much does a researcher allow a freeflow of a narrative vs getting to the hard questions?
A: Methodologies vary, in general the fewer questions, the better – getting on a roll can be rewarding #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

Q: Are there areas of your work that would benefit from cross-sector collaboration?
A: Sue – show me your wishlists!
A: Jennifer: would love to hear ideas
A: Stevie: looking for a digital space to host a poem for 100 years
A: Jenna: gives homes to “orphan collections” #FuseCAKE

— CreativeFuseNE (@CreativeFuseNE) 25 January 2018

With so many different perspectives and interests represented in the room, the networking session was bound to be interesting. At this point, the question on everyone’s mind was starting to turn to refreshment and fuel for the next stage:

When @CreativeFuseNE peeps say there’s cake at their collaboration and knowledge exchange event (CAKE) they don’t exaggerate…#fusecake pic.twitter.com/tQKtgBnDV1

— eve forrest (@eveforrest) 25 January 2018

In closing, CAKE 15: Digital Archives was a great introduction to activity and key issues within the field, raising many further questions for future exploration.

Thanks for the invite @CreativeFuseNE #FuseCAKE A fabulous room of ideas and discussion #feminist #digitalheritage #archives

— [DWAN] (@dwarchivenorth) 25 January 2018

This event was generously supported via Newcastle University by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account.

External Links (recommended by Sue Bradley):

Sisterhood and After – oral history interviews featuring activists of the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Foundling Voices – memories of separation, schooling, love, loss and rediscovery from people who grew up in the care of a Foundling Hospital between 1912-54.

Newcastle University Special Collections – Various oral history collections

This post was first published on Creative Fuse Cake Mix blog

Finding out about Blogging for Impact

Posted on 6 December, 2017 by Eve

Lucille Valentine from Newcastle Business School attended a recent joint ESRC IAA event held in Durham University with Professor Colin Talbot on Blogging for Impact. Here she tells us the main messages from the afternoon.

Colin Talbot’s message is clear: blogging is a long-term project and ultimately the impact depends on the followers and the reach of those followers. There is no quick hit to be had. So, when his blog, like that of other researchers, is used to discuss parts of his research findings because smaller research slices can be released by blog, the impact depends on how many and of what sorts of people get to read it and what they do in response to reading. And it takes a while to build a following.
In his case he has been building blog readers and Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections and Facebook followers for at least ten years.

The blog needs to be read by influencers in your field and by interested people beyond your immediate circle. He himself actively promotes new blogs through all his connected social media channels and he recommends asking influential connections to promote / retweet a few important blogs a year. Of course, material is not just research, he also discusses other people’s work, he links to his publications in other places, he does book reviews and, well, I guess that it is easy enough to check the range yourself. He is easy enough to find.

The blog is not the source of the impact, rather it can be the start point. It sometimes leads to invitations to share the longer work behind the blog, to write for newspapers and present to policymakers. Further to this it has happened to himself and to colleagues that a short blog – possibly on a topical issue but based on research – is picked up by someone in the news and amplified. In this way, what started as a blog has led to a request for a longer response and has, in a short space of time, led to requests to present to government select committees and the world bank.

Should the whole world be your goal? No. If you work in a narrow field but everyone in that field follows you then you have 100% impact, so the blog should appeal to them.

Can blogging be controversial? Yes. Academics may try and bite into your material. But you should be aware of the audience of the blog and this can mean that the material is not academically written and does not cover all the angles. In a recent example, he wrote a blog to explain, in plain English, what is missing from the budget. When he was lambasted by another academic he could cope and tell them to “read my book on the topic” and let it rest there because he knows what the purpose of the blog was.

You can find Colin’s blog here and many thanks to Lucille for contributing to ours!

Helping to bridge the generational gap

Posted on 1 December, 2017 by Eve

Dr Tony Young tells us about how a new app ‘Ticket to Talk’ developed through funding from the ESRC IAA, is helping young carers communicate to people living with dementia

Earlier research I’d done found that young people – especially teenagers with care responsibilities for older relatives – would benefit greatly from access to resources, information and tools that enable them to increase their confidence and skills for communicating with people living with dementia. It also found that the content and resources available in DemTalk, an existing advice package, provides a useful starting point however it also identified a number of barriers to using the resource for this age group for example that the primary mode of accessing the internet for teenage participants was via smartphones. The advice offered did not always map fully onto younger people’s experiences of, and needs related to, dementia care and so Ticket to Talk was born.

The team worked with a local charity Youth Focus North East (YFNE) to co-design and co-develop a new app that enables young people – especially young carers – to access the resources and information in DemTalk, contributing their own perspectives and experiences to the content and to privately share their experiences with other DemTalk users. During this process we also engaged other groups to get their feedback too. We have spoken to carer services from Northumberland Council to publicise the work done so far. We also talked at a North East Dementia Alliance event in order to raise awareness of the work. Ideas informing DemTalk in general, and the App in particular also featured in the recent Newcastle University Massive Open Online Course ‘staying connected and living well with dementia’ where possible we want to generate conversations about dementia and help all those affected by it.

Workshop co-designing the ticket to talk app with Youth Focus North East

Ticket to Talk hopes to encourage conversation between younger people and grandparents, friends or people they care for who are experiencing dementia. The app is designed to help collect and curate digital media (”tickets”) to be used to prompt and stimulate talk, conversation and reminiscence between younger people and those they are close to with dementia.

After a tremendous amount of hard work from everyone involved we are delighted that the new app, available for Apple and Android platforms is now available for free. The underlying source code is also available, so it can be downloaded by as many people as possible. Starting conversations can be hard for anyone caring for those living with dementia, we hope this app is a way of making that process a bit easier.

Find out more about the app here and the latest work of Youth Focus North East here

Thinking about Learning Communities

Posted on 9 October, 2017 by Eve

Louise Wilson shares her experience of developing Learning Communities in a project funded through by the ESRC IAA

Something magical happens when a group of people create a space for themselves to talk authentically about their work. When people can decide for themselves what is needed to take part in honest and open conversations, participants tackle the real challenges they face and share practical wisdom about how to overcome barriers: confidence increases, practice improves and trust builds.

Dr Toby Lowe saw these sparks of magic when he worked with participatory arts organisations to find a better way of talking about ‘what good looks like’. The approach, which became the Learning Community model, builds on theories about complexity, positive error culture and reflexive practice. And it turns out that it’s not just the participatory arts that can benefit from enabling authentic, honest conversations – the approach has been evaluated in the voluntary sector, health and social care and these benefits hold there too.

I was introduced to the Learning Communities approach through conversations with Toby about performance, quality and how to know if one’s own practice is making a difference. I was lucky that my own organisation adopted the approach so I experienced the benefits first hand – my whole approach to uncertainty changed overnight as I gained more confidence to seek out colleagues’ wisdom when I got stuck in my efforts to do the best I could for my clients and projects.

So what is needed for more of us who have had those head-in-hands-what-do-I-do-now moments to be able to utilise the Learning Communities approach, and bring about those benefits for our own practice, clients and organisations? How can we build capacity to deliver the approach? An important component is to build the knowledge, skills and confidence to set up, design and facilitate Learning Communities through training Facilitators how to help participants create and maintain that space to talk authentically.

Thanks to the ESRC IAA, Toby and I worked together with colleagues to develop a Facilitator Toolkit – a training programme, a handbook and the means for Facilitators to talk and develop their practice. The handbook – available on the KITE website- and training brings together the theory, philosophy and practical delivery of Learning Communities – the subsequent on-line and face-to-face meetings are where Facilitators then share their practical wisdom. The ideas that emerge here inform improvements to the Toolkit and implementation.

Louise Wilson presents a poster about Learning Communities

We’ve presented a poster about the approach at two regional events and are now working with the Facilitators to understand more about the barriers and facilitators to extending access and adoption. Ever wished for a magic wand in our complex and messy practice? Maybe this is a way of bringing about just a little of that magic.

Working with global partners: opportunities and challenges

Posted on 11 July, 2017 by Eve

Last month attendees gathered at the last of our ESRC IAA Capacity Building events this academic year to consider the different opportunities and challenges that researchers face when working with global partners. The event was in conjunction with Durham University however this was also our first collaboration with the EPSRC IAA as well, allowing for networking between staff across subject areas. The half day event with around 50 attendees began with a welcome from Professor Richard Davies, PVC for Engagement and Internationalization, who highlighted the collaborations between Newcastle and Durham Universities in terms of innovation and impact. There were other presentations from researchers that have had multiple international collaborations with different INGOS, companies and institutional partners. There was also slides presented on behalf of DFID (by Dr Elisa Lawson, Newcastle University) to set the scene in highlighting their expectations of what quality work should achieve, cost effectiveness and the impact it could potentially have.

Professor Richard Davies welcomes delegates

After lunch two parallel sessions explored different themes:

The challenges and benefits of working with global partners (facilitated by Verity McGivern, Help Age International) outlined the processes and structure of Help Age International, showing the challenges faced both internally and externally by the organisation and had an interactive element where participants had to decide how they would structure a particular proposal bid. The session gave an insight into the kinds of pressures and decision-making INGOs have in both giving immediate disaster relief help and for longer term projects.

Scenario to discuss in groups

Gaming the goals (facilitated by Dr Alison Vipond, Newcastle University Institute of Sustainability) was an interactive session aimed at raising awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how they could be incorporated into research. The goals were printed on cards and individual group members were encouraged to discuss the titles that spoke to them on a personal and professional level, making the case for its importance to the rest of the group. The whole team then had to agree on one goal overall and then demonstrate how each of the goals interacted with the other. The session was relaxed and a fun way to understand more about the SDGs as well as their aims and objectives.

Group work on ‘gaming the goals’

In the final part of the day a panel discussion was held with three external partners:

Deborah Hardoon, Deputy Head of Research, Oxfam; Lucy Kendall, CEO, CoCo; Verity McGivern, Agenda 2030 Advocacy Manager, HelpAge International and the chair was Professor Rob Wilson, KITE, Newcastle University.

The panel theme was ‘how can we use research to transform lives?’ and discussion began by pulling out the different questions around the main issues of research and how it can be used in practice by the panelists. Ideas surrounding power relations between organisations and how this must be balanced was highlighted by all the panelists including the issues of ‘co-designed’ or ‘co-governance’. How can this work in practice? Especially when researchers sometimes go to external organisations just to get the ‘stamp of approval’ rather than wanting genuine partnership. Panelists noted they would much rather have more meaningful long term relationships and would like to feed in to the process from the beginning. It was agreed that that these discussions start organically and networks and connections grow from there so it is worth spending the time building these. The measurement issue was also raised including how specific quantitative/qualitative measures can be problematic. Questions were free flowing and included responses from the audience regarding the tensions of GCRF funding and how organisations and their external partners can change the narrative of aid always being about dependency. Lucy Kendall believed that more NGO and INGOs should ‘shout louder’ to try and change the dominant stories in the press however there is also role for Universities and research to do this too, another way that research can transform discussion in the longer term.

Closing comments were by Dr Daithí Mac Síthigh, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences who reflected on the different themes and provocations to emerge from the day, including the importance of relationship building for the long term to help overcome challenges and for researchers to address the practicalities of global partnership with clear goals and strategies in mind. It is hoped that this event will be the first of others around this theme; the IAA capacity building will resume in September 2017. For more information on the ESRC IAA click here.

HaSS Research Impact

Research Impact from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS), Newcastle University

Category Archives: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account

Finding out about Blogging for Impact

Helping to bridge the generational gap

Thinking about Learning Communities

Working with global partners: opportunities and challenges