Presentation given at Online Information 2013
TRACK 2: EXPLOITING SEARCH, RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Tools and e-resources for researchers
Online Information Show 2013
Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, London, SW1V 1EQ, UK
Wednesday 20th of November, 2013, 1130 - 1200
by Mahendra Mahey, Manager of British Library Labs
Basic Civil Engineering first year Notes- Chapter 4 Building.pptx
British Library Labs: Lessons learned in its first year
1. British Library Labs:
Lesson learned in its first year
TRACK 2: EXPLOITING SEARCH, RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
Tools and e-resources for researchers
Online Information Show 2013
Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, London, SW1V 1EQ, UK
Wednesday 20th of November, 2013, 1130 - 1200
Mahendra Mahey
Manager of British Library Labs
2. Overview
• What is Labs?
• Lessons learned…
– getting content
– data driven approach, lessons learned
– running the first competition
– other engagement
• Questions and discussion
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
2
3. What is British Library Labs?
• 2 Year Andrew Mellon funded project.
• Encouraging scholars to do research and development with and
across British Library digital collections and data (born digital
and digitised). No digitisation involved in project.
• ‘Data driven’ approach through competitions, events and
creating an environment for scholars where they can work
intensively with British Library digital collections / data.
• Library will learn how better to support digital scholars and
build on existing or create new processes, tools (e.g. APIs etc.)
and services.
• Case studies for other research libraries around the world
wanting to build Labs for their digital content.
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
3
4. Our Brand…
At the beginning of the project…
Let loose on our digital collections
Now…
Experiment with our digital collections
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
4
5. How Labs works in pictures…
idea
Competition
Other
outputs…
BL Digital
Collection /
Data
Contact
Software
idea
BL Digital
Collection /
Data
BL Labs
Publications
Researchers
Developers
?
Events
Other Digital
Collection / Data
Audience
http://labs.bl.uk
idea
Meetings
and visits
Data
Research
question / idea
Engagement with Labs
Experimenting with our
digital collections
#bl_labs
Tools &
services to
support
Digital
Scholarship
Outputs from
engagement
labs@bl.uk
5
8. Labs Project and Advisory Boards
Project
Board
Michele Burton
- Head of Trusts & Foundations
British Library
Richard Boulderstone
- Chief Digital Officer
British Library
Kristian Jensen
- Head of Arts and Humanities
British Library
Maja Maricevic
- Head of Higher Education
British Library
http://labs.bl.uk
Advisory
Board
Professor Tim Hitchcock (Digital History)
– University of Sussex
Professor Andrew Prescott (Digital Humanities)
– King’s College London
Bill Thompson (Head of Partnership of Archive
Development Group) - BBC
Professor Claire Warwick (Digital Humanities)
- University College London
David De Roure – Professor of e-research
- Oxford e-research centre (University
of Oxford)
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
8
11. Labs staff
Labs
Mahendra Mahey
- Labs Project Manager (Started in March 2013)
Ben O’Steen
- Labs Technical Lead (Started in August 2013)
Researchers / Interns / Volunteers / Curators
- Can start at any time
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
11
14. Digital Scholarship
Digital Curator Team
Digital Scholarship Heads
Aly Conteh
- Head of Digital Research and
Curator Team
Stella Wisdom
- Digital Curator
Nora McGregor
- Digital Curator
Adam Farquhar
- Head of Digital Scholarship
(Wrote Labs proposal)
Aquiles Alencar Brayner
- Digital Curator
Digital
Scholarship
Team
James Baker
- Digital Curator
Rossitza Atanassova
- Digital Curator
http://labs.bl.uk
Digital
Curators
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
14
17. 200 British Library Curators
200
Curators
• Responsible for many different kinds of collections, though not
all digital
• If they work with digital content, and the content is freely
available (or potentially), important to get the curators on board
with Labs and work together
• ‘Story’ behind a collection - detailed knowledge (e.g. rights,
how acquired, who uses them (potential researchers working
with Labs), etc.)
• Usually subject experts too, so have good ideas of what to do
with the content
• May know about curatorial decisions about which items were
chosen and answer questions around metadata
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
17
23. Researchers in the Library
Researchers
• Library is a research organisation in its own right and is able
to bid for funding from Research Councils
• Over 100 researchers working at the Library
• Labs engages with researchers internally (and externally)
through funding calls especially with digital content
Developers in the Library
Developers
• Over 30 software developers working in the Library
• Labs has helped facilitate the creation of a ‘Library
developers’ group to share ideas, best practice, exchange
knowledge, assess a list of web services / APIs for external
access
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
23
26. Researchers outside the Library
Researchers
• Main target for Labs are researchers in UK academia
(through interest from around the world)
• Researchers considering or already using digital content
and associated research methods
• Not necessarily have to be skilled in computational / digital
research methods, just have a good idea, Labs can support
them if possible
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
26
27. Developers outside the Library
Developers
• Interest to developers in academia and commercial sector.
• Labs has organised and participates in Hack events getting
developers to use our content to build things, e.g.
– http://hackathoncentral.com/ (26-27 Oct, 2013, Google Campus, London, UK)
– http://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013+-+Hack+Event (26-27 May, 2013, British Library, UK)
• Interest from start-ups / creatives working with Labs and
creating new opportunities
• Some researchers have software development skills
• Pairing up developers with researchers at events potentially
useful collaborations
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
27
28. British Library Digital Collections
Where do you start?
1
2
Over 600 digital collections and counting…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/t_buchtele/3422507814/
Finding openly licensed digital content
can be like finding a needle in a haystack
3
Some kind of filter needed
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
28
30. Datasets, Books / Text, Images / Music,
Maps, Sounds, Multimedia
http://labs.bl.uk/Digital+Collections
Planning to launch http://data.bl.uk
Resonance FM
10 year Community
Arts Radio Show
Book ordering and
anonymised reader
data
Environmental Sounds
Text-mining of
electronic journals
19th Century Books
UK Web Archive Data
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
British National Bibliography
labs@bl.uk
30
31. Example digital research methods
Location based searching
Corpus analysis tools
Crowdsourcing /
Human Computation
Using APIs for datasets e.g. Metadata, Images
Geotagging
Visualisations
Annotation
Transcribing
Natural Language
Processing
http://labs.bl.uk/Launch+Event (has some examples from researchers)
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
31
32. Engaging with Labs
• Events – Hack/ Data Days and Ideas Labs
• Funding calls – writing Labs into funding proposals
• Competitions – running competitions to encourage
researchers to come up with ideas, Labs will try to work with
them (resources permitting)
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
32
33. Engaging with Labs - events
1
2
• Hack and Data days - researchers,
developers, curators and anyone
interested with digital collections
working together at events, solving Brainstorm ideas & group
problems and developing prototypes
• Ideas Labs – researchers together
over lunch, engaging with the
Library’s digital collections through
cards, coming up with ideas / research
questions, focussing on what outputs Labs Data Cards
might be generated
3
Work into the night and show
what has been done
Social Media Top Trumps Cards
• Contact us…
http://labs.bl.uk
Consider and choose
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonie/5077408371/sizes/l/in/photostream/
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
33
34. Engagement with Labs…
written into funding calls
• Recent AHRC Big Data Call, Labs was written in as a data
partner, facilitating data access to BL Digital content (August
2013)
• Five potential projects
• Labs being considered to be written into other calls all the
time, e.g. Other Research Councils, National Lottery
Funding etc.
• Labs is another route into access to digital content at the
Library
• Contact us!
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
34
35. Engaging with Labs - competitions
• Labs will organise at least 2 Competitions
• Winners will work ‘in residence’ where possible
• ‘Data Driven’ approach, i.e. here is our data come and do
stuff with it!
• Focus particularly on cross collection research, research at
scale but other research and development encouraged too!
• Help develop tools and services to support digital
scholarship
• Approach will be re-examined each time, e.g. possibly
smaller rewards for shorter pieces of work, theme etc.
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
35
36. Labs Competition 2013
• Launched late April 2013, closed end of June 2013
• 22 high quality entries
– Text mining tool in the reading rooms
– Curatorial…repackaging metadata for teaching and learning
in a CMS e.g. Drupal, funded through another AHRC fund,
creating narratives on Oil paintings from the India Office /
Foreign and Commonwealth office
– Working to re-use a radio archive
• 2 winners chosen, ideas worked on in ‘residence’ at the Library
working with Labs (expenses paid) from Aug – Nov 2013,
presented at showcase event, 11 November 2013
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
36
37. The winners of the Labs 2013 competition
Dan Norton (left) and Pieter Francois (right) each receiving a cheque for £2000
as winners of the first British Library Labs 2013 competition from
Adam Farquhar, Head of Digital Scholarship, The British Library.
On the 11th November 2013 at the
Transforming Research through Digital Scholarship Event, held at the British Library, London, UK
http://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013+Showcase
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
37
38. Dr Pieter Francois
• The Sample Generator
• Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of
Oxford, interested in travel in the 19th Century in
Europe
• Creating demonstrator which searches across 1.8
million metadata records from the 19th Century and
where possible finds highly significant digital
samples for further research from the books we
have digitised so far
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
38
39. Sample Generator – distribution of items
http://samplegenerator.cloudapp.net
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
39
40. Sample Generator – with sample
and search terms around ‘tour’
http://samplegenerator.cloudapp.net
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
40
41. Sample Generator – with samples
(a closer look)
http://samplegenerator.cloudapp.net
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
41
42. Dr Dan Norton
• Mixing the Library:
The Disc Jockey and the Digital Collection
• PhD Researcher, University of Dundee and is Artist in Residence
at Hangar, Centre for Art and Research, Barcelona.
• Building a prototype interface for interacting with Library digital
collections, for building aesthetic, experimental, or logical links
between resources; and for developing ad hoc visualizations, or
publishing annotated data, developed from the DJ's interaction
with information.
• Working on functioning prototype to collect URLs for different
media types e.g. text, video, sound and images, and then
comparing two digital objects and being able to annotate in real
time
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
42
43. Mixing the Library:
The Disc Jockey and the Digital Collection
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
43
44. Mixing the Library:
The Disc Jockey and the Digital Collection
Annotation
http://www.tompro.co.uk
Preview ‘item’
‘Play back’ of ‘items’ (Blue)
and annotations (Yellow)
http://www.ablab.org/pd/di/
Selected ‘left’
channel ‘item’
Collection ‘stalks’ made of ‘items’. Each ‘item’ is a URL.
The order of the ‘items’ can be ‘shuffled’ and sent to the ‘left’ or ‘right’ channels
Selected ‘right’
channel ‘item’
Prototype design
http://www.ablab.org/shetland
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
44
45. Mixing the Library:
The Disc Jockey and the Digital Collection
http://212.71.253.54:8000/a
First functioning prototype, Labs focussed on backend – to be developed
by further project, Living Lab: Library of the Future,
see: http://alturl.com/284zw
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
45
46. Other Labs’ developments
• Labs is working with Library stakeholders, particularly with
Curators who engaged with the project (reward!)
• Working on technical ‘quick wins’ to support the Library and
Labs remit and release as much content possible,
prioritising ‘projects’ at the moment to focus on
• Digital Research and Curator team and Labs recently were
awarded £40,000 worth of cloud computing facilities to
experiment with for a year (36 Cores, 10TB), enabling
parallel computing tasks to be carried out (From Microsoft
Research)
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
46
47. The Mechanical Curator
• Posts small illustrations taken almost at random from the
digitised book corpus to a Tumblr blog.
• This experiment with undirected engagement was a byproduct of work to uncover the hidden wealth of
illustrations within the digitised pages.
• Grown to 100+ unique visitors per day since its launch
(26/09/2013).
• http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.com/
• Images now available on Flickr (420,000 plus images and
API), http://goo.gl/OrCKZz
• Using other data types, e.g. sounds etc.
http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.com/image/67461770133
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
47
48. Other possible technical developments
• Some Labs projects being prioritised at the moment:
–
–
–
–
Teletext corpus proof of concept
Augmenting news metadata through text mining subtitles
Working with Latin American digital books and AHRC mini project
Working with colleagues on providing access to the computer
archive of John Maynard Smith (Evolutionary Biologist)
– Releasing more content by working with curators, via various
channels, e.g. Wikimedia, Flickr, other channels, e.g. Early Indian
photos, Russian posters etc.
• Parallel computing facilities, e.g. Map reduce activities for
processing large datasets , tasks that require significant compute
power
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
48
49. Lessons learned…in getting digital content
• Filter was necessary because of the amount of content, size
and time period of the project
• Getting the story behind the collection was crucial, usually
from the curator
• Getting the curators on board (engaging with the
competition, getting them to be judges) and rewarding them
after is important (e.g. technical quick wins by working with
the Labs technical lead)
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
49
50. Lessons learned…metadata
• Cataloguing isn’t consistent, e.g.
1850?
• Older records don’t have subject
classification (Only from 1950s
onwards), have to rely on titles and
text mining if possible
• Metadata cleansing needed,
duplicate records, records not
always linked when updated
• Lots of digital content doesn’t have
metadata, initiate crowd sourcing
perhaps?
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
http://benosteen.com/dewey/
Distribution of the use of Dewey Decimal
in the British National Bibliography
There is limited subject classification for the 19th
century metadata for books
labs@bl.uk
50
51. Lessons learned…technical
• Some content is only available on site due to licensing
restrictions
• Labs highlights when systems don’t always join up and this
can be flagged internally
• Some restrictions mean that workarounds have to be
developed for researchers to work with the content
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
51
52. Lessons learned…human
• Those engaged with Labs early and regularly got better
results all round
• Working on site means internal systems and process
challenges, issues not insurmountable, workarounds
possible, lessons for the library
• Starting a dialogue with the right person is the most
important lesson…it all starts with a conversation.
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
52
53. Lessons learned…working with researchers
• Release data early
• Research questions change once researchers see the data
• Researchers don’t often know their research questions until
they see the data
• Researchers don’t always have the technical skills to do the
research
• Researchers working with developers might be fruitful as
they are waiting for problems to solve
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
53
54. Lessons learned from competition
• Have more lead time to allow for engagement with the
sector and longer to work on winning entries
• Data driven approach means research questions may
change depending on data
• Creating ‘themes’ linked to exhibitions
• Think about rewarding small wins at events, e.g. hacks etc.
• Allow more time for judging and asking for amendments to
ideas before they start working on them
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
54
55. Future developments on content
• Clear more digital content through Access and Reuse group
(need help from volunteers / interns, very time consuming,
please contact us!)
• Hope to develop data.bl.uk as part of wider Library Strategy
A ‘USB’ slot
• Creating data ‘exhibits’
where people can take
content for free, like
A timeline from the 19 Century
dead drop USB
• Pass it on / pay it forward
A ‘USB’ digital exhibition
hard drives to universities /
public libraries with Library
digital content
UK Universities
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
th
1850
1860
1870
http://www.notcot.org/post/35623/
Ideas from Ben O’Steen
http://labs.bl.uk
http://goo.gl/cV0Rtf
http://www.studyin-uk.com/e/uk-university-map/
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
55
56. Future Labs engagement
• Data / hack events at the Library in London
– learn about the data well before competition deadline and
engaging with Labs early
– 12 Dec 2013 – Data / Hack Event around images (‘Unseen
Illustrations’) and second competition launched
– 13 January 2014
– 12 February 2014
– 10 March 2014, possibly in April 2014 too
• Ideas Labs around the UK and virtually
BL Labs Virtual Event, May 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFt0NvbTFHs
– Organising several Ideas Labs in universities around the UK
focussing on early career researchers
– Virtual events to allow for international participation
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
56
57. Labs competition 2014
• Launched Dec 12 2014
• Close around late March / April 2014
• Start late May 2014 and finish Nov 2014
• Showcase Nov / Dec 2014
Other Labs engagement
• Links with successful funding calls
• Ad-hoc collaborations internally and externally with curators,
researchers and developers
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
57
59. Email us
• Let us know your ideas for engaging with Labs!
labs@bl.uk
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
59
60. Licensing…
You are free to:
– Copy, share, adapt, or re-mix
– Photograph, film, or broadcast
– Blog, live-blog, or post video of;
this presentation provided that:
– You attribute the work to its author
and respect the rights and licences
associated with its components
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License unless stated
otherwise.
http://labs.bl.uk
#bl_labs
labs@bl.uk
60
