On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Bl Labs roadshow at Warwick University by Stella Wisdom
1. BL Labs Roadshow 2017
University of Warwick
Slides: http://bit.ly/2p95iuy
Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator
@miss_wisdom
Blog: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/
Doing Digital Research
at the British Library
Off the Map
2. www.bl.uk 2
Digital Scholarship is using
computational methods either
to answer existing research
questions or to challenge existing
theoretical paradigms…. Geotagging
Data Visualisation
Data Mining
Georeferencing
Digital Mapping
Crowdsourcing
Text mining
Collaboration
3. www.bl.uk 3
Meet the Digital Research Team
We support researchers in the innovative
use of British Library's digital collections and
data through:
• Working behind the scenes to get content
in digital form and online
• Offering digital research support and
guidance
• Supporting collaborative projects
• Running events, competitions, and awards
6. www.bl.uk 6
The Off the Map Competition
• A new type of collaboration
• Explores how British Library digital collections
can be used in creative ways
• Engagement with new audiences
• Opportunity for students in the UK to
showcase their talents to industry
8. www.bl.uk 8
John Leake, An exact surveigh of the streets lanes and churches contained within the
ruines of the City of London, 1667. Maps Crace port 2.58
9. www.bl.uk 9
2013 winning team:
Pudding Lane Productions from De Montfort University, Leicester
Created an interpretation of 17th Century London
http://youtu.be/SPY-hr-8-M0 (Flythrough starts at 0:50)
10. Gothic theme, a tie-in with the Library's exhibition
Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination
3 October 2014 - 20 January 2015
• Fonthill Abbey
Home of William Beckford, author of Vathek
• Edgar Allan Poe’s
Masque of the Red Death
• Whitby and its association
with Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:British_Library_-_Off_the_Map_Gothic_Collection
Off the Map 2014
13. www.bl.uk 13
2014 winning team: Gothulus Rift, University of South Wales
Created a Fonthill Abbey inspired game called Nix using Oculus Rift
YouTube flythrough: http://youtu.be/8ESieZO4VHw
15. Alice’s Adventures Off the Map part of the British Library's celebrations
for the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:British_Library_-_Off_the_Map_Alice_Collection
https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/sets/alices-adventures-off-the-map
Off the Map 2015
16. www.bl.uk 16
The original handwritten manuscript of the
story, ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’,
which was first told to Alice Liddell by Lewis
Carroll in 1862.
17. www.bl.uk 17
2015 Winning Game:
“The Wondering Lands of Alice”
Team Off our Rockers, De Montfort University in Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/7bwx4uUnbV4
18. www.bl.uk 18
2015 Winning Game:
“The Wondering Lands of Alice”
Team Off our Rockers, De Montfort University in Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/7bwx4uUnbV4
21. 2016 Off the Map competition
sub-themes
Castles: Scene of Ghosts and Murder
The Tempest
Forests, Woodlands and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
22. www.bl.uk 22
Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
Team Members:
Tara Naz, Jasdev Singh, Jade Silver, Christopher Anka, Perrie Green, Joel Wilkins
23. The Tempest
The Tempest opens with a storm
battering the ship on which Alonso, the
King of Naples, and his party are
travelling. Washed ashore, Alonso’s
men find themselves on a strange
island inhabited by Prospero the
magician, his daughter Miranda, a
shape-shifting spirit called Ariel, and
the slave Caliban.
Frontispiece to The Tempest in The
Works of Mr William Shakespear (1709),
edited by Nicholas Rowe. C.123.fff.2.
Volume 1, p1
24. www.bl.uk 24
The Tempest
Shakespeare was inspired to write The Tempest when he read of the fate of the Sea-
Adventure, a ship taking English colonists to North America which was wrecked off the
coast of Bermuda in 1609. The Bermudas were then the most feared place on earth for
sea travellers, who had heard stories about the islands being inhabited by devils.
Map of Bermuda as
published in Gerhard
Mercator and
Jodocus Hondius'
world atlas of 1633.
Maps K.Top 123
25. www.bl.uk 25
Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y
26. www.bl.uk 26
Off the Map 2016 1st Place:
“The Tempest” by Team Quattro, De Montfort University, Leicester
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/0lzpEFgpk3Y
27. www.bl.uk 27
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
From Boydell's Collection of Prints illustrating Shakespeare's works
http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/boydells-collection-of-prints-illustrating-shakespeares-works
29. Off the Map 2016 2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey, London College of Communication
http://tombattey.com/portfolio-items/midsummer/
https://tombattey.itch.io/midsummer
30. www.bl.uk 30
Off the Map 2016 2nd Place:
‘Midsummer’ by Tom Battey, London College of Communication
YouTube flythrough: https://youtu.be/sz-IKvp62NI
Download the game: http://tombattey.com/portfolio-items/midsummer/
Digital humanities scholars use computational methods either to answer existing research questions or to challenge existing theoretical paradigms, generating new questions and pioneering new approaches…. activities might include incorporation into the traditional arts and humanities disciplines use of text-analytic techniques; GIS; commons-based peer collaboration; and interactive games and multimedia.
Set up in 2010 the team was formed as a way of dedicating focus on the changing research landscape in the digital realm. Now embedded in collection areas, and as you’ll see later, joining the library explicitly as part of major digitisation projects.
Main activities:
Getting content in digital form and online
Collaborations, Competitions & Awards
Digital research support and guidance