British Library Labs presentation at Artlab 2016

1 @BL_Labs #ArtLab16 #bldigital http://goo.gl/6z0lZd

18.30 – 20.00, Thursday, 19th May 2016,Doors of Innovation, Artlab 16, Milan, Italy

Working with those who want to use the British Library’s digital collections and data:Examples and lessons from the British Library Labs projectMahendra Mahey

http://goo.gl/6z0lZd

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjwvK_xo-7LAhXE0RQKHWv0BYgQjRwIBw&url=http://lki.dromhci.top/c/twitter-logo-png-transparent-background/&bvm=bv.118443451,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNGeXUakaBEdmMJt6-d3SjDDAUlbJQ&ust=1459628972017062


The British Library

Inside the British LibrarySpace for 1200 readers, around 400,000 visitors per year

Uses low oxygen and robotsReading room and delivery to London

Document Supply and Storage at Boston Spa

St Pancras, London, UKMany books are stored 4 stories below the buildingLegal Deposit Library – Reference only

180 million items


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8393710.stm


#bldigital1-2 %* digitised

* estimate

Digitisation

Partnerships Commercial & Other Organisations

Amountincreasing rapidly

Bias in digitisation



http://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labsFunded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

http://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labs



Audience

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

https://goo.gl/WutNyi

http://goo.gl/nNKhQ2

https://goo.gl/9NWZUW

https://goo.gl/7QQ5Tf

https://goo.gl/x7b4tg

https://goo.gl/qh01Mi


http://labs.bl.uk/

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjVxK_PgvDLAhWG7BQKHZmrBGUQjRwIBw&url=https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/students-experiences-and-expectations-of-the-digital-environment-23-jun-2014&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNF-TGRsXGUyNipl29gRq9Ctq1DXsQ&ust=1459688766360665

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi4n4vngvDLAhVCyRQKHa7mBFIQjRwIBw&url=http://gilar666.deviantart.com/art/Bob-Dylan-PopArt-WPAP-456487085&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNFq1HK9H9bWT8Il7lf1ddxwgC13Pg&ust=1459688810530297

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwixw5OghPDLAhXB8RQKHR8fAgUQjRwIBw&url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/64204416@N02/5865284029&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNGLkpdYpg4p1mdINIPZW3b88mkv_w&ust=1459689220725118

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjZlNC3g_DLAhWBxRQKHcy4BKcQjRwIBw&url=https://pixabay.com/en/photos/programming/&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNHO1wex2sL_pEsMiCdHiSyvUJerKw&ust=1459688992858427

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiFm97Vg_DLAhUHOBQKHawmDggQjRwIBw&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Domesday_Project&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNE6LE17EHFAIkog61UDT0p8tVeipA&ust=1459689058496095

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiz772ag_DLAhVMvRQKHexsBW8QjRwIBw&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_in_the_classroom&bvm=bv.118443451,d.d24&psig=AFQjCNFK-ORJvNFKcyEgoYjoUbHDbxZvbw&ust=1459688927923110


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

Talk to us about working on collaborative projects



What can 65,000books tell us?

Image: Artwork by Alicia Martin

Just one digital collection



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

>400,000,000 views

>500,000 tags

https://goo.gl/FgZ4HM

http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/

http://goo.gl/qPPgxX

https://goo.gl/FgZ4HM



Curious Images Event 2014https://goo.gl/ubL0AO

Labs Symposium 2015https://goo.gl/gRZ5Ia

44 Men who Look 44(Notice the direction faces)

Tragic Looking Women

Collage Art

Artistic (2015)Mario Klingeman - Quasimondo

Blog post: http://goo.gl/dM8ieA

A Hat on the GroundSpells trouble

http://goo.gl/dM8ieA



David Normal (2014-2015)

https://youtu.be/Q3SBxO34Zlc‘It was beyond my wildest dreams’



Challenges



Finding Open Digital Collections• Where is it, is it accessible?

• Licensing?Internal Access and Reuse and Licensing Group (Risk assessment group – Strategic, Commercial, Copyright, Curatorial, Technical Stakeholders all have a say)

• 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?

• Metadata available? What state is it and does it need cleaning?



Your Audience and You

Audience research &

Digital interests

Digital collections you have

This is where Labs worksIt starts with a conversation!Only a small amount of content is digitised!

Might not be the treasure expected at the end of a digital journey!



only in Reading

Rooms due to ©

only on site due to

© or ethical

not online / available –

various storage devices,

personal data

online and open

British Library

online behind paywall

Digital access at the Library

Labs Residency Modelhttps://goo.gl/tvNVRB

http://goo.gl/ii0XHG



Get the data to them however

•Internet / APIs (not there yet completely)

•Post hard drives

•Don’t worry about cleaning it up

•Just get them in…or go to them!



Lessons…

•Huge appetite to use digital content & data when you open doors!

•Learn about bridging gaps to use data.

•Help navigate through organisation to get to data.



Open your doors!

•Start conversations, first small / simple, but think big!

•Let those with interest, skills and willing to accept a little pain

(sometimes) i.e. mindset in!

•Embrace serendipity, work fast, give it energy.

•Learn the lessons, tell positive stories, move forward!

•Experiment and fail!

•Reject perfectionism!


British Library Labs presentation at Artlab 2016

Education

Transcript of British Library Labs presentation at Artlab 2016