Removing black boxes: exposing software to researchers

Removing black boxes:

exposing software to

researchers

Dr James Baker

Curator, Digital Research

@j_w_baker

www.bl.uk 2

www.bl.uk 3

www.bl.uk 4

“The greatest disaster for the historical record wasn’t the computer. It was the

invention of the telephone.” —@TimHitchcock at #rrchnm20 — Dan Cohen (@dancohen) November 15, 2014

www.bl.uk 5

NB: Not a scene from the

British Library!!

www.bl.uk 6

www.bl.uk 7

Similarity score (sdhash) plotted against absolute difference in indicated dates

(days) between files (each point represents a pair of draft files): apparently and

generally the greater the number of days between the files of a pair, the lower the

similarity score

Work by Jeremy Leighton John (Curator e-Manuscripts) on Hanif Kureishi archive

www.bl.uk 8

www.bl.uk 9

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github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

www.bl.uk 11

github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

www.bl.uk 12

github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

www.bl.uk 13

github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

www.bl.uk 14

github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

www.bl.uk 15

picaguess.herokuapp.com

www.bl.uk 16

picaguess.herokuapp.com

www.bl.uk 17

picaguess.herokuapp.com

www.bl.uk 18

picaguess.herokuapp.com

www.bl.uk 19

www.bl.uk 20

Thank you! @j_w_baker

[email protected]

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/

Slides: slideshare.net/drjwbaker