We are pleased to announce that the Digital Repository of Ireland’s biennial conference, Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities (DPASSH), will be co-hosted by the University of Limerick and the Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ireland on 27-28th June 2024. We invite papers, lightning talks and posters on the theme of Collections as Data / Data as Collections.
https://dpassh.org/call-for-papers-2024/
What is ‘Collections as Data’?
‘Collections as Data’ comes from the idea that digital information about collections (including, but not limited to: metadata records, digital files, software, code and other digital documentation) can serve as data for computationally-driven research enquiries. The Collections as Data movement encompasses a range of approaches to facilitating collection reuse in activities such as “text mining, computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data visualization, mapping, image analysis, audio analysis and network analysis… While the specifics of how to develop, provide access to, and support the use of collections-as-data will vary, any digital materials can be potentially made available as data that are amenable to computational reuse.” (Vancouver Statement on Collections as Data).
Resources are emerging to guide cultural heritage professionals in this work. The DRI recently published a set of recommendations for improving the interoperability and reuse of memory collections as data for the WorldFAIR Project, a European funded initiative aimed at improving global cooperation of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data policy and practice. The International GLAM Labs Community produced a checklist for publishing collections as data, which informed the draft workflow for producing collections as data now available in the Social Sciences and Humanities Open Cloud Marketplace (SSHOC). At the same time, a Europeana Working Group has released a template for Datasheets for Digital Cultural Heritage Datasets and a workflow was developed to assess the quality of data generated from GLAM collections using Jupyter Notebooks. But much work is still needed to support the responsible sharing, reuse and preservation of collections as data.
What is ‘Data as Collections’?
With the reciprocal concept of ‘Data as Collections’ we aim to draw into focus the preservation implications for the data produced, shared, reused and re-deposited as part of the research process. Should collections be stored, managed and preserved differently from the processed or analysed datasets that support research projects and papers? Is it time to consider a FAIR+ environment (FAIR + Time: Preservation for a Designated Community) for collections and research, spotlighting the critical role of preservation and considering a broader commitment to the ethical management of collections as called for in the CARE principles? We also invite considerations of the social and environmental impact of preserving not just the collections, but the data outputs that emerge from these resources.
We encourage submissions that cover a wide range of issues, including but not limited to:
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Challenges and opportunities in providing cultural collections as data;
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Providing access and licences for the reuse of collections stewarded by memory institutions;
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Standards for structuring and citing cultural collections as data;
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New modes of representing cultural objects, including 3D images;
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Examples of computational use of collections, using reproducible tools such as Jupyter Notebooks;
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Collaboration between (digital) humanities and social sciences researchers, computer and data scientists and collections professionals;
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Preserving and sustaining data about collections;
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Role of cultural heritage data in the Open Science data ecosystem;
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or other related topics.
Submissions can be made through the DPASSH website until 21 March 2024: https://dpassh.org/call-for-papers-2024/.