Institutional collaboration in the creation of digital linguistic resources: the case of the British Telecom correspondence corpus

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
Ralph Morton ◽  
Hilary Nesi
Keyword(s):  
Post Office ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Searchable Database ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Collaboration ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
National Archives ◽  
The Creation ◽  
British Telecom ◽  
Public Archives

This chapter discusses the creation of the British Telecom Correspondence Corpus (BTCC), a searchable database of letters taken from the public archives of British Telecom (BT) that were written by nearly 400 authors on a wide variety of topics between 1853 and 1982. It first discusses some experiences working on the New Connections project, funded by Jisc (formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee) and a collaboration between Coventry University, BT Heritage, and The National Archives, focusing particularly on the methodological issues encountered. The corpus was created to address a gap in existing corpus resources, and so that researchers (primarily linguists) could access and, crucially, engage with the language of the letters. Since the completion of the BTCC there have been efforts to expand the corpus to include correspondence written to and from the Post Office, an institution with many historical links to BT. This chapter addresses issues surrounding institutional collaboration in both phases of this ongoing research.

Archiving the British Raj

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
British Raj ◽  
National Archives ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Central Archive

The archives are generally sites where historians conduct research into our past. Seldom are they objects of research. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya traces the path that led to the creation of a central archive in India, from the setting up of the Imperial Record Department, the precursor of the National Archives of India, and the Indian Historical Records Commission, to the framing of archival policies and the change in those policies over the years. In the last two decades of colonial rule in India, there were anticipations of freedom in many areas of the public sphere. These were felt in the domain of archiving as well, chiefly in the form of reversal of earlier policies. From this perspective, Bhattacharya explores the relation between knowledge and power and discusses how the World Wars and the decline of Britain, among other factors, effected a transition from a Eurocentric and disparaging approach to India towards a more liberal and less ethnocentric one.

scholarly journals Graphic design and scientific research – the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-425
Author(s):  
Daniela Riposati ◽  
Giuliana D'Addezio ◽  
Francesca Di Laura ◽  
Valeria Misiti ◽  
Patrizia Battelli
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Comprehensive Plan ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Effective Combination ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Product Package

Abstract. One of the primary activities of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology; INGV) is the production of resources concerning educational and outreach projects in geophysics and natural hazard topics. This activity is aimed at transferring, periodically, results at the forefront of ongoing research to the public through an intense and comprehensive plan for scientific dissemination. Over the past 15 years, graphic and visual communication have become essential tools for supporting institutional and research activities. In this paper, we describe successful INGV team experiences resulting from a close relationship and collaborative work between graphic designers and research scientists. The main goal of the projects devoted to the general public, through the creation of a museum exhibition or the production of descriptive brochures, is to support scientists in conveying their message and making concepts fruitful, easier to understand but also fully enjoyable thanks to the emotional involvement that images may generate. Through a careful composition of signs and images, and through the use of different visual tools (colours, form and lettering) on different media (print, video and web), the graphics and editorial products together create a strong INGV-style identity, making it easily recognizable in any educational and outreach project. A full project product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and colours, which serve the purpose of unifying the whole set. Colour is used not only to help the project logo to stand out from the international overview but, in our case, also to generate a unifying return across all INGV sections. A recent and highly stimulating experience concerned the creation of edu-games, specifically designed for scientific dissemination, through a close collaboration between INGV graphic designers and their reference scientific community. The edu-games were designed as an effective combination of educational content and playful communicative aspects, leading the young players to learn while having fun.

To collaborate or not to collaborate, that is the question

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nampombe Saurombe ◽  
Patrick Ngulube
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The Common ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Information Providers ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Public archives in east and southern Africa are functioning in a competitive information environment. Institutions such as libraries and museums also offer information, but fewer people utilise public archives. More effort is required to make archives a part of the daily lives of citizens in east and southern Africa. This study sought to explore whether or not public archives should collaborate with other information providers in their mission to increase social interaction with the archives. Directors of National Archives, archivists and members of the East and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) Board were invited to shed light on their experiences and views regarding collaboration in outreach initiatives. The directors completed a questionnaire, while the archivists and board members participated in face-to-face interviews. Country reports from the different ESARBICA member states were also reviewed. The findings indicate that collaboration in outreach initiatives took place to a certain extent, but libraries and museums were rarely part of this. This paper recommends that public archives play a stronger role in collaborative efforts to improve their visibility and widen their outreach to the public in east and southern Africa. The findings provide an overview on collaborative outreach projects from the perspective of selected archivists from this region, and therefore cannot be generalised to represent the common views of this entire region.

scholarly journals Transition from analogue to digital at the National Archives of Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Amos Bishi ◽  
Antonio Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Collecting Methods ◽  
The Right ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Analogue To Digital

This paper seeks to bring to light the contemporary landscape of digital technology at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and its move towards the provision of access and awareness of its historical collections through technology. The institution has geared towards opening its doors to the public through outreach programmes; public exhibitions; websites; oral history projects; publications and broadcasting archives with changing circumstances. The ideology of taking the archives to the citizens has paved way for outreach archivists to do the right thing, in line with their obligations to provide access to information. The National Archives of Zimbabwe, like any other archive, preserves records that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their historical and enduring value. The paper explores the challenges faced by the public archivist in the management of traditional and analogue archives and the subsequent need for transition to digital technologies. The adoption of digital technologies in the management of public archives will enable the public archivists to provide faster and easier access to the archival materials. Digital technologies enhance information sharing and reduce redundancy of the collections. The researchers used a qualitative case study methodology with an interpretivist perspective where the main focus of the research was on the NAZ’s Public Archive. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used as the major data collecting methods. The results showed that the institution had made a good start, encouraging progress and was still working on the migration from analogue technology to full adoption of digital technology.

Grauzone Privatarchiv

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-113
Author(s):  
Richard Erkens
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Production Mechanisms

AbstractAs Frédéric Döhl recently noted in his article „Potential und Risiken des Archival Turns in den Digital Humanities für die Musikwissenschaft“ (in: „Archiv für Musikwissenschaft“ 75,4 [2018], pp. 301–320), the hierarchy of accessibility among sources shifts perceptibly during digitalization, and musicology and archives ultimately become something like a dual form of music historiography. This paper tries to argue that the limited accessibility of private archives can be regarded as a parallel phenomenon to the digital multiplication of already known sources, while non-digitized sources increasingly disappear from focus. To avoid unintended consequences that hinder research attempting to open up new sources, it is necessary to find feasible paths to a fruitful handling of such archives at the intersection of the public and private interest. The limitations of temporary research projects in particular complicate the options for exploitation, as the grey area of private archives offers the services of public archives only to a very limited extent. Here, the researcher is often not a user but a supplicant. Considering some of the main problems regarding persisting inaccessibility, reduced opening hours and dealing with archive catalogues (when they exist), this article attempts to determine the potential for a restricted, though fruitful, use of undiscovered sources during ongoing research in which the exploitation of a private archive with an abundance of material is just part of a research project and not its main focus. The discussion is enriched with personal experiences, with two examples from Venice and Florence. These empirical insights were obtained during research on the production mechanisms of Italian opera in the first half of the 18th Century, but could be extended to other interdisciplinary projects that tackle an extensive corpus of heterogeneous sources.

scholarly journals Varðveisla gagna í stjórnsýslunni

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 321
Author(s):  
Kristín Benediktsdóttir ◽  
Trausti Fannar Valsson
Keyword(s):  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
National Archives ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Public Archives

A great amount of information is accumulated by public authorities. The preservation or disposal of such information is regularly the subject of disputes. This paper addresses the Articles of the Public Archives Act No. 77/2014 that specify what records should be preserved by authorities subject to an obligation of transfer and the subsequent transfer of these records to public archives at a later stage, as well as which authority controls the transfer. The main conclusions are: Firstly, all records produced by and associated with the operation of entities subject to the obligation of transfer fall within the scope of the Act irrespective of their form or how they are produced unless special Acts lead to different conclusions. Secondly, all records should be preserved unless prescriptions and authorizations by the National Archives of Iceland or special Acts lead to different conclusions with respect to the preservation or disposal of the records. Thirdly, The National Archives of Iceland supervises compliance with the Act.

scholarly journals Transition from analogue to digital at the National Archives of Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Amos Bishi ◽  
Antonio Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Collecting Methods ◽  
The Right ◽  
Public Archives ◽  
Analogue To Digital

This paper seeks to bring to light the contemporary landscape of digital technology at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and its move towards the provision of access and awareness of its historical collections through technology. The institution has geared towards opening its doors to the public through outreach programmes; public exhibitions; websites; oral history projects; publications and broadcasting archives with changing circumstances. The ideology of taking the archives to the citizens has paved way for outreach archivists to do the right thing, in line with their obligations to provide access to information. The National Archives of Zimbabwe, like any other archive, preserves records that have been selected for permanent preservation because of their historical and enduring value. The paper explores the challenges faced by the public archivist in the management of traditional and analogue archives and the subsequent need for transition to digital technologies. The adoption of digital technologies in the management of public archives will enable the public archivists to provide faster and easier access to the archival materials. Digital technologies enhance information sharing and reduce redundancy of the collections. The researchers used a qualitative case study methodology with an interpretivist perspective where the main focus of the research was on the NAZ’s Public Archive. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used as the major data collecting methods. The results showed that the institution had made a good start, encouraging progress and was still working on the migration from analogue technology to full adoption of digital technology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document