Rethinking Tradition: The Impact of Technology & the Loss of Serendipity on the Historical Research Process

The move towards the digital humanities will see a growing interest in tools such as Ebooks. This study examines how historians perceive Ebooks and other technologies as impacting their research process. Findings indicate that historians are concerned that the digital environment reduces the possibility of chance encounters with a text. They continue to recreate the environment that encourages serendipity to occur within their field, and would readily welcome tools that facilitate this

Changing Chance Encounters: Historians, Serendipity, and the Digital Text

Twenty academic historians in Southern Ontario were interviewed about their use of e-books and the role of serendipity in their research. A central theme that surfaced from the grounded theory analysis was that their use of digital tools and texts is limiting their opportunity for a chance encounter with information

Scholarly Needs for Text Analysis Resources: A User Assessment Study for the HathiTrust Research Center

The HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) is undertaking a study to better understand the needs of current and potential users of the center’s tools and services for computational text analysis. In this paper, we report on the results of the first phase of the study, which consisted of interviews with scholars, administrators, and librarians whose work involves text data mining. Our study reveals that text analysis workflows are specific to the individual research project and are often nonlinear. In spite of, and in some cases because of, the wealth of textual data available, scholars find it most difficult to locate, access, and curate textual data for their research. While the goals of the study directly relate to research and development for the HTRC, our results are useful for other large-scale data providers developing solutions for allowing computational access to their content

Les doctorants en lettres et sciences humaines et l’information scientifique

Tant de choses ont été écrites sur les pratiques et les besoins documentaires en lettres et sciences humaines qu’il pourrait sembler inutile, voire prétentieux, de s’attaquer une nouvelle fois à cette question. De nombreuses enquêtes ciblant des populations précises de chercheurs ont été menées, surtout dans le monde anglo-saxon, et beaucoup d’analyses ont été publiées. Force est de constater, cependant, que dans les réflexions actuelles sur l’information scientifique et son évolution, le cas..

Risky business? Addressing the challenges of historical methods in the 'digital age'

Background: The 'digital age' has led to a renaissance in historical methods. The way in which nurse historians can search, collate and analyse sources has changed exponentially over the past two decades. The mass digitisation of books, newspapers and other documents has resulted in the removal of many long-standing barriers to performing historical research, such as budgetary and access restrictions. Despite these expanded opportunities, the nurse historian now faces new challenges when performing historical research. Aim: This paper aims to stimulate discussion on the risky business of conducting nursing historical research in the 'digital age'. In this paper, we examine the technology-born challenges encountered by nurse historians with the objective of proffering potential solutions to address such issues. Discussion: Three contemporary challenges faced by nurse historians are: not knowing how to contain and articulate online searching; being unable to reduce the number of optical character recognition inaccuracies with digitised archaic sources; and being unsure of how to safely incorporate technological tools into historical analysis. Conclusion: Used correctly, new technologies can augment and strengthen traditional historical methods. Nurse historians need to be mindful that the way in which technologies are used is controlled by the user, rather than the technology itself

Mapping an ancient historian in a digital age: the Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Image Archive (HESTIA)

HESTIA (the Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Imaging Archive) employs the latest digital technology to develop an innovative methodology to the study of spatial data in Herodotus' Histories. Using a digital text of Herodotus, freely available from the Perseus on-line library, to capture all the place-names mentioned in the narrative, we construct a database to house that information and represent it in a series of mapping applications, such as GIS, GoogleEarth and GoogleMap Timeline. As a collaboration of academics from the disciplines of Classics, Geography, and Archaeological Computing, HESTIA has the twin aim of investigating the ways geography is represented in the Histories and of bringing Herodotus' world into people's homes

STAK – Serendipitous tool for augmenting knowledge: A conceptual tool for bridging digital and physical resources

Humanities scholars have long claimed the importance of browsing in the library stacks as part of their research process. The digitization practices of libraries and archives, while meant to assist with preservation and access, make the physical browsing experience impossible. While there have been various attempts to recreate this experience online, none as yet has created a digital tool which users can interact with as they move through the physical material in the library. This paper aims to introduce the concept of the Serendipitous Tool for Augmenting Knowledge (STAK), a geolocative app that allows users to access material complementary to what they are looking at on library shelves. The authors outline the research behind STAK, the potential for locative media and augmented reality in libraries, and the design requirements for STAK. Finally, they outline two elements of serendipity that they hope to emulate in STAK: Noticing, and Capture and Recall. By enhancing the physical collection with digital information, STAK aims to bring scholars the best of both worlds, and to encourage them to return to the physical library to explore, learn, and browse. Depuis longtemps, les chercheurs des sciences humaines soulignent l’importance dans leur processus de recherche de parcourir des ouvrages dans les rayons des bibliothèques. Bien que les pratiques de numérisation des bibliothèques et des archives aient pour objet d’aider la préservation et l’accès, elles rendent aussi impossible l’expérience de la consultation physique sur place. Il y a bien eu diverses tentatives pour recréer cette expérience en ligne, mais aucune n’a jusqu’à présent créé un outil numérique avec lequel les usagers peuvent interagir alors qu’ils consultent physiquement la documentation dans la bibliothèque. Cet article vise à introduire le concept de Serendipitous Tool for Augmenting Knowledge (STAK) (Outil fortuit pour l’enrichissement de la connaissance), une application géo-locative qui permet aux usagers d’avoir accès à une documentation complémentaire à celle qu’ils recherchent dans les rayons de la bibliothèque. Les auteurs présentent la recherche motivant STAK, le potentiel des médias locatifs et de la réalité enrichie dans les bibliothèques, et les exigences de la conception de STAK. Enfin, ils soulignent deux éléments d’heureux hasard qu’ils espèrent imiter dans STAK: Constater, et Saisir et Rappeler. En optimisant la collection physique au moyen de l’information numérique, STAK vise à apporter aux chercheurs le meilleur des deux mondes, et à les encourager à retourner dans la bibliothèque physique pour explorer, apprendre et parcourir les ouvrages

Information behaviour of humanities PhDs on an information literacy course

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine whether an information literacy course/module is an appropriate intervention during the initial months of a humanities PhD, and if there is more that can be learned from the course participants that might provide a better understanding of their information behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was distributed to new humanities PhD students prior to their attending the course. A second questionnaire was distributed to those who had completed the course in full. Interviews were conducted with six participants to gain a richer understanding of how their information-seeking needs had evolved. Findings – Despite the relatively generic nature of the module, and the diversity of humanities research, the course had clear benefits for the participants. In their first year, scoping their topic and finding quality information can pose a challenge. The participants reported that the most appropriate time to attend the course is during the initial months. Some preferred to attend (or repeat) particular units later as workshops. The most valued elements were those that helped them bridge initial gaps. Face-to-face delivery is preferred. There is some potential for further one-to-one contact with librarians and additional follow-up workshops. Practical implications – This study can inform how librarians can better support PhD researchers in the humanities. Originality/value – The study is based around an established and accredited humanities PhD course that has already been adapted in various ways in terms of content and timing of delivery. Drawing on Kuhlthau's "Information Search Process", the study seeks a deeper understanding of a specific humanities group during the initial months of their PhD research

Information needs on research data creation

Researchers’ data related information needs are growing. This paper reports the findings of a study with archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals focussing on data reuse related meta-information needs. Interviews with (N=)10 archaeologists and cultural heritage professionals. Qualitative coding and content analysis. Four types of paradata needs (data on processes, e.g. data creation) are identified, including 1) scope, 2) provenance, 3) methods and 4) knowledge organisation and representation paradata. Knowledge organisation and representation paradata has been least explored both in research and practises so far. The findings point to a need to develop the understanding of the needs and means of documentation of knowledge organisation and representation. The findings contribute to the data literacy of researchers producing and using data descriptions, and to the study of how paradata can be created and used. Further, the findings indicate that distance-to-data is a significant parameter in determining whether information needs are continuous or discrete. Further, the most likely type of reuse should guide the level and type of paradata. Finally, the findings underline that in spite of the comprehensiveness of available meta-information, it will be incomplete. Complementary means — including collaboration with data creators and meta-information extraction approaches — are needed to increase information reusability.Peer Reviewe