Overview
Based in Special Collections and Archives, I support research and teaching with Cardiff University's archives and digital collections.
I'm passionate about using heritage collections to support emerging areas of digital scholarship, including data mining, text analysis, data visualisation, network analysis, crowdsourcing, computer vision, and IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework).
Biography
Archivist, Cardiff University (2010-present)
- Project managing the implementation of Alma Digital and its integration with existing software infrastructure
- Rationalising legacy digital content and metadata, and defining ingest workflows with Python
- Supporting research, and delivering teaching related to digital archives and visual culture
- Supervising and training interns and volunteers
- Managing and cataloguing archives
- Curating physical and digital exhibitions
- Creating and maintaining public-facing online content
Honours and awards
- AHRC/RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship Scheme, 2022-23
- Cardiff University Outstanding Contribution Award Scheme, 2022
- Cardiff University Outstanding Contribution Award Scheme, 2019
- Cardiff University Sustained Outstanding Contribution Award Scheme, 2017
- Cardiff University Outstanding Contribution Award Scheme, 2014
Speaking engagements
Conference papers
- No money, no problem: supporting research and teacing with the Internet Archive. DCDC21, Online (1 Jul 2021)
- Supporting research with the Internet Archive. History UK and The National Archives conference, Online (21 Apr 2021)
- Finding our place: practical and professional perspectives on teaching with archives. Archives for Learning and Higher Education, London Irish Centre (27 Jan 2020)
Committees and reviewing
Advisory Board and Committee membership
- European Co-Chair. IIIF Archives Group (2022-)
- Advisory Board. Finding a place: advancing digital methods to unlock the use of digitized book illustrations in cultural institutions. NEH/AHRC New Directions for Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions (2022-25)
- UK Representative. IIIF Programming Committee. IIIF-Consortium conference (2021)
- Wales Representative. Archives Hub Steering Committee (2021-)
Supporting research with digital archives at Cardiff University and beyond
In 2022-23, I will be undertaking a research project funded by the AHRC-RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship Scheme for research and academic libraries.
This project will deliver new infrastructure, services, and training to support the creation and use of digital archives, in order to improve the quantity, quality and sustainability of the University's research outputs.
Publications
- Digital collections at Cardiff University. Morgannwg (Spring 2022)
- Why edit Wikipedia? Morgannwg (Spring 2022)
- Learning to enhance and share collections with IIIF. Guest post for IIIF-C Staff. Medium (16 Feb 2021)
- From self-isolation to self-development: technical training review. ARC Magazine: Archives and Technology (29 Aug 2020)
- Poetry in the making: teaching with literary manuscripts. ARC Magazine: Literary Manuscripts (29 Apr 2020)
- Offscript at the Edward Thomas archive. Wales Arts Review (6 Apr 2017)
- Edward Thomas: The Journey to War. BBC Radio Wales (31 Mar 2017)
Supervision
Past projects
Co-Supervisor: CUROP/JOMEC student placement (2022)
The Victor Davis Collection: Cataloguing and researching celebrity culture of the late-twentieth century
This project examines, catalogues and promotes an extensive range of media interviews conducted by Victor Davies with numerous actors, directors and other celebrities between the late 1970s and mid-90s for the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and Daily Mirror and now held by Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives. These sound recordings – a collection of 600 tapes recently digitised in collaboration with the School of Journalism, Media and Culture – cover a range of cultural developments, political issues and celebrity lives of both public interest and relevance to research on contemporary social and cultural history.
The project will produce a detailed catalogue of the interviewees, the topics covered and (where available) the dates of the interviews. It will also deliver vital information about the digitised content necessary to promote research access to the material, including a report on the interviewer, the tabloid press of the period, the research literature on the topic, and the potential research importance of the collection.