Big Data in the Archives – Researcher@Library Week 2017

When new technologies combine with the expertise of researchers, the potential of the information contained in traditional archival material can be unlocked, with ever more interesting results.

One well-known example was the partnership between the UK and US National Archives and research centres to collect weather data using shipping records dating before official records were initiated to document long-term climate patterns (https://classic.oldweather.org/).

The University of Melbourne Archives holds over 20 shelf kilometres of historical records on a huge range of endeavours. Our collections cover politics, social history, engineering, science, finance and economics, trade, slavery, polar exploration, farming, manufacturing and so much more.

As part of the Researcher@Library Week 2017, in this talk, archivist Katie Wood will outline the sorts of resources held at UMA, present some previous “big data” projects and discuss the factors that need to be considered for such projects.

Date: Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Venue: Dulcie Hollyock Room, Ground Floor, Baillieu Library.

Presenter: Katie Wood.

Katie Wood has been the reference and outreach archivist at the University of Melbourne Archives for nearly 10 years. In that time, she has helped thousands of researchers explore UMA’s vast and often unorganised collections. 
She is currently exploring those collections for her own phd thesis, which looks at the experience of Australian women workers in the metal trades.

Click here or more information about the session and to register for your spot; and view the full program here.