fairy cakes

Three Years of CDCS

 

It's been an incredible three years since CDCS was launched. When we began to build the Centre up from scratch in 2019, we couldn't have foreseen the kinds of things that would happen in the coming years: on one hand, the unprecedented events on the world stage, and on the other, the many smaller moments, happenings, and outcomes both personal and professional that delighted us and made us proud. Here are some of those cool things that happened in our first 36 months!

 

 

#1

Our PhD affiliates used LIDAR scanners to create beautiful 3D images of the collections inside the National Library of Scotland.

#2

We helped pilot a project that went on to be awarded a huge AHRC grant.

#3

We co-founded the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition.

#4

We introduced at least four researchers to new colleagues that they would go on to collaborate with. 

#5

After one of our seminars, the speaker was approached by the British Library about a potential collaboration.

#6

Our Twitter account hit 3k followers.

#7

We were invited to contribute to summer schools run by the Alan Turing Institute. 

#8

We seed-funded a text mining course that became the first pilot hybrid course at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

#9

We became the home of TEI-by-Example.

#10

We watched the sun set in Zimbabwe as remote IASH fellow Tinashe Mushakavanhu gave an online seminar for us.

#11

We mashed up the university's image collections to create branding that puts women from the archives up front.

#12

We wished Mele Kalikimaka to Keolu Fox, a Maori genetic scientist, who gave our 2021 Christmas lecture.

#13

We were thanked in the PhD submitted by Nick Mols, who acknowledged our support and help with his project.

#14

We helped get the Byzantine prosopography project back on track.

#15

Our affiliate Yazmin conceived, built and published a computer game with our help.

#16

We supported a meeting of Egyptologists who are working to stop online trafficking of antiquities.

#17

CDCS featured as an implementation story in the European Commission funded FAIRsFAIR project.

#18

We watched our PhD affiliates move on to postdocs and lectureships across the UK and beyond.

#19

We waved goodbye to Cathy and Róisín who used their time at CDCS to get the skills and experience they needed to land great new opportunities.

#20

We hit our 3-year KPIs in our first year.

#21

We ate CDCS cupcakes to celebrate our launch.

#22

Our team of training fellows helped us train up over 900 staff and students.

#23

Media & Comms cluster lead Kate Wright was invited to present her work to the UN.

#24

Our events have generated interest way beyond higher education, with many attendees working in other sectors.

#25

One of our Digital Social Science cluster leads was approached by publishers who wanted to commission them to write a book.

#26

We worked with the CRC and the NLS to offer training in library carpentry.

#27

We became institutional partners of the Programming Historian.

#28

We launched a new digitisation internship in partnership with colleagues in LUC.

#29

We helped to orchestrate the rescue and ensure the security of data from Ukrainian cultural organisations.

#30

Our guidance on remote and online research methods has been downloaded by over 130 people.

#31

Our website has over 3000 returning visitors.

#32

We watched as Improvbot, built with our support, used AI to automatically generate entirely feasible show titles from old Fringe Festival listings.

#33

We partnered with the Centre for Research Collections to explore the influence of Adam Smith by text mining the theses collection.

#34

We turned a challenge into an opportunity and hosted the Cancelled Conference Conference in May 2020.

#35

We worked with the EPCC to help researchers experiment with text mining historic data.

#36

We launched our new Digital Research Prizes to celebrate our community.

Cite this document: Centre for Data, Culture & Society Annual Report 21/22. (May 2022) College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh.

DOI: HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.8214741