All posts by jwbaker

James Baker is Director of Digital Humanities at the University of Southampton. James is a Software Sustainability Institute Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and holds degrees from the University of Southampton and latterly the University of Kent, where in 2010 he completed his doctoral research on the late-Georgian artist-engraver Isaac Cruikshank. James works at the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and digital technologies. He is currently working on a history of knowledge organisation in twentieth century Britain. In 2021, I begin a major new Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project 'Beyond Notability: Re-evaluating Women’s Work in Archaeology, History and Heritage, 1870 – 1950'. Previous externally funded research projects have focused on legacy descriptions of art objects ('Legacies of Catalogue Descriptions and Curatorial Voice: Opportunities for Digital Scholarship', Arts and Humanities Research Council), the preservation of intangible cultural heritage ('Coptic Culture Conservation Collective', British Council, and 'Heritage Repertoires for inclusive and sustainable development', British Academy), the born digital archival record ('Digital Forensics in the Historical Humanities', European Commission), and decolonial futures for museum collections ('Making African Connections: Decolonial Futures for Colonial Collections', Arts and Humanities Research Council). Prior to joining Southampton, James held positions of Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives at the University of Sussex and Director of the Sussex Humanities Lab, Digital Curator at the British Library, and Postdoctoral Fellow with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. He is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College, a convenor of the Institute of Historical Research Digital History seminar, a member of The Programming Historian Editorial Board and a Director of ProgHist Ltd (Company Number 12192946), and an International Advisory Board Member of British Art Studies.
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#thisis2015

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This time each year I write about something a little different: music. I listen to huge amount of music (as my last.fm scrobbles alone attest) whether working, moving, resting, reading, or playing. My annual #thisis20XX playlist – or the Jim Awards as a good friend once called it – is my attempt to rationalise and celebrate the best new sounds that caught my attention in the last twelve months. I always miss something I’ve heard and there is always something the DiS or Pitchfork round-ups which would have made the cut if I’d heard it, but then sheer scale of the problem – if you can call not having enough time to enjoy all the music you want to a ‘problem’ – is part of the fun. As much of my music listening ‘supports’ working, the playlist has a strong bias towards instrumental music: records from Kamasi Washington, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vessels, Errors, Nils Frahm, Jaga Jazzist, Blanck Mass, Four Tet, Max Richter, Sons of Kemet, and Aphex Twin have been valued companions and research aids this year. My record of the year is Lease of Life by Errors, with The Sovereign Self by Trembling Bells a close second. And my track of the year is a tie between Laura Marling’s “Gurdjieff’s Daughter” and “To Die in L.A.” by Lower Dens (both from otherwise a bit meh records). Honourable mentions go to Everything Everything for finally making a record I get the fuss about, FFS for making me laugh, Mew for returning as preposterous as ever, Modest Mouse for returning, and Public Service Broadcasting for making history exciting (Go!).

Of course a year in music isn’t just about new music. This year I discovered the joys of Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967) via Ian Penman’s LRB review of a new Sinatra boxed set. Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave (2014) finally got lodged under my skin. Les Revenants returned (excuse the pun…) and took me back – were I ever away – to Mogwai. The wonderful TV mini-series Show Me a Hero made unexpectedly compelling use of early-80s Springsteen, including “Hungry Heart”. The spectacular jazz drum score to Birdman gave me goose bumps. And – last but never least – I remain enormously grateful to all at BBC Radio 6 Music for continuing to make such engaging, eclectic, and fun radio. Worth the licence fee alone et cetera. More Tom Ravenscroft in 2016 please.