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.
DHums

Inside Sussex Humanities Lab

1 Comment

So it has been a month since I joined the University of Sussex and the question I keep getting asked is ‘what is the Sussex Humanities Lab?’ And I don’t think I’ve all that useful in helping people understand it because I keep giving different answers every time I’m asked the question, so here is an attempt to pull those answers together and to provide an inside look into what is proving a super place to work.

So, first, the official line (borrowed from our website):

Our vision is to ensure that information scientists and literary theorists, media scholars, designers, and practitioners, social scientists and historians, collaborate to serve the fundamental roles of humanities research – to explore the human condition and its evolution, and the social and material worlds we make. We wish to make the humanities fit for purpose in a digital age.

Second, and probably more importantly, the Sussex Humanities Lab is about people. Lots of people. We have a director and co-directors from media, history, performance, and social science. We have a project manager. We have core associates from informatics and the library. We have six faculty (including me!) and six research fellows hanging off from that (including one in the library, which I’m super pleased about!). We have a bunch of funded doctoral students. And we have a whole host of other associates and interested parties. And most of us have started at the same time, many of us coming from other places. That is, twenty odd people around the table trying to find common ground, combine skills and experience, and make better research.

On that table, the third thing the Sussex Humanities Lab is is a space that ties together all these people dotted around campus. In and around that space we have a plaque…

IMG_20151002_083723Walls, a table, chairs, and a blank canvas (that always makes me think ‘Dentist’, but hey)…

IMG_20151002_083753A kettle you can set the temperature of (good for tea nerds)…

IMG_20151002_083933Coffee…

IMG_20151002_084043Some kit…

IMG_20151002_084015Some more fancy looking kit that I presume will become interesting/useful later…

IMG_20151002_084031Some tools to make physical things with…

IMG_20151002_084126The obligatory stack of wires, lights, and humming…

IMG_20151002_083951Swag…

IMG_20151002_084103A little library…

IMG_20151002_084201A fancy audio-visual-server stuff (including, a lighting rig that can programmed to do stuff, a 4k TV, a PS4, a sub-net).

IMG_20151002_084242And a welcome slice of outdoors…

IMG_20151002_083805

Which is all to say that the Sussex Humanities Lab is many things: it is an ambitious vision, it is a bunch of great people, and it is a space to meet, work, and be creative in. Which I happen to think is pretty awesome.