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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#thisis2014

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And now for something a little different.

List-fatigue notwithstanding, looking back over a year can be rewarding. When it comes to music, something I spend an inordinate amount of time consuming, it is a chance to pick through my last.fm stats, return to records that had fallen off my main Spotify playlist (this is collaborative, so feel free to add things), and look through some other ‘Best of 2014’ lists to take a look at what I’d missed (thanks to DiS I now know I missed, somewhat unbelievably, a new record from The Twilight Sad).

In terms of live music I haven’t seen as much this year as I’d have liked to, but in terms of highlights they included Anna Calvi at the Troxy back in February, 65daysofstatic celebrating a decade since releasing The Fall of Math by playing the whole thing live, and British Sea Power getting the bears out again in the intimate surroundings of The Quarterhouse, Folkestone.

And so once again I present to you my tracks of the year! (2013 selection is here) As you might guess, Liars – MESS is my undisputed record of the year. Inventive, ludicrous, unhinged. Just how I like it.