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.
Writing

Week 14: #AcWriMo results

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#AcWriMo is over. The goals I set myself were to complete two of the six chapters planned to make up my book by writing between 500 and 1500 words over 20 days during the month of November. So how did I do?

I finished one chapter (edited draft, footnotes need work) and made a start on the second (planning, opening salvo, additional reading I thought was required). In total I wrote 17420 words, an average of 871 words across the 20 writing days. Outside of academic writing, I also gave 4 talks, opened an exhibition (the word count of which I could add to #AcWriMo I guess…), and was drafted in last minute to cover a colleagues master’s class on lobotomy (which was fun).

So, overall, I’m happy with my achievements. Yes, I failed to complete two chapters, but I also gained an important sense of perspective on what it will take to get this book done – in short, a lot less ‘free’ time than I thought I’d need – and I learnt along the way how to squeeze writing in alongside my other commitments (without ignoring friends, home life, et cetera).

Another modest success.
Like my #AcWriMo, another modest success.

In sum then #AcWriMo was a modest success for me. Thanks to all those who offered words of encouragement (especially Ernesto and Sarah at Networked Researcher) and contributed to a lively #AcWriMo debate. Perhaps we should all now move on to #AcWriMomentum. Who’s with me?