Crowdsourced Research
in the Humanities
(Theory and Practice)
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Convenor: Samantha Blickhan
Hashtag: #CRiH and #DHOxSS
Computers: Please bring your own laptop (no tablets please)
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Abstract
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This workshop will consider the opportunities of collaborative research methods, particularly crowdsourcing, in the context of digital humanities. Aimed at researchers of all backgrounds, participants will engage with current and historical issues around crowdsourcing; propose, evaluate and discuss individual projects of their own making; and learn about best practices for social engagement with the crowd, long-term project health and sustainability. Ultimately, participants will leave with a greater understanding of how to approach crowdsourced research in a way that prioritizes data quality without sacrificing ethical collaborative research practices.
Over the course of the week, in addition to discussion and reflection, participants will design and build a crowdsourcing project with their own dataset, using the Zooniverse Project Builder. Participants should arrive for the workshop prepared with a project idea and some sample data (for example, 50 digital images of objects, books, or contents of archival collections) - note: an idea dataset is one for which the same line of questioning can be applied to each image. Members of the Zooniverse team will be present to offer assistance in project building. Participants will discuss their projects and the design and building process with the group.
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Morning sessions on this strand will be lecture and discussion-based, afternoon sessions will incorporate theoretical concepts from morning sessions into participants’ work on their own crowdsourcing projects.
Convenor
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Samantha Blickhan is the IMLS Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Citizen Science at the Adler Planetarium, working on transcription projects for the Zooniverse. She received her Ph.D. in Musicology from Royal Holloway, University of London, with a thesis on the paleography of British song notation in the 12th and 13th centuries. Her research interests include music and perception, and their relationships with writing systems, technology and pedagogy.
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NEW!
Link to overview of the week's timetable including evening events.
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Monday 2nd July
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08:15-09:30
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Registration (Sloane Robinson building)
Tea and coffee (ARCO building)
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09:30-10:30
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Opening Keynote (Sloan Robinson O'Reilly lecture theatre)
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10:30-11:00
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Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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11:00-12:30
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Group Introductions & Intro to Crowdsourcing
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Group introductions and an overview of workshop. Followed by a presentation examining the history of crowdsourced research and providing an overview of the field in its current state.
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12:30-14:00
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Lunch (Dining Hall)
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14:00-16:00
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Zooniverse Project Builder
Introduction to the Zooniverse, the world’s largest platform for crowdsourced research. Special focus on the Zooniverse Project Builder, the free platform that lets anyone build their own crowdsourcing project for free. Participants will use this platform to build their own crowdsourcing projects over the course of the week. (Grant Miller)
16:00-16:30
Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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16:30-17:30
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Individual projects
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Time to work on your individual Zooniverse projects. Members of the Zooniverse team will be present to work with you.
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Tuesday 3rd July
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09:00-10:30
Crowdsourcing and Social Machines
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A short lecture about crowdsourcing with a focus on social machines. (Max Van Kleek, University of Oxford.)
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10.30-11:00
Refreshment break (ARCO building)
11:00-13:00
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Workflows and development
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A practical session in which we’ll apply principals from the morning session to the individual projects. We’ll discuss how to translate research questions into dedicated tasks, and some best practices for creating workflows that are digestible yet also produce quality data. (Samantha Blickhan)
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13:00-14:30
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Lunch (Dining Hall)
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14:30-15:30
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Individual projects
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15:30-16:00
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Refreshment break (ARCO building)
16:00 - 17:30
Lectures (various venues)
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Wednesday 4th July
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09:00-10:30
Inclusivity and Ethics in Crowdsourcing
This session will introduce some best practices for building projects aimed at a broad audience, specifically how to avoid workflow, question and design choices that result in unintentional barriers to entry for some volunteers. We will also discuss ethics in crowdsourcing and specifically ask: what (if anything) do project owners owe their volunteers? This session will also touch on the importance of openness, including open data, code, and results. (Samantha Blickhan)
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10.30 -11:00
Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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11:00-13:00
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Project review and revision
In this interactive session, we’ll break into groups to provide review for each other’s projects, a small-scale version of Zooniverse beta review, a process that is required for projects to fully launch. After feedback is given, we’ll discuss the process of receiving and reviewing feedback and how to implement that feedback into a project. (Samantha Blickhan)
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13:00-14:30
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Lunch (Dining Hall)
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14:30 - 15:30
Individual projects
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15:30-16:00
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Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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16:00-17:00
Lectures (various venues)
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Thursday 5th July
09:00-10:30
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Sustainability and communication
Participants will learn about and discuss best practices for long-term project sustainability. A major component of project sustainability is communication and interaction with volunteers, so the session will include an in-depth introduction to Talk, the Zooniverse message board system.(tbc)
10.30-11:00
Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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11:00-13:00
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Launching a project
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In this session, participants will have hands-on experience with the Zooniverse Talk board and practice responding to user questions, both about the platform and the research being supported by the project. (Samantha Blickhan)
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13:00-14:30
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Lunch (Dining Hall)
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14:30 - 15:30
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Individual projects
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15:30-16:00
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Refreshment break (ARCO building)
16:00-17:00
Lectures (various venues)
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Friday 6th July
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09:00-10:30
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Communicating results
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This session will focus on presenting and publishing data once a project is complete, but will also discuss the process of sharing results while a project is still ongoing. Will also focus on making data useful and accessible for academic and non-academic audiences. (Philip Durkin, Oxford University Press)
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10.30-11:00
Refreshment break (ARCO building)
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11:00-13:00
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Presentation of Projects and Group Discussion
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Individuals will present their final projects to the group and discuss what they’ve learned, and what they might want to do differently in future projects. Will also be an opportunity to discuss ways they can incorporate crowdsourcing into future research, or within home institutions.
13:00-14:00
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Lunch (Dining Hall)
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14:00-15:00
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Feedback
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Participants will have the opportunity to give feedback about the workshop and ask any final questions.
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15:00-16:00
Closing plenary (O'Reilly lecture theatre)
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Speaker biographies
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Grant Miller is a recovering astrophysicist who now works at the University of Oxford as the project manager and communications lead for the Zooniverse.
