Showing posts with label State Library of NSW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State Library of NSW. Show all posts
Reference @ the Metcalfe 9th May 2019
An unexpected theme emerged from the different speakers during the day. It began in the form of social justice issues and disappearing reference desks, promoted by Kate Adler and Ian Beilin, University librarians from the US who read sections of their newly published book – Reference librarianship and justice: History, practice and Praxis.
History Week Goes Pop!
Hashtags, Heroines, and Histories: Popular Culture in History
Steph B.
.
Between 2 and 10 September 2017,
over 80 events were staged across the state as part of the History Council of
NSW’s annual flagship event, History Week. Now in its 20th year,
History Week aims to ‘engage a range of audiences by showcasing the rich,
diverse history being produced by organisations and individuals across New
South Wales.’
Each year, the History Council
assigns a particular theme to History Week for participating institutions and
individuals to use as both their inspiration and focus. In 2017 History Week
went ‘Pop!’ - or rather, as their
website explains – members were ‘invited to celebrate popular culture across the decades, to investigate its
construction and analyse its impact on communities and individuals.’ This was a
really fun premise and I’m kicking myself that I
didn’t do as I did in 2016, which was to take the entire week off as annual
leave, book myself into a swanky hotel in the city and attend as many events as
humanly possible. Lesson learnt for next year.
But one event I was fortunate enough to attend was an afternoon
symposium at the State Library of NSW called Hashtags, Heroines and Histories: Popular Culture in History. And
the blurb?...
The Department of Modern History, Macquarie University, in
conjunction with the Centre for Media History and
the Centre of Applied History, present
a symposium that explores the different ways popular culture is and can be used
in historical research. Presenters will investigate not only the history of
popular culture, but also how different cultural texts both shape and are
shaped by political and social forces. In a landscape where presidential tweets
can act as official statements, where #blacklivesmatter and diversity of gender
and racial representation has taken on increasing significance, asking
questions of the political and cultural possibilities and limits of popular
culture is as important as ever.
So, fuelled with strong black
coffee from the library’s onsite café, I settled in with my notepad and pen for
what I hoped would be a fascinating afternoon indulging in what is – for me at
least – one of life’s great pleasures, namely listening to frighteningly clever,
articulate and thought-provoking historians and researchers present papers on
their individual areas of historical investigation, followed by lively audience
discussions, and more coffee. A quick glance at program indicated that I was
not about to be disappointed. Indeed, I think that the final speaker of the
day, Dr Leigh Boucher from Macquarie University, had perhaps one of the most intriguing
titles for a presentation I have ever come across (see below). The line-up consisted of:
- Professor Kate Darian-Smith, University of Melbourne – Connecting Histories of Television and Histories of Migration
- Catherine Fisher, Australian National University – Fighting Soap: Australian Women Broadcasters and Post-war Citizenship
- Dr Scott McKinnon, University of Wollongong – Out on Screen and In the Audience: Sydney’s Gay History as Told Through the City’s Movie Theatres
- Professor Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University – The Global Call to Action: #SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA
- Dr Jodi McAlister, University of Tasmania – Modern Love in Period Clothing: The History of Romance via Historical Romance
- Dr Rebecca Sheehan, Macquarie University – Rock the Cradle of Love: Pop Music and the Making of Sexual Consent
- Dr Leigh Boucher, Macquarie University – Crying Footballers and the Affective Associations of Neoliberal Despair
I won’t go into detail regarding the content of each speaker’s
paper as I do understand that most are probably not as interested in the
historical dissertations of a group of academic smarty-pants as I am - see me later if you are - but I
will mention a few things that this symposium highlighted:
- Collecting, preserving and making accessible documents and records which cover a wide range of subjects and in numerous formats is so important. We have no idea what use future researchers might want to use these items for, but without them large, significant and diverse pieces of our history could go unexplored or, at best, will be under-represented.
- Surprising and enlightening stories can be found when we look at things from a different angle. Do you remember that scene in the film Dead Poets Society when the Robin Williams character instructs his students to stand on their desks in order to get an alternative view of things? Well, that’s what it felt like listening to many of the presenters at the Pop! symposium. By linking seemingly unrelated aspects of Australian history – like post-war migration and the birth of television; or Sydney’s gay history with that of movie theatres; or even how sports coverage today often focuses more on the losing team than the winning, and what lines can be drawn between this and the Neoliberal man (!!!) – new and illuminating concepts come to life.
- It is essential to allow time and the opportunity for conferring at conferences. The clue is in the name – although to be fair, this was a symposium rather than a conference. Never-the-less, historical study doesn’t (or shouldn’t) happen in a vacuum and there is often a lot of value - both for the speaker and members of the audience - in questioning and discussing points raised in presentations.
- There are some very clever people out there doing some amazing work!
- I’ll definitely be watching the AFL Grand Final with a different eye this weekend – especially when it comes to the sobbing losers at the final siren.
Beyond the Physical: Reimagining Digital Experiences in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums.
On 27 May 2016 the State Library of NSW hosted a forum
presented by CSIRO Data61 in which a panel of specialists working in GLAM
institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) discussed and
demonstrated how they are developing and utilising new technologies in order to
connect and engage with the public in new and innovative ways. As the blurb
stated:
Galleries, Libraries,
Archives and Museums (GLAM) have always been a place of wonder, discovery,
knowledge and memories. With new technologies now available, and the realm of
digital information, the wonder only expands: space barriers are broken down
and artefacts can be experienced and explored remotely.
The speakers on the forum were:
- Brenden Somes - Collection Strategy Specialist, State Library of NSW
- George Dunford – Head of Digital and Content Services, National Museum of Australia
- Daniel Keogh – Educational Games Designer, 3P Learning
- Dr Lynda Kelly – Head of Learning, Australian National Maritime Museum
- Dr John La Salle – Director, Atlas of Living Australia
- Crispin Howarth – Curator Pacific Arts, National Gallery of Australia
- Gavin Walker – Leading Data Integration, CSIRO Data61
The State Library of NSW has always collected what Brenden Somes rather
technically calls ‘stuff’. This stuff covers a wide variety of subjects and is
collected for the purpose of documenting life in NSW and to provide information
and services for the public both today and into the future. In the past this
has largely meant the collecting of physical objects such as newspapers,
photographs, magazines, monographs, diaries, maps etc. However, the State
Library has become increasingly interested in how daily life is recorded in the
digital world and they have therefore been working with the CSIRO Data61 since
2012 to collect social media.
To do this, the State Library
uses a program called Vizie which collects content from publicly available
social media following a set of library generated parameters. Spreadsheets are
created and Vizie ingests this content and initiates the process of collecting.
For example, in 2015 the State Library collected social media data on the NSW
State election (the political parties; their digital presence; how social media
reacted to news and events, etc.) The State Library of NSW is able to collect
social media on a grand scale - the challenge now is to negotiate how this data
can best be accessed by library users.
Australian museums and cultural spaces are also looking to technology
to help find answers to other challenges. The National Museum of Australia
(NMA), the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), and even Jenolan Caves
are investing heavily in their digital outreach programs which are designed to
create connections with people, particularly students who, for whatever reason
(distance, physical disability etc), are unable to visit their institutions in
person.
The NMA is now home to the Museum Robot, ‘a semi-autonomous robot that
operates as a guide to
 |
Chesster (left) and Kasparov © National Museum of Australia
|
GLAM institutions are also using digital technology to expand
accessibility in other ways. The National Museum of Australia holds more
than 200,000 objects in its National Historical Collection yet, like most
museums and galleries, they only display about 3-5% of their physical
collection. The NMA has therefore developed their ‘Collection Explorer’ which
allows access to almost half of these items over the web. Additionally, when a
physical exhibition is over, a digitised collection can continue to be
accessible - and added to – online.
The Atlas of Living Australia
(ALA) is also making more and more of their collection accessible online. For
ALA this is more than just an outreach program – it is a complete reimagining
of Australian biological collections (there are currently around 60 million specimens
in Australian collections). ALA is working to produce a fully digitised,
support-based collection which not only allows researchers to view insects more
closely than ever before, but to perform scientific analysis and record precise
data which will help future decision-making regarding nature, the
environment and sustainability. |
| Yangoru Boiken drum head © National Gallery of Australia |
The speakers highlighted several
other advantages they have found from digitising their collections,
particularly with regards to preservation, collaboration and education. Interestingly,
innovative technology can also assist curators well before a physical
exhibition comes to life. Using virtual reality, curators can show colleagues –
and even investors or sponsors - what a planned exhibition could be like before
putting it together. Being able to ‘walk through’ a virtual version of the exhibition
can help those, who Crispin Howarth called, ‘the geo-spatially challenged’ have
a clearer idea of the layout and design of an exhibition long before objects are put on show.
 |
| Jenolan Caves © IntoScience |
Of course these virtual versions
cannot reproduce many of the attributes of the ‘real thing’- the smells,
changes in temperature, the experience of how others around you are reacting to
the physical environment, – at least not yet, but the digital landscape is
opening up the opportunity for GLAM institutions to connect and interact with
both physical and remote visitors in ways which not so long ago were science
fiction.
Cheers, Steph Bailey. :)
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