DIS Staff Blog

Every year students on the Department’s archives and records management programmes spend two weeks on work placement undertaking cataloguing projects in a variety of archival institutions. These institutions tend to be based within London and the South East, but this year two students, Sharon Messenger and Ego Ahaiwe, have taken the bold step of travelling much further afield. Sharon, for example, has just spent two weeks in the Orkney Library & Archive in Kirkwall and you can read more about her experience there on the Orkney Archive blog. Then again, Ego has travelled across the Atlantic to the Immigration History Research Center based in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, where she became headline news.

We therefore welcome back Ego, Sharon, and all our students from their travels and send a huge thank you to all those institutions who have kindly hosted a placement this year!

On Wednesday 28 March the UCL Centre for Publishing was delighted to welcome Anthony Forbes Watson the  Managing Director of Pan Macmillan to Foster Court.

The occasion was to hand the annual Macmillan prize to our former students Jennifer Kerslake (2010-11) and Liz Donell (2009-10). Each received a  a cheque for £750 in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the MA in Publishing programme. Both are forging careers in the publishing industry with Jennifer working in trade publishing at Orion Book while Liz is working in editorial at Elsevier in Oxford.

Jennifer and Liz receive their cheques from Pan Macmillan MD Anthony Forbes Watson

UCL Faculties of Arts and Humanities and Social and Historical Sciences are advertising three new Research Associate posts in interdisciplinary research in Arts and Humanities. You can read more about them on the DH blog. UCLDH is just one of the research groups in DIS who are interested in hearing from suitable applicants: you can find out more about them on our Research page. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us about interdiscplinary research ideas.

Popular twitter hashtag #tweetyourthesis started right here in the Department of Information Studies, at a meal for Centre for Digital Humanities research students.

For a brief summary, head over to the UCLDIS Student Blog.

I am pleased to report that the department has been successful in bidding for an inter-disciplinary Crucible studentship, to start September/October 2012. These studentships focus on research into lifelong health and well-being.

This studentship will be supervised by Nicola Shelton (Epidemiology and Public Health), Emmanuel Stamatakis (Epidemiology and Public Health), Oliver Duke-Williams (Information Studies) and Sandra Dunsmuir (Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology), and was one of four projects to be funded from 25 applications.

The project will look at the potential for using web technology to engage primary school pupils in physically active virtual fieldtrips: they will move through a virtual on-screen landscape as they walk on the spot in the classroom. Does physically active learning in the classroom setting improve learning outcomes and increase overall physical activity? The interdisciplinary project will involve designing a virtual fieldtrip linked to elements of the Primary Curriculum for use on school classroom white boards. This will be piloted in primary schools in London and the learning outcomes (comprehension, recall of facts, engagement) and physical activity of pupils measured compared to a control group who participate in a sedentary fieldtrip online. Physical activity would be measured at baseline, during the fieldtrip period and post the intervention using accelerometers and self report.

Wednesday 18 January 2012, 4 – 6pm

Accessible Publishing: we are closer than we think

The seminar will be chaired by Anthony Watkinson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Studies, UCL. Speakers include Sarah Hilderley, Accessibility Project Lead, EDItEUR, Huw Alexander, Rights & Digital Sales Manager, SAGE Publications, and Alyssum Ross, Director of Business Operations, Hodder Education.

The International Publishers Association has issued a statement affirming that publishers want our books to be read by everyone, and outlining a vision that all readers should be able to purchase books at a fair price and read them when and where they want to, regardless of disability.
This Digital Publishing Forum will explore the practical ways in which our community is working towards this vision, and is driving towards mainstream accessible publishing.

Sarah Hilderley will be speaking on industry guidance and how publishers can get started. Huw Alexander will discuss SAGE’s approach to accessibility and, in particular, the award they have received recently from JISC TechDis in recognition of the excellent service SAGE offers in supplying alternative formats. Alyssum Ross will be concentrating on publisher’s workflows and how Hodder have managed to implement different workflows across the business in accordance with the type of product being published.

Registration fee:

These friendly, informal events allow ample time for questions and discussion, followed by drinks and an opportunity for further networking and discussion. The seminar fee is £46.00 for members of the Publishers Association, EDItEUR, CILIP, SCL and other library staff members and £92.00 for non-members.

Registration:

To download the registration form, please CLICK HERE
For further information, please contact: infostudies-conferences@ucl.ac.uk

EBOOKS 2012: eContent for eLearning

10TH May 2012

This one day even is the latest in a successful series designed for librarians and publishers. For further information contact the organiser John Akeroyd (john.akeroyd@gmail.com)

6th UCL DIS E-Publishing Summer School UNDERSTANDING E-PUBLISHING IN LONDON

18th to 29th June 2012

A summer school for MA LIS students from the USA and others, including younger publishers run from the Department of Information Studies. Two weeks in London in June culminating in the UCL Bloomsbury conference. For further information contact Professor Tula Giannini (tgiannini1@optonline.net) and http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/epublishing-summerschool
6th FIFTH BLOOMSBURY CONFERENCE ON E-PUBLISHING AND E-PUBLICATION

28th and 29th June 2012

The international Conference this coming year will be held at UCL and on the subject of SCHOLARLY OUTREACH AND OUTCOMES.  This is a forum for scholars and information professionals including publishers and librarians. More information will soon be available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/e-publishing/ or from Anthony Watkinson (anthony.watkinson@btinternet.com)

Wednesday 28th September 2011, 4-6pm, Roberts G06 Sir Ambrose Fleming LT, UCL, Gower St, London WC1, followed by a reception in the Department of Information Studies Teaching Room, G31.

This fourth seminar of 2011 will be chaired by Anthony Watkinson, University College London.

EPUB is the standard intended to enable the effective publishing of e-books. EPUB3, the latest revision now becoming finalised, has been hailed as of particular importance to the industry. Yet there is not a lot of understanding of how it works and what it can do and of course some criticism. The purpose of this forum is to provide both a careful and independent explanation of EPUB and also to give examples from companies working with the standard about what it means for their publishing programme and how they handle the implementation.

There will be three speakers, an expert on standards, a publisher and a supplier

Graham Bell, the chief Data Architect of EDItEUR and previously in charge of production systems at HarperCollins, will ground the forum with a technical explanation of what the standard is, what it covers, how it works and what the snags are.

James Long, the Editorial Director Digital of Pan Macmillan, will speak as a publisher investing in EPUB as a key to serious commercial exploitation of their e-book programme and explain how the company is making it work for them.

James Macfarlane, CEO of Easypress Technologies, will concentrate on the production side of the picture, explaining how an international online publishing software company can work effectively with publishers.

Link to the registration details

Four students have just returned from the first Archives and Records Challenges in the Digital Information Society (ARCHIDIS) Intensive Programme. Funded by a European Union Erasmus grant, this two week event saw students from eight European countries coming together to discuss the topic of Appraisal and Social Memory. ARCHIDIS certainly lived up to its ‘intensive’ label, but was both a very enjoyable experience and a valuable learning opportunity, which has greatly furthered participants’ awareness and understanding of the different appraisal traditions and practices across Europe. Thanks go to all the organisers and funders, and especially to the Archivschule in Marburg, Germany, which provided a wonderful setting for the fortnight.

This Autumn’s exhibition at the UCL Art Museum is directly relevant to students opting to take Historical Bibliography.

Entitled Word and Image: Early Modern Treasures at UCL, it highlights objects from the period 1450-1800 in UCL Art Collections and UCL Library Services Special Collections, including Durer’s Apocalypse series, which we will be studying in INSTG012.

There are several pop-up exhibitions planned for lunchtimes, the first of which is on 4 October – Word Minus Image. I’m selecting examples of images that started out as illustrations for texts – from Durer to the present day. Often important as works of art in their own right, they exist at the intersection of Art History and Historical Bibliography, challenging both disciplines to consider the nature of illustration, the primacy (or otherwise) of text and the role of visual art within the book.  A phenomenon of the early modern period, the removal and resale of prints continues to be a thriving trade today, and this pop-up reflects this.

It is with much sadness that we report the death of Professor Emeritus Robin Alston Esq., OBE, FSA who passed away aged 78. Robin was appointed Director of SLAIS (the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, the precursor to DIS) at UCL in 1990, and despite having his scholarly roots in (Old) English literature and traditional historical bibliography, was a great proponent of information technology and information science, and was largely responsible for developing the teaching of internet issues and the practical use of IT across the School’s programmes. He was an immensely knowledgeable man and a captivating speaker, full of ideas and insight whether discussing the history of the book or the workings of the latest piece of technology. For all his many scholarly works it is perhaps for his energy and enthusiasm as a speaker that he is most vividly remembered – pacing up and down in front of a class, gesticulating widly, with his keen eyes twinkling as he engaged students and staff alike, constantly decorating his talks with anecdotes which were always as apposite as they were amusing. On his retirement from the School in 1998 he continued teaching, researching and publishing, being heavily involved with the MA History of the Book at the University of London and the development of his longstanding Library History database project. He was awarded an honorary DLitt by the University of London in 2005, and his last major work was An Inventory of Sale Catalogues in the British Isles, America, United States, Canada and India 1676-1800 in 2 Volumes which was published in 2009. Our sincere condolences go to his family and friends.