May | 2025 | UCL DIS Research Seminars

Archive for May, 2025

Research Talk by Dr Alda Terracciano

By p.vrikki, on 15 May 2025

The dialogical method: oral history, participation, and digital humanities

The talk was delivered on 14th May 2025 by Dr Alda Terracciano, as part of the DIS research seminars series.

In this brief presentation, Alda will discuss some of her work at UCL Information Studies department, focusing on a participatory research methodology developed over two decades of artistic practice research and archiving. She will focus on results from two projects: Mapping Memory Routes (2016-2017), developed with Moroccan communities living and working in Golborne Road, West London as part of her activities as co-leader of UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies; and Sloane Lab (2021-2024), A TaNC project led by Prof Nyhan, which employed computational and digital humanities approaches augmented by participatory co-design to reunite Sir Hans Sloane’s collection records online for the first time. Alda will discuss how the dialogical method employed in these projects advanced knowledge on digital heritage curation and management.

Alda Terracciano is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Department of Information Studies. She received an MA in Art, Design and Visual Culture at Guildhall University (1996) followed by pioneering research on black and Asian British theatre as part of her PhD at Middlesex University (2002). As part of her practice research method, in 2001 she co-founded Future Histories, an independent archive of African, Asian, and Caribbean performing arts in the UK (www.futurehistories.org.uk), exploring the emergence of the archive as a key concept and object of critical heritage studies through exhibitions, live art, and online publications. In addition to being co-leader of UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies (2016-2022), she was Visiting Researcher at the University of Gothenburg (2016-2018) and held post-doctoral positions at Queen Mary, University of London (2015-2016), and University of Sussex (2020-2021). Between 2022 and 2024 she was Participatory Co-design consultant at Sloane Lab: Looking Back to Build Shared Collections (www.sloane.org). Her interdisciplinary method is explored in a chapter by Astrid von Rosen in the edited volume “Women Experimenting in Theatre” (2024). Alda is currently working on a paper on participatory research in digital cultural heritage. Further publications are available to view on Research Gate

Filed under Digital Humanities, Information Studies, Knowledge Information and Data Science

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Research Talk by John Akeroyd

By p.vrikki, on 15 May 2025

Digital Accessibility: Where Are We and What Might Come Next

The talk was delivered on 30th April 2025 by John Akeroyd, as part of the DIS research seminars series.

Accessibility to digital documentation for the visually impaired has developed rapidly over the past decade especially as more and more content is available in a native digital format. But there are still challenges such as scientific information and image data as well as legacy formats. This paper will look specifically at the problems posed for higher education and the challenges that still exist. It will address the legal framework in a European context and the technologies and tools available as well as speculate on future developments especially the potential of AI.

John Akeroyd has had a long career in the library and information field with a notable focus on the application of emerging technologies to create efficiency and solve user problems. He was a university librarian until 2010 when he became a consultant, researcher and interim manager with an Honorary position at UCL. Recent projects have included: how researchers go about publishing their work in the context of predatory publishing; “Emerging formats” – a review of new publishing formats on behalf of the British Library; market research for the British Council on its roll out of a Digital Library in Asia. He has presented at conferences in Italy, India and Asia on the development of digital libraries and authored papers and reports on these themes. Akeroyd has had a particular interest in digital accessibility since about 2015 and has worked pro bono to improve community understanding of the issue.

Filed under Digital Humanities, Information Studies, Publishing