The British Library Labs (BL Labs) Symposium is an annual networking event and awards ceremony showcasing innovative projects that use the British Library's digital collections and data. It provides a platform for discussion and debate in the use of the Library’s digital collections for research, inspiration and enjoyment. The awards this year will recognise outstanding use of British Library's digital content in the categories of Research, Artistic, Teaching & Learning, Community and British Library staff contributions. This is our seventh annual symposium.

We are very proud to announce that this year's keynote will be delivered by scientist Armand Leroi, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Imperial College, London who is also an author and broadcaster.

He has written and presented several documentary series on Channel 4 and BBC Four. His latest documentary was The Secret Science of Pop for BBC Four (2017) presenting the results of the analysis of over 17,000 western pop music from 1960 to 2010 from the US Bill Board top 100 charts together with colleagues from Queen Mary University, with further work published by through the Royal Society. Armand has a special interest in how we can apply techniques from evolutionary biology to ask important questions about culture, humanities and what is unique about us as humans.

Previously, Armand presented Human Mutants, a three-part documentary series about human deformity for Channel 4 and as an award winning book, Mutants: On Genetic Variety and Human Body. He also wrote and presented a two part series What Makes Us Human also for Channel 4. On BBC Four Armand presented the documentaries What Darwin Didn't Know and Aristotle's Lagoon also releasing the book, The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science looking at Aristotle's impact on Science as we know it today.

Date and Time
Monday 11 November 2019, 09:00 - 17:00*
*Registration is from 09:00. The event starts at 10:00 prompt. The closing reception will begin at 16:00.

Cost
Free

Location
The British Library, Knowledge Centre, Auditorium, London NW1 2DB, United Kingdom.

Map
The following map details how to get to the event.

Delegate list
A delegate list of the people registered for the event is available as a google sheet and a pdf.

Digital projects archive and case studies
Information about over 100 projects including previous entrants to the BL Labs Competitions, BL Labs Awards and other work using the British Library's digital collections is available in our Digital Projects Archive. We also recommend you browse our digital scholarship case studies.

Social Media

For live tweeting please use @BL_Labs, @BL_DigiSchol, @GLAM_labs & hashtag #bldigital

PROGRAMME

The final programme (which includes details about WiFi access) will be available as a google doc and pdf.

09:00 - 09:55 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE in the Knowledge Centre Foyer
Please collect your badge and programme, head upstairs to the first floor, grab a coffee / tea / refreshments network with new and familiar colleagues, British Library staff, BL Labs Awards entrants and people from other British Library projects. The event will begin in the auditorium at 10:00 sharp,

MORNING SESSION
Introduced and chaired by Mahendra Mahey, Manager of BL Labs, British Library

10:00 - 10:05 Welcome and introduction
Maja Maricevic, Head of Higher Education and Science, British Library

10:05 - 11:05 Keynote: 'The New Science of Culture'
Armand Leroi, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Imperial College

Armand will reflect on his experience in applying techniques from evolutionary biology such as bioinformatics, data-mining and machine learning, to ask 'big' questions about culture, humanities and what makes us human.

Armand will follow in the footsteps of previous prestigious BL Labs keynote speakers: Dan Pett (2018); Josie Fraser (2017); Melissa Terras (2016); David De Roure and George Oates (2015); Tim Hitchcock (2014); Bill Thompson and Andrew Prescott in 2013.

11:05- 11:15 BL Labs update
Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager, British Library

An update on the activities of BL Labs over the last year and a look forward to new projects.

11:15 - 11:30 The story of the GLAM Labs community and how we wrote a book in five days
Sophie-Carolin Wagner, Project Manager, Austrian National Library Labs (ÖNB_Labs), Austrian National Library

A report on the work to develop a global community of Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) Labs and the creation of a handbook for professionals wanting to set up, maintain and ensure digital innovation Labs thrive in their organisations.

11:30 - 11:50 The Research Award
James Perkins, Research & Postgraduate Development Manager, British Library

This Award recognises a project or activity which demonstrates the development of new knowledge, research methods, or tools using the Library’s digital content.

Previous winners include: Combining Text Analysis and Geographic Information Systems to investigate the representation of disease in nineteenth-century newspapers, by Ian Gregory et al (2015), Scissors and Paste by Melodee Beals (2016) and A large-scale comparison of world music corpora with computational tools by Maria Panteli et al (2017) and The Delius Catalogue of Works by Joanna Bullivant and Daniel M. Grimley of the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford; and David Lewis and Kevin Page of the University of Oxford e-Research Centre (2018).

11:50 - 12:00 An overview of digital preservation at the British Library
Maureen Pennock, Head of Digital Preservation, British Library

An overview of the challenges of preserving an ever-growing and complex set of digital collections, including a presentation of the work of the Flashback project.

12:00 - 13:25 LUNCH and networking in the Knowledge Centre Foyer / Chaucer Room
Take this opportunity to network with new and familiar colleagues as well British Library staff.

AFTERNOON SESSION
Introduced and chaired by Filipe Bento, BL Labs Technical Lead, British Library

13:30 - 13:45 The Teaching & Learning Award
Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager, British Library

This Award celebrates quality learning experiences created for learners of any age and ability that use the Library's digital content.

Previous winners include: 'Library Carpentry' by James Baker et al (2016), 'Vittoria's World of Stories' by Vittoria Primary School (2017) and Pocket Miscellanies by Jonah Coman, Glasgow School of Art (2018).

13:45 - 14:00 An update on the Living with machines project
Mia Ridge, Digital Curator and Co-Investigator for Living with machines, British Library

The 'Living with machines' project is a collaboration between the British Library and the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

14:00 - 14:10 Community commendation
Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager, British Library

This Award celebrates individual / personal projects that have used Library's digital content.

14:10 - 14:25 British Library Staff Award
Maja Maricevic, Head of Higher Education and Science, British Library

This Award recognises a current member of staff, or team, who has played a key role in an innovative project using the Library’s digital content or data.

Previous winners include: 'Libcrowds' by Alex Mendes (2016) and 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' (2017) by the Two Centuries of Indian Print team and the Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700–1200 (2018)

14:25 – 14:45 The Artistic Award
Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager, British Library

This Award recognises an artistic or creative endeavour that has used the Library’s digital content to inspire, amaze and provoke.

Previous winners include: 'The Order of Things' by Mario Klingemann (2015), 'Hey there Young Sailor' written and directed by Ling Low with visual art by Lyn Ong (2016) and 'Imaginary Cities' by Michael Takeo Magruder (2017) and Another Intelligence Sings by Robert Walker, Rose Leahy and Amanda Baum.

14:45 - 15:20 COFFEE in the networking in the Foyer / Chaucer room

15:20 - 15:50 Digital research projects update
Neil Fitzgerald, Head of Digital Research, British Library

Highlights of some innovative recent and current projects in the Digital Research team at the British Library.

15:50 - 16:00 Closing comments
Mahendra Mahey, BL Labs Manager, British Library

16:00 - 16:55 NETWORKING RECEPTION in the Knowledge Centre Foyer / Chaucer Room
Enjoy drinks, nibbles and networking.

17:00 - 18:15 Immersive theatre performance: "To those Born Later"
(please note this event is ticketed with limited seating – see below)
Eliot Room, Knowledge Centre

The interactive/immersive theatre company 'Uninvited Guests' will give a performance specially organised for Symposium attendees. This participatory performance will take the audience on a journey through a world that is on the cusp of a technological disaster. Our period of history could vanish forever from human memory because digital information will be wiped out for good. How can we leave a trace of our existence to those born later?

Don't miss out on a chance to book (cost £13, some concessions available).

Note: if you are not able to join the 17:00 show, there will be another performance between 19:45 - 21:00 (book here for that one).

EVENT FEEDBACK
Please ensure that you have given us feedback about the event as this helps us to improve future events and learn about what we might be able to do to support you in the future.