Digital Resources, Manuscripts and Texts:

An Online Training Event

(focussing on London, British Library Harley 5280)

7-9 September 2021

13.30-17.00 (British Summer Time)

An event hosted by the AHRC-IRC Digital Humanities Research Network, Developing a Digital Framework for the Medieval Gaelic World

Abstract (Programme follows below):

This event will mark the digitisation of a sixteenth-century Gaelic manuscript, London, British Library, Harley 5280, and the newly digitised images will form the centre of an information and training event on digital resources, manuscripts and texts. Talks on such topics as metadata, IIIF, codicology and the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) will be combined with practical sessions on transcription of the manuscript; using TEI; and on the visualisation of the collation of medieval manuscripts. Contributors include Michael Hawkins (Cambridge Digital Humanities), Julian Harrison (The British Library), Anne McLaughlin (National Gallery, London), Dot Porter (Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, University of Pennsylvania), Caoimhín Ó Dónaill (Ulster University) and Nora White (Maynooth University). The event is open to anyone with an interest in the digital world and medieval Gaelic resources and may be of particular interest to postgraduate students and early career researchers. Please register by Friday 3 September 2021.

Draft Programme

Day 1 (Tuesday 7 Sept): The Digital Environment and the Medieval Gaelic World

Chair: Prof. Greg Toner, Queen’s University Belfast

13.30 – 13.40: Welcome and Introduction

1A: Using Digital Tools in Research

13.40-14.10: Digital Tools and Medieval Gaelic Research

Dr Pádraic Moran, National University of Ireland, Galway

14.10-14.30: Participants in break-out rooms introducing themselves and discussing how digital tools feature (and do not) in their own research.

14.30-14.50: Summary Discussion – one key message to be delivered from each break-out room

[14.50-15.00: Break]

1B: Creating and Using Metadata in Research

15.00-15.20: Creating, Reading and Understanding Metadata: Focus on Manuscripts

Julian Harrison, Curator of Medieval Manuscripts, The British Library (with Seosamh Mac Cárthaigh, University of Cambridge)

15.20-15.40: Creating, Reading and Understanding Metadata: Focus on Museum Objects and Inscriptions

Dr Nora White, Maynooth University

15.40-15.50: Questions and Discussion

[15.50-16.00: Break]

1C: Funding Applications and Recent Projects

16.00-16.30: The Digital Environment and Funding Applications: A General Introduction

Prof. Greg Toner, Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Órla Murphy, University College Cork

16.30-16.40: Funding Applications: Concrete Examples

Prof. David Stifter, Maynooth University

16.40-16.50: Questions and discussion

16.50-17.00: Round-up of the day’s discussion

Day 2 (Wednesday 8 Sept): Using Digital Resources for Manuscript Research (Image and Format)

Chair: Dr Joanna Tucker, University of Glasgow

2A Using Digital Images

13.30-13.50: The Practical Applications of IIIF

Dr Anne McLaughlin, Senior Research Fellow, The National Gallery, London

13.50-14.20: IIIF and Medieval Gaelic Manuscripts

13.50-14.10: Anne Marie O’Brien, Director of the Irish Scripts on Screen Project (ISOS), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, on IIIF and ISOS

14.10-14.20: Calum Cockburn, Digitisation Project Officer, The British Library, on IIIF and the British Library Manuscripts collection

14.20-14.30: Questions and Discussion

[14.30-14.45: Break]

2B Digital Codicology

14.45-15.15: Introduction to Modelling and Visualising the Collation of Medieval Manuscripts

Dot Porter, Director of VisColl, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscripts Studies, Unniversity of Pennsylvania

15.15-15.30: Questions and Discussion

[15.30-15.45: Break]

15.45-16.45: Practical session on VisColl (led by Dot Porter)

16.45-17.00: Questions, discussion and round-up of day

Day 3 (Thurs 9 Sept): Using Digital Resources for Manuscript Research: Text (Focus on BL Harley 5280)

Chair: Máire Ní Mhaonaigh

13.30-13.50: Introducing the Contents of Harley 5280

Dr Caoimhín Ó Dónaill, Ulster University

3A Digital Images and Transcription

13.50-14.05: Introduction Harley 5280, Script and Abbreviations

14.05-15.00: Transcribing Harley 5280

[15.00-15.15: Break]

3B Transcription and TEI

15.15-15.45: Medieval Manuscripts and TEI (Text Encoding Initiative)

Dr Michael Hawkins, Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge

[15.45-15.55: Break]

15.55-16.45: Hands on demonstration of TEI transcription (led by Michael Hawkins)

16.45-17.00: Questions, discussion and roundup of event