Exploring digital collections with the GLAM Workbench

Image: State Library of Victoria, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/342096

Tim Sherratt

@wragge

these slides

https://slides.com/wragge/glam-workbench-estonia/

Collections as data?

See also: https://collectionsasdata.github.io/

SEARCH IS FAMILIAR

BUT What about the other 3m?

SAME search

DIFFERENT VIEW

MORE searches

different questions!

APIs

data dumps

CSVs

full text

images

collections

as

data

?

APIs

data dumps

CSVs

full text

images

collections

as

data

+

GLAM Workbench

Not just how, but why...

• possibilities – why should I be interested?
• starting points – can you give me an example I can use?
• pathways – where do I go next?

628

CSV files from Australian GLAM organisations

harvested from government data portals

https://glam-workbench.github.io/glam-data-portals/

CSV FILES

GLAM CSV Explorer

https://glam-workbench.github.io/csv-explorer/

GLAM Workbench

https://glam-workbench.github.io/

• tools, tutorials, examples, hacks
• live code
• editable, reusable, hackable
• openly licensed

is

• coding 101
• finished or perfect

is NOT

Powered

by

JUPYTER

https://jupyter.org/

• Computing in your browser
• A computational narrative – combine text, images, code & more
• A standard format – use on different platforms
• See Introduction to Jupyter Notebooks

Why JUPYTER?

GLAM examples

• Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes Labs
• British Library
• National Library of Scotland
• Library of Congress

• used on multiple platforms
• presented in different formats
• changed by extensions
• tailored to different users

JupyteR can be...

NOT JUST notebooks

• create tutorials
• develop tools
• harvest data
• share code snippets
• document an API
• visualise a dataset
• hack an interface
• move data around

Use Jupyter to...

Examples

WEB ARCHIVE APIS

DOCUMENT DATA Sources

https://glam-workbench.github.io/web-archives/

National Museum of Australia

EXPLORE AN API

(collections in time & space)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/nma/

EXPLORE AN API

(collections in time & space)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/nma/

National Museum of Australia

EXPLORE AN API

(collections in time & space)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/nma/

National Museum of Australia

AN API Example

https://glam-workbench.github.io/museumsvictoria/

Museums Victoria

PACKAGING DATA

(create collections of newspaper articles)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-harvester/

Trove newspaper harvester

National archives of australia

EXtract metadata

(no API? you can always try screen-scraping!)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/recordsearch/

EXtract metadata

(no API? you can always try screen-scraping!)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/recordsearch/

National archives of australia

DOWNLOAD TEXT

(a bit of API, a bit of screen-scraping)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-journals/

Trove journals

DOWNLOAD IMAGES

(a bit of API, a bit of screen-scraping)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-journals/

Trove journals

Text

TROVE newspapers

Visualise searches

(asking historical questions with search facets)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

TROVE newspapers

Visualise searches

(asking historical questions with search facets)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

TROVE newspapers

Visualise searches

(asking historical questions with search facets)

SEEING change

(screenshots over time)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/web-archives/

WEB
ARCHIVES

SEEING change

(text in web pages)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/web-archives/

WEB
ARCHIVES

SHOWING EVERYTHING

https://glam-workbench.github.io/web-archives/

gov.au
subdomains

COUNTING WORDS

https://glam-workbench.github.io/hansard/

australian parliament

COUNTING WORDS

https://glam-workbench.github.io/hansard/

australian parliament

REMIXING WORDS

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-books/

RECIPE
BOOKS from Trove

tracking text

https://glam-workbench.github.io/web-archives/

WEB
ARCHIVES

FINDING FACES

https://glam-workbench.github.io/facial-detection/

STATE LIBRARY
NSW

FINDING GAPS

https://glam-workbench.github.io/anu-archives/

Sydney Stock exchange

FINDING GAPS

(70,000 digitised pages in 200 volumes)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/anu-archives/

Sydney Stock exchange

FINDING GAPS

(calendar view)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/anu-archives/

Sydney Stock exchange

RANDOM
TROVE
ITEMS

EXTEND APIs

(get a randomly selected newspaper article)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-random/

save a newspaper article as an image

Hack Interfaces

(add a new download option to Trove)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

save a newspaper article as an image

Hack Interfaces

(the same notebook as an app)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

words
from OCR

PLAY with collections

(creating scissors & paste messages)

https://glam-workbench.github.io/trove-newspapers/

One notebook, Multiple views!

In the GLAM Workbench

One notebook, Multiple views!

In the GLAM Workbench

} STATIC

} LIVE

One notebook, Multiple views!

POSSIBLE PATHWAYS

} STATIC

} LIVE

Novice

One notebook, Multiple views!

POSSIBLE PATHWAYS

} STATIC

} LIVE

Learning

One notebook, Multiple views!

POSSIBLE PATHWAYS

} STATIC

} LIVE

Experienced

Open notebooks LIVE in binder

BINDER

Binder In GLAM WorKbench

The magic of Binder

Binder In GLAM WorKbench

• A single click to start
• Batteries included (no software for the user to install)
• Encourages experimentation
• Just try it...

Fingers crossed

The future?

• better pathways
• systems for review & collaboration
• embedding within research training
• automated testing & building
• more GLAM collections!

CONTACT ME

@wragge on Twitter

timsherratt.org

GLAM Workbench issues on GitHub

GLAM Workbench on OzGLAM Help

GLAM Workbench Gitter chat