King’s Digital Lab at King’s College London 国王数字实验

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Name

King’s Digital Lab (KDL), it is a Research Software Engineering laboratory within King’s College London Faculty of Arts and Humanities (A&H)

Year of Foundation

2015

Short Description

Since the late 70s, King’s College London has applied computational methods to Humanities research becoming deeply rooted in the digital humanities sector from the 90s, initially with the establishment of the ‘Research Unit in Humanities Computing’, then ‘Centre for Computing in the Humanities’ (CCH) and later within the Department of Digital Humanities (DDH). To consolidate the development arm initially part of the department, in 2015 the Faculty of Arts & Humanities (A&H) founded King’s Digital Lab(KDL), a Research Software Engineering Laboratory now in its consolidation phase (Smithies, 2016; Ciula, Caton and Mellen, 2023). It consists of a team of Research Software experts with a critical understanding of the integration of digital technologies in arts and humanities scholarship, cultural heritage sector and creative practices. The team co-design, develop, maintain and extend software and associated products (from digital publications to data visualizations and immersive experiences) to enable diverse research and impact activities (Ciula, Caton and Mellen, 2023).

The lab’s primary focus is to increase capacity priamry in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities (A&H) and consolidate as a leading research facility for digital production, analysis, archiving, and consultancy within the A&H domain (UKRI, 2023).

Besides delivering its objective of supporting A&H’s digital research work, KDL supports a range of functions in collaboration with research and industry partners (UKRI, 2023). This includes designing and implementing systems, infrastructures, tools and processes necessary for producing a range of digital scholarly outputs (KCL, nd). Additionally, KDL offers expert consultancy as well as design and delivery of guest lecturers or other expert training and mentorship. In alignment with its objective to supporting the delivery of high-quality digital research, KDL also allocates a modest amount of resources to non-grant-funded activities within the Faculty and the college (KCL, nd)

Following a major infrastructure refresh in September 2021, when its founding director James Smithies left the role, KDL re-freshed the Lab Missions & Activities (2022-2025) in collaboration with Faculty senior management (Ciula, Caton and Mellen, 2023). The document summarised KDL’s ‘primary value and market position lie in its contribution to high-quality grant-funded projects with significant technical requirements’, leading KDL to continue to evolve and adapt to the changing digital research landscape (Ciula, Caton and Mellen, 2023).

At present, KDL website lists 67 projects the lab has worked on and contributed towards. However the list of resourcesd it maintains, including legacy is even more extensive (Archiving and Sustanability, nd). KDL is particularly interested in areas such as Digital Creativity, AI and Machine Learning, and Indigenous Digital Humanities (KCL, nd). With a diverse team comprising members from various backgrounds, KDL ensures the delivery of high-quality digital research across the A&H domain (KDL, 2015). Its collaborations extend beyond the Faculty and KCL, encompassing partnerships across the College  and with other higher education institutions, libraries, museums, cultural heritage bodies, and the performing arts and creative industries sector (KCL, nd).

Key KDL people

Dr Arianna Ciula, Director & Senior Research Software Analyst , experienced in digital humanities research and teaching, research management, and digital research infrastructures.

Key project with links

  1. Glow3: Global Leadership of Women in Web 3
  2. Living with Machines notebooks
  3. The Community of the Realm in Scotland, 1249-1424
  4. Radical Translations: The Transfer of Revolutionary Culture between Britain, France and Italy (1789-1815)
  5. Digital Humanities Laboratory: Studying the Entanglement of Infrastructure and Technology in Knowledge Production
  6. Room is sad
  7. iREAL: Inclusive Requirements Elicitation for AI in Libraries to support respectful management of Indigenous knowledges
  8. Crossreads Text, materiality and multiculturalism at the crossroads of the ancient Mediterranean
  9. Critical Modelling of Extensive Literary Data
  10. Brightening the Covenant Chain

Image credit: King’s Digital Lab, 2023 

图片来源: Pixabay, 2017

国王数字实验(KDL)

名稱

国王数字实验是一个位于伦敦国王学院艺术与人文学院的研究软件工程实验室(A&H)。

成立年份

1992

简要描述

自70年代末以来，伦敦国王学院已将计算方法应用于人文学科研究，并从90年代起在数字人文领域扎根，最初是通过建立「人文计算研究单位」，随后成立「人文计算中心」（CCH），再后来成立了数字人文学系（DDH）。为了整合最初属于该系的发展部门，艺术与人文学院（A&H）于2015年创立了国王数字实验室（KDL），一个研究软件工程实验室，目前正处于整合阶段（Smithies, 2016; Ciula, Caton和Mellen, 2023）。该实验室由一支对数字技术在艺术与人文学术、文化遗产部门和创意实践中的整合有深刻理解的研究软件专家团队组成。该团队共同设计、开发、维护和扩展软件及相关产品（从数字出版物到数据可视化和沉浸式体验），以支持多样的研究和影响活动 (Ciula, Caton和Mellen, 2023)。

该实验室的主要重点是提高艺术与人文学院（A&H）的能力，并巩固其作为A&H领域内数字制作、分析、存档和咨询的领先研究设施的地位(UKRI, 2023)。

除了完成支持A&H数字研究工作的目标，KDL还与研究和行业合作伙伴合作，支持多种功能(UKRI, 2023)。这包括设计和实施生产各种数字学术成果所需的系统、基础设施、工具和流程(KCL, nd)。此外，KDL还提供专业咨询以及设计和提供客座讲座或其他专家培训和指导。为了支持高质量数字研究的目标，KDL还为学院和大学内的非资助活动分配了一定数量的资源(KCL, nd)。

在2021年9月进行了一次主要的基础设施更新后，创始主任詹姆斯·史密斯辞去职务，KDL与学院高级管理层合作，更新了2022-2025年的实验室使命和活动文件(Ciula, Caton和Mellen, 2023)。该文件总结了KDL的「主要价值和市场地位在于其对高质量、具有显著技术需求的资助项目的贡献」，这使得KDL能够继续发展并适应不断变化的数字研究环境(Ciula, Caton和Mellen, 2023)。

目前，KDL网站列出了实验室参与和贡献的67个项目。然而，其维护的资源列表，包括遗留项目，甚至更为广泛(Archiving and Sustanability, nd)。KDL特别关注领域如数字创意、人工智能和机器学习，以及土著数字人文(KCL, nd)。拥有来自不同背景的多样化团队，KDL确保在A&H领域提供高质量的数字研究(KDL, 2015). 。其合作伙伴关系不仅限于学院和KCL，还包括其他高等教育机构、图书馆、博物馆、文化遗产机构以及表演艺术和创意产业部门(KCL, nd)。

KDL团队关键人员简介

Arianna Ciula博士, 主任兼高级研究软件分析师,在数字人文研究和教学、研究管理和数字研究基础设施方面具有丰富经验。

主要项目及链接

  1. Glow3：Web 3时代全球女性领导力
  2. 与机器共存笔记本
  3. 苏格兰王国社区，1249-1424
  4. 激进翻译：革命文化在英国、法国和意大利之间的转移（1789-1815）
  5. 数字人文实验室：研究基础设施与技术在知识生产中的交织
  6. 房间很悲伤
  7. iREAL：支持土著知识尊重管理的包容性AI需求获取在图书馆中的应用
  8. Crossreads：古地中海交汇处的文本、物质性和多元文化
  9. 大规模文学数据的批判性建模
  10. 亮化契约链

图像来源: King’s Digital Lab, 2023