DHSI-East

DHSI-EAST:  Monday, May 5 to Thursday, May 8 2025

Join us in person Monday, May 5th to Thursday, May 8th 2025, at St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia for DHSI-East. 
Hosted by St. Francis Xavier University's Digital Humanities Centre. Faculty, staff, students, and all interested welcome.

For the first time ever, we will be offering concurrent workshops!

Choose one of two workshop options:

1. Digital Sustainability and Preservation in Digital Archives Projects 
2. Introduction to Databases for Humanist Data

Workshop Option 1: "Digital Sustainability and Preservation in Digital Archives Projects"

Instructors:
Constance Crompton, Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities, University of Ottawa
Meghan Landry, ACENET

This four-day in-person workshop at St. Francis Xavier University will discuss in-depth the role of metadata standards, controlled vocabularies, and linked open data in digital archives projects. This workshop will be inspired by the theory and practice of LINCS, Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship, and the Endings Project (https://endings.uvic.ca), which has “created tools, principles, policies and recommendations for digital scholarship practitioners to create accessible, stable, long-lasting resources in the humanities.”  Hands-on use of OpenRefine, an open-source data cleaning and transformation tool, will frame the discussions of metadata best practices, followed by a brief introduction to HTML and building projects to last online in keeping with Endings Project principles. The workshop concludes with an outline of how to embed a project within a broader network of support through libraries, archives, associations, and community groups.

Workshop Option 2: "Introduction to Databases for Humanist Data"

Instructor:
Dr. Jon Bath, Associate Professor or Art and Art History, University of Saskatchewan

This course will introduce the use of relational databases for the analysis of humanities data. We will begin by examining why a database might be an appropriate tool for your project and then move on to how to model, or structure, your data in a database. Finally we will learn how to query, or ask questions, of your data set. Throughout this process we will be using MySQL, a free, open-source relational database tool, and learning the basics of Structured Query Language (SQL). No previous experience with databases or programming is required, and you should feel free to bring your own data in whatever form it currently is.

Keynote Lecture

Reflections on Ethics and Justice in Metadata in the Age of AI

Abstract:

We seem to be in a new period of technological change. AI technologies are not new; the seemingly rapid expansion of generative AI and the increasing everyday use of AI-driven tools feel different and chaotic. While archives, libraries, and cultural heritage organizations continue to follow descriptive standards that have been in place for numerous decades, if not longer, increased attention on ethical practices relating to appropriate and respectful vocabulary in the representation of peoples, places, and cultures, including the appropriate naming of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, has put pressure on organizations to make significant change to practice. The proliferation of projects focused on terminology within the library space points to a new “opening” in standard practices related to an emphasis on ethics and justice and to opportunities afforded by technologies. However, there is a tension between the increasing emphasis on ethics in metadata practice and the potential changes to metadata creation practices made possible by AI-driven tools. In this talk, I will discuss the current and future challenges and possibilities in metadata in relation to representation, justice and ethics.

Speaker: Stacy Allison-Cassin

My initial career plans were to be a professional orchestral musician. When I decided that was not a path I wanted to continue to pursue, I was delighted to find a new path in music librarianship—a career that allowed me to combine my knowledge and passion for music with my love for libraries. I also discovered I have a love of classification, metadata and information systems. Something I fostered as a music cataloguer at York University and later in roles related to digital humanities and linked data. I delved further into my love of music and information with a PhD in Humanities at York where my dissertation entitled: “Fugitive Phrases: Arcade Fire, Love Song, and the Amorous Self” draws on Luhmann’s theory of love as information system to discuss the ways music supports and promotes amorous communications.

I am Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario and I have long been active in research, and professional and community work related to social justice and equity. I am an active member of professional associations and am currently Chair of the Indigenous Matters Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), a community lead in the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA-ANCLA), and a member of many other advisory bodies. I believe strongly in finding ways to make access to information more equitable and have been involved in open access initiatives in North America for many years with strong ties within the “open” movement. I am a very active member the Wikimedia community where I focus the bulk of my energy on Wikidata. However, I do write and edit Wikipedia articles in my spare time.

Staying in Antigonish

Please visit the Visit Antigonish website to see a list of all Accommodation in the area.

Credits

DHSI-East is part of the international DH Training Network and takes its name from DHSI, the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (University of Victoria). DHSI-East is supported by funding from the Canada Research Chairs program.

The DHSI-East organizing team is Laura Estill (English, StFX), Richard Cunningham (Acadia University), Margaret Vail (StFX Library), and Meghan Landry (ACENET).

For information on past DHSI-East training events, see our archive page.