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Removing black boxes:
exposing software to
researchers
Dr James Baker
Curator, Digital Research
@j_w_baker

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www.bl.uk 2

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www.bl.uk 3

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www.bl.uk 4
“The greatest disaster for the historical record wasn’t the computer. It was the
invention of the telephone.” —@TimHitchcock at #rrchnm20
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen) November 15, 2014

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www.bl.uk 5
NB: Not a scene from the
British Library!!

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www.bl.uk 6

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www.bl.uk 7
Similarity score (sdhash) plotted against absolute difference in indicated dates
(days) between files (each point represents a pair of draft files): apparently and
generally the greater the number of days between the files of a pair, the lower the
similarity score
Work by Jeremy Leighton John (Curator e-Manuscripts) on Hanif Kureishi archive

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www.bl.uk 8

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www.bl.uk 9

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www.bl.uk 10
github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

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www.bl.uk 11
github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

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www.bl.uk 12
github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

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www.bl.uk 13
github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

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www.bl.uk 14
github.com/BL-publicdomain/blpublicdomain

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www.bl.uk 15
picaguess.herokuapp.com

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www.bl.uk 16
picaguess.herokuapp.com

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www.bl.uk 17
picaguess.herokuapp.com

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www.bl.uk 18
picaguess.herokuapp.com

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www.bl.uk 19

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www.bl.uk 20
Thank you!
@j_w_baker
james.baker@bl.uk
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/
Slides: slideshare.net/drjwbaker