Supporting the University of Edinburgh's commitments to digital skills, information literacy, and sharing knowledge openly

Month: October 2018

Witchy Wikidata – a 6th birthday celebration event for Halloween

Wikidata is turning 6 years old at the end of October 2018“the source for open structured data on the web and for facts within Wikipedia.” so we are hosting a birthday celebration on Wednesday 31st October 2018 in time for Halloween in Teaching Studio LG.07, David Hume Tower, University of Edinburgh.

Wikidata is a free and open data repository of the world’s knowledge that anyone can read & edit. Wikidata’s linked database acts as central storage for the structured data of its Wikimedia sister projects.

Using Wikidata, information on Wikipedia can be queried & visualised as never before. The sheer versatility of how this data can be used is only just beginning to be understood & explored.

In this session we will explain why Wikidata is so special, why its users are so excited by the possibilities it offers, why it may overtake Wikipedia in years to come as the project to watch and how it is quietly on course to change the world.

Pumpkinpedia

What will the session include?

  • An introduction to Wikidata: what it is, why it is useful and all the amazing things that can be done with structured, linked, machine-readable open data.
  • A practical activity using the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database where you will learn the ‘nuts & bolts’ of how to use and edit Wikidata (manually and in bulk) and help shape the future of open knowledge!
  • A practical guide to querying Wikidata using the SPARQL Query Service.
  • Cake and Wikidata swag to take home.

Who should attend?

Absolutely anyone can use Wikidata for something, so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed for the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites.

Anyone interested in open knowledge, academic research, application development or data visualisation should come away buzzing with exciting new ideas!

NB: Please bring a laptop with you OR email ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk at least 24 hours ahead of the event if you need to borrow one.

Please also create a Wikidata account ahead of the event.

Programme

  • 10:45 – 11:00: Welcome, Tea/Coffee, Registration
  • 11:00 – 11:30: Introduction to Wikidata – what is it, and why is it useful? – Dr. Sara Thomas, Scotland Programme Co-ordinator for Wikimedia UK.
  • 11:30 – 12:30: Introduction to SPARQL queries – Delphine Dallison (Wikimedian at the Scottish Library and Information Council).
  • 12:30 – 13:00: Break for lunch
  • 13:00 – 14:30: Witchy data session – Ewan McAndrew (Wikimedian in Residence at the University of Edinburgh).
    • Manual edits practical – adding data from the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database to Wikidata.
    • Mass edits practical – adding data in bulk from the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database to Wikidata.
    • Visualising the results
  • 14:30 – 14:45:– Close and thanks.

Book here to attend.

If coming from outside the University of Edinburgh then book your place via Eventbrite here.

North Berwick witches – the logo for the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database (Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Edinburgh Gothic for Robert Louis Stevenson Day 2018

Calling all you horror fans out there! On Robert Louis Stevenson Day, Tuesday 13 November, join us in David Hume Tower for a series of scintillating talks on the Gothic, brought to you by two of Edinburgh’s own Gothicists and special guests from the University of Sheffield’s Centre for the History of the Gothic. This session comprises three talks aimed at reconceptualising current understandings of Gothic fiction.

Come join us to take a walk on the macabre side of Edinburgh this Autumn!

 

 

Morning – Wikipedia Training and Talks (11:15am-1:30pm)

Book here for session one: 11:15am to 1.30pm

If coming from outside the University of Edinburgh then book through Eventbrite here.

  • 11:15 am – 11:30 am:Housekeeping, Tea & Coffee.
  • 11:30 am – 12:30 pm:Gothic Talks
    • Lauren Nixon and Mary Going – the History of doubling in the Gothic. Mary and Lauren will be joining us from the University of Sheffield’s Centre for the History of the Gothic to discuss the history of doubling in the Gothic and it’s uses as trope/convention over the decades, including Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde.
    • Robyn Pritzker – The wild gothic tales of Fanny Stevenson – This talk looks at the New Woman Gothic of Fanny Stevenson through some of her critically neglected short stories, exploring the ways in which the sense of political liminality felt by women in the nineteenth century often manifested as ghostly phenomena in fiction.
    • Vicki MaddenShirley Jackson and American Gothic fiction. This talk delves deeper into the medical humanities by examining Shirley Jackson’s critically understudied novel The Bird’s Nest and explores the ways in which dissociative personality disorder has been problematically conceptualised in Gothic terms, also with reference to Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde.
  • 12:30 pm – 1.30 pm: Wikipedia editing training and selecting an article.
  • 1.30pm-2pm: Break for lunch in David Hume Tower cafe.

 

Wikipedia edit-a-thon in the afternoon (2pm-5.30pm)

Book here for session two (2pm-5.30pm)

If coming from outside the University of Edinburgh then book through Eventbrite here.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 13th November 2018, the University’s Information Services team are running a Wikipedia editing event to celebrate Robert Louis Stevenson Day 2018. The focus will be on improving the quality of articles about all things Gothic; be it improving the page on Fanny Stevenson; be it improving content on Angela Carter, Alasdair Gray, Louise Welsh or Ali Smith; or even improving the Wiki page on Ken Russell’s movie,’Gothic’.

Programme for session two

  • 2pm-5pm – EDIT.
  • 5pm-5.30pm – Publish.

Working together with liaison librarians, archivists & academic colleagues we will provide full training on how to edit and participate in an open knowledge community. Participants will be supported to develop articles covering areas which could stand to be improved.

New editors very welcome. Desktop computers are available to use in this lab but you can use your own laptop if you prefer.

Come along to learn about how Wikipedia works and contribute a greater understanding & appreciation of Gothic!

Full training for Wikipedia editing is provided in session 1 (11am to 1.30pm) but a crash course can be provided at the beginning of this session for those editing for the first time.

More details are available on the Wikipedia event page.

Facts and Fallacies: Cultural Representations of Mental Health

On Wednesday, 14 November, join us in the Project Room, 50 George Square, for a series of short talks centring on cultural representations of mental health as part of Student Wellbeing Week.

Session 1 – Talks (11am to 1pm)

Marking a joint effort between several Schools and Support Services across the University, Facts and Fallacies aims to open up an honest discussion on mental health in a safe environment through six wide-ranging talks comprising neuroscience perspectives on mental wellbeing, complex mental illness in the media, BAME mental health in the UK, mental health representations in the Lothian Health Services Archive, and gendered aspects of mental health.

Staff and students from the Chaplaincy and Wellcomm Kings will be on hand throughout this event to support attendees and offer additional information regarding University of Edinburgh resources for mental wellbeing.

Tea and coffee will be shared on arrival from 11am to 11:10am.

Short talks chaired by Professor Jolyon Mitchell

  1. Professor Stephen LawrieNine Myths about Depression and its treatment.
  2. Dr. Alice White – Mental Health, History, Gender and Wikipedia. This talk will discuss how the histories of mental health are told online, from particular moments in history to narratives of psychological conditions. It will touch upon how gender bias shapes editing.
  3. Dr. Laura A. CariolaPresentations of Complex Mental Illness in the Media: A discursive focus on Borderline Personality DisorderThis presentation reports on an in-depth corpus-assisted discourse analysis which explores how borderline personality disorder is presented in UK newspaper articles and medical case studies. Special attention is given to identifying how discourse types compare in their communication of stereotypes and prejudices that create and reinforce existing social stigma against individuals affected by mental illness.
  4. Louise Neilson – Inside the Asylum: Archival records of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Looking at the surviving records of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital this talk will focus on the asylum buildings and the conditions for the patients housed within them.
  5. Rianna Walcott – The Colour of Madness – BAME mental health and scholarship. This talk will explore issues of poor mental health amongst BAME students, and in the wider UK. With reference to Rianna’s own experience as a black student at the University of Edinburgh and in collating BAME experiences for the anthology The Colour of Madness, the talk will address current failings in mental health services as well as contemporary activist efforts for improvement of UK healthcare.
  6. Angela McLaughlinProject Soothe. A unique ‘Citizen Science’ project combining research and public engagement with the goal of developing a bank of soothing images to improve mental health and wellbeing. Since its launch in 2015, Project Soothe has collected over 700 images from members of the public in 29 countries. Its multi-cultural global research has already established that viewing 25 of these images significantly improves people’s mood even if depressive symptoms are present. Find out more and get involved at www.ProjectSoothe.com 

This session will also conclude with an open discussion on the topics presented facilitated by two co-chairs offering both staff and student perspectives. We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be an insightful morning. Together, we hope to build deeper understandings of mental health in order to strengthen our community as a whole.

Book here for session 1 in the Project Room (11am-1pm).

Session 2 – Wikipedia editing event (1.30pm-5.30pm)

Join us in Computing Lab 1.02 on the first floor of 50 George Square, for a Wikipedia editathon focused on improving the coverage of mental health online.

Have you ever wondered why the information in Wikipedia is extensive for some topics and scarce for others? On Wednesday, 14 November, the University’s Information Services team are hosting an edit-a-thon as part of Wellbeing Week. Full Wikipedia editing training will be given at the beginning of the workshop. Thereafter the afternoon’s editathon will focus on improving the quality of articles about all things related to mental health.

Working together with liaison librarians, archivists & academic colleagues we will provide training on how to edit and participate in an open knowledge community. Participants will be supported to develop articles covering areas which could stand to be improved.

Come along to learn about how Wikipedia works and contribute a greater understanding of mental health!

Book here to join the Wikipedia editing event from 1.30pm-5.30pm

View the Wikipedia event page for suggested topics to work on but do also feel free to make further suggestions of pages to create/improve.

Session 3 – Screening the Inner World: Mental Health and Emotion in Film and Television (6pm-7.30pm)

Cinema and television have contributed greatly to public understanding and misunderstanding of mental health, emotion and psychological and psychiatric practices. In this panel discussion we will screen a number of clips from a range of films and programmes and invite panellists and the audience to reflect on the representations of mental health and illness. We will discuss the practical effect that such representations may have on the public perception of mental health and also explore the specific ways in which the moving image tries to show our apparently invisible inner worlds and emotional lives.

This event will be chaired by Dr. David Sorfa, Programme Director MSc Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Invited panellists include:

  • Dr. Calum Neil – Associate Professor of Psychoanalysis & Cultural Theory at Edinburgh Napier University.
  • Dr. Laura Cariola – Laura is an applied linguist and psychologist. Her research focuses on the intersection of language, discourse and mental health. She explores the language of individuals affected by mental health problems and healthcare professionals, as well as the presentation and phenomenology of mental health in the media and literature.
  • Dr. Rosie Stenhouse – With a background in Social Science and mental health nursing, Rosie joined Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh as a full time lecturer in 2013. Her teaching focuses on research methods in mental health including a course she developed on Contemporary issues in mental health: engagement through the arts, humanities and social science, and critical engagement with professional issues relating to working in healthcare organisations.
  • Professor Stephen Lawrie – Chair of Psychiatry and Neuro-Imaging & Head of the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Lawrie graduated in Medicine from Aberdeen University and completed basic Psychiatry training at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Following six months as a Wellcome Research Fellow, he was Lecturer and then Sackler Clinical Research Fellow/Reader in the Department of Psychiatry in Edinburgh.  As an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist with NHS Lothian, he works as a general psychiatrist in Edinburgh and in the South-East Scotland regional adult ASD clinical service.

While we will steer away from the more lurid and gruesome representations of mental distress, some may find the topics raised or scenes depicted upsetting. Please do check the BBFC descriptions of the material to be screened here: http://www.bbfc.co.uk

Short clips from the following films may be shown:

  • Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
  • A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)
  • Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944)
  • Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)
  • Whirlpool (Otto Preminger, 1950)
  • The Three Faces of Eve (Nunnally Johnson, 1957)
  • Asylum (Peter Robinson, 1972)
  • Demons of the Mind (Peter Sykes, 1972)
  • The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
  • Frances (Graeme Clifford, 1982)
  • An Angel at My Table (Jane Campion, 1990)
  • Girl, Interrupted (James Mangold, 1999)
  • In Absentia (Stephen and Timothy Quay, 2000)
  • Prozac Nation (Erik Skjoldbjærg, 2001)
  • Lunacy (Jan Švankmajer, 2005)
  • Mad Detective (Johnnie To, 2007)
  • A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, 2011)
  • Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell, 2012)
  • Inside Out (Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen, 2015)
  • Mad to Be Normal (Robert Mullan, 2017)
  • Killing Eve (BBC1, 2018)
  • Maniac (Netflix, 2018)
  • Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy, 2010)
  • We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)
  • The Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009)
  • The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)

Book here to join session three in the Screening Room at 50 George Square from 6pm-7.30pm.

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