Link-Lives: 5-year research project at University of Copenhagen & the Danish National Archives
Postdoc researcher
Link-Lives reconstructs life courses from transcribed records of Danish residents, in the period 1785-1968. We use nominal historical records like censuses and parish records, and attempt to link individuals over time. This is impossible for humans to do alone, so we train computer algorithms to do this for us.
I design best practices for our manual linking techniques according to the historical source we are working with. Linked data is then ‘fed’ to our rule-based and machine-learnt algorithms so they can link entire populations.
One of our challenges is how ‘messy’ historical data is, both in its original and its transcribed forms. I spend a lot of time ensuring that historical information is as representative and accurate as possible so we as a project can link, train and test the algorithm-generated outputs to maximise precision and recall. Throughout the process I use python scripts to test and analyse our historical records as big data.
International academic conference: Beyond the Home: new histories of domestic servants
Co-organiser
In September 2017, Dr Sacha Hepburn and I convened an international conference focusing on the lives of servants outside their domestic work environments. Funded by the RHS, Speakers joined us from all over the world and shared their expertise on all historical periods and places.
In September 2017, Dr Sacha Hepburn and I convened an international conference focusing on the lives of servants outside their domestic work environments. Funded by the RHS, Speakers joined us from all over the world and shared their expertise on all historical periods and places.
Beyond the home: new histories of domestic servants was sponsored by the Oxford Centre for Global History and generously funded by the Oxford Faculty of History, the Royal Historical Society and the Past and Present Society.
More information about the conference can be found at the conference website.
Women in Oxford’s History:
podcast series
Co-founder
In December 2015, the TORCH Graduate Fund awarded funding for a podcast series focusing on women’s contributions to Oxford throughout history, run by myself and Alison Moulds.
The project consisted of a series of 6 podcasts on women whose contributions as either ‘town or gown’ have been overlooked in the history of Oxford. It was hoped that by demonstrating women’s impact on Oxford, it will help balance out the current discrepancy between male and female historical figures and encourage others to look into their own community’s past and record how women contributed to their own city. The podcasts are aimed at those who live in Oxford, those with an interest in the city and its history, and all those interested in women’s involvement in urban life.
After successfully producing the first series of six podcasts in 2016, Alison and I handed the reins over to a new team in July 2017. We are delighted that the project will continue to evolve and develop under their guidance. Read our blog post on the project’s aims on the TORCH website and hear the podcasts at the University’s podcast site.
Dr. Olivia Robinson 