Podcast

Research Talk: Is AI for me? Perspectives from the humanities – skills for artificial intelligence

Paola Marchionni brings the second instalment of, ‘Is AI for me? Perspectives from the humanities’ mini-series.

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In this episode, James Baker, director of digital humanities at the University of Southampton, joins Paola to discuss the skills for artificial intelligence. A historian by training, James works at the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and digital technologies. His interests lay in the history of collecting and describing collections and how curators describe historical collections. Increasingly, James is becoming about infrastructure and how to use it to meet the needs of intellectual agendas.

In this episode, Paola and James discussed the need to demystify the digital, the latest and shiniest things, and instead ground it within the continuity of research practice. They talk about the importance of equipping humanities researchers with the right skills to engage with artificial intelligence and how to help students navigate this ever-changing landscape. They also examine the role of the open access publishing platform Programming Historian plays in supporting the development of computational skills.

Show notes

  • Programming Historian
  • Come together with the academic and cultural heritage communities at DCDC23 and explore the interplay between the physical and the virtual, the ‘materiality’ of physical collections and digital interventions. Taking place 11-13 July, there's still time to register for this year's event.
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  • If you want to come on the show, or have any questions, you can get in touch with us by emailing podcast@jisc.ac.uk

Episode guest

James Baker
Director of digital humanities at the University of Southampton

Episode host

Paola Marchionni headshot
Paola Marchionni
Head of engagement (content and discovery)

Additional links