Workshop Date: October 4-6, 2021 Location: Strozier Libraries, Florida State University
This grant will fund a meeting of invited researchers, librarians, and technologists to discuss the requirements for creating a digital prosopographies data repository. During a three-day meeting, participants will discuss the challenges and requirements for creating a prosopographical data repository. Different data repository platforms will be evaluated, metadata requirements will be determined, and best practices for submission and management of datasets will be outlined.
Phase 1: Full participant list determined. Eight participants will be selected to attend this meeting based on direct invitations and a general call. We are currently in conversations with librarians and scholars who use prosopographic data in their research, who will be invited to attend the meeting. In addition to invited participants, we will solicit participation from specialists in local authorities in libraries and repositories, researchers who utilize prosopographic data in their research, and technologists who have experience creating database-driven projects that utilize data on people and communities. Phase 2: Final planning and coordination of workshop. With the final participant list determined, the Project Director will work with the Workshop Coordinator to ensure travel and accommodations for all workshop participants. Initial questionnaires will be sent to participants to further refine the discussion topics at the workshop. Phase 3: Workshop (mid-October). The workshop will take place in the Fall of 2020 at Florida State University. Participants will engage in three days of discussion addressing questions about how to build a data repository for prosopographic data. Phase 4: Wrap-up (October-December). During this time, notes from the workshop will be formatted into a formal set of recommendations, a website for the project will be created and made public, and participants will be asked to conduct an evaluation of the workshop.
This project started as a result of the creation of the Demos Project at Florida State University. This collaborative research endeavor brings together humanists from various disciplines to interrogate how people and communities are represented in data. The Demos Project creates communities of practice and infrastructure around the study of people in data, and currently supports research through providing shared collaborative space, awards, and training. The Project wants to increase its ability to support research by developing tools and shared infrastructure for researchers creating and using structured data about people.