Progress & Events

7 September 2021
Jo Briggs and Bernard Ogden were on the panel The Interface(s) of a Virtual National Collection at the DARIAH Annual Event 2021: Interfaces.
12 August 2021
A walkthrough of the design process and its visual search prototype is now available on YouTube.
21 July 2021

Deep Discoveries – Visual Search for Heritage Collections. Please join us for a webinar showcasing our research findings, our methodologies and developments in computer vision and the interface design. We will introduce the aims of the project, followed by brief talks from our team on our UX research, computational developments, and the collaborative prototype design.

A recording of the session is available on YouTube: Visual Search for Heritage Collections.

30 April 2021

Webinar on Computer Vision and Heritage: Opportunities for Research and Engagement. Join us for the first of two webinars organised by the AHRC Towards a National Collection foundation projects, Deep Discoveries and Visitor Interaction and Machine Curation in the Virtual Liverpool Biennial. This first session will offer an opportunity to hear three talks around computer vision search and engagement applications in heritage collections, followed by a Q&A and a brief virtual networking session. A second session, Computer Vision and Heritage: Where Next, will be announced soon!

A recording of the session is available on YouTube: Computer Vision & Heritage: Opportunities for Research and Engagement.

22 February 2021
Presentation and discussion at the presentations of interim findings of the Towards a National Collection Foundation Projects.
28 January 2021
Presentation and break-out discussion on 'Towards Computer Vision Search and Discovery of our National Collection: Challenges and Prospects in Accessing Image Collections' at the Archives in the UK/Republic of Ireland and AI (AURA) Network’s workshop on AI and Archives: Current Challenges and Prospects of Digital and Born-digital archives.
27 January 2021

UX research survey launched.

Help shape exciting new developments in the discoverability of cultural heritage collections by filling out this 3-5 minute survey for Deep Discoveries, our AHRC-funded foundation project in the Towards a National Collection Programme.

Your participation will contribute to the design of a visual search prototype that enables cross-collection image discovery by exploiting advances in computer vision and deep learning methods, and allowing users to iteratively and interactively refine their search through visual facets (colour, pattern, shape) rather than keyword descriptions.

This anonymous, ongoing survey collects information about the search and discovery behaviours of users of online visual collections, especially heritage collections, and their engagement with existing visual search platforms.

4 November 2020
Poster presentation at The National Archives' Annual Digital Lecture.
28 September 2020
Remote workshop to understand current and potential users' goals and behaviours when working with Visual Collections. The workshop began with short introductions to some of the collections and then split into breakout groups to discuss the following questions:
  • Who uses graphic collections and who is excluded?
  • What are the real and perceived barriers to user access and discovery of these collections?
  • How would users benefit from visual search of a National Collection, what are the barriers/limitations?
  • How might visual search help users overcome existing barriers and help reach new audiences?
    13 May 2020
    New blog post: Deep Discoveries: A new way of exploring and connecting digitised image collections