Digital History Seminar

Announcements and discussion of the IHR Digital History Seminar, online and in London

Advice for Speakers

The following information provides details for speakers at the Digital History seminar. If you have any additional questions please contact us directly.

Before the seminar a convenor will ask you :

  • To provide a title and abstract for your talk
  • To provide a suggested image for promotional purposes (minimum size 600×300)
  • To advise on any technology/room requests
  • To provide a copy of your slide show or a link to an online presentation
  • To suggest mailing lists, social media accounts or hashtags we could send seminar information to
  • If you would like to join us for dinner after the seminar

Presentation Format and Focus

Papers last c.30 minutes, with an additional Q&A. A convenor will chair the session by introducing you and the paper and managing the discussion after the paper.

We welcome anyone with an interest in digital history, including academics, students, cultural heritage and digital humanities practitioners, and other researchers into our audience. This may include subject specialists and people interested in your technical approach.

We are interested in the historical and historiographical significance of what you do. We are looking for papers that focus on why the research has made a difference to how we understand the past, rather than a technical description of your software architecture.

If you’d like to do something different, let us know in advance.

Title and Abstract

A good descriptive title includes the following elements: place-time-method-topic (in any order). This is particularly important for the Digital History seminar, as individual papers tend to attract different audiences.

For example: “Mapping Paris: Artists and their Neighbourhoods in the 18th Century”

Abstracts should be around 100-250 words in length.

Recordings and Live stream

To connect with communities beyond the London area we:

  • Live-stream each session using a webcam and microphone. The stream is available through YouTube and is embedded on the Digital History seminar website.
  • Produce a recorded copy for later use with a camcorder. This appears on the School of Advanced Study and Institute of Historical Research websites, YouTube, and iTunes-u.
  • Upload slide shows onto Slideshare for online viewers

At the session you will be asked to sign a license form to agree to the recording (please ask if you would like to view a copy).

We request that you provide us with a copy of your presentation that you are happy to be made public 1 week in advance of the seminar. Please provide this in Microsoft Powerpoint or pdf format. A link to an online presentation is also acceptable (e.g. Prezi).

If for any reason you do not want your paper to be made available in these ways, please let us know in advance.

You can view past digital history seminars on our YouTube channel.

Promotion

The Digital History seminar promotes each session on social media, mailing lists, and through the University of London events publications. If you want us to promote your talk to particular groups, let us know. We would also appreciate it if you can publicise your paper in addition and suggest to people to come along.

During the Seminar

The Room

Seminars take place in the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) in Senate House, London. For room number please check the IHR events page as this can vary.

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Full details on how to find the Institute of Historical Research can be found on their website (there is also a virtual tour of the IHR).

Presentation provision

The IHR provides a Windows-based laptop with:

  • A Plasma screen connection
  • An internet connection
  • Speakers

You may use your own laptop instead, but we cannot guarantee that it will work properly with the inbuilt system. If this laptop is an Apple, you will need to bring your own adaptor. Please retain a backup of your presentation on a USB drive.

If you plan to live demo please keep in mind that the wifi can go down occasionally or the signal can be weak.

After the Seminar

All speakers and audience members are invited to adjourn for drinks in the IHR Common Room and possibly onwards for food after the seminar is finished. We hope that you will be able to join us and we would be very pleased to be able to pay for your meal.