POST: Co-Hosting a Datathon at the Library of Congress

In a post on the The Signal, Jaime Mears (Library of Congress) reflects on the June 2016 Archives Unleashed 2.0: Web Archive Datathon. With support from the National Science Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Internet Archive, Rutgers University, and the University of Waterloo, the workshop presented “an opportunity to collaboratively unleash our web collections, exploring cutting-edge research tools while fostering a broad-based consensus on future directions in web archive analysis.”

In the post, Mears outlines what those interested in hosting their own similar events will need to consider, and provides photos and links to associated projects. Mears describes the variety of elements necessary for a successful collaborative datathon: Technical Experts, Data Sets, Content Experts, Infrastructures, and Researchers. Those considering a local datathon will benefit from Mears’s advice,”Collaboration is essential. Even if you have staff members who are technical experts, even if you have all the money, partnering with other library units and external experts diversifies who might attend, the available data sets they bring and in general raises the potential for creativity and revelation.”