School of Creative Technologies (CT)
Professor David Anderson
Professor of Digital Humanities
Creative Technologies
Profile
| BA (Hons) (Belfast) | PhD (Belfast) |
I joined Portsmouth in 1995 and lead the interdisciplinary Future Proof Computing Group, taking on the concerns of subject disciplines but de- and re-constructing them through the creation and manipulation of data, returning to those disciplines ever more challenging questions and new ways of thinking through old problems. Reflecting my interdisciplinarity, I am a member of both CiTECH and CCCR, and serve as the Director of CiTECH. I have three main research interests: Data Preservation (with Janet Delve within the European KEEP consortium – see news archive); History of Computing (see my Current Research, below), and Paraconsistent Reasoning, a way of overcoming the inability of computers to deal properly with inconsistent data based on classical logic and thereby subject to the logical principle ex contradictione quodlibet (‘anything may follow from a contradiction’).
Current Research
Funded Research Projects[Back to top]
The KEEP Project– EU Grant Agreement ICT 231954 [£4m]
Quick navigation
Working with Janet Delve and Dan Pinchbeck (of the Future Proof Computing Research Group) I am part of a European consortium which is developing techniques for preserving digital objects: text, sound, and image files; multimedia documents, websites, databases, videogames etc. The overall aim of the project is to facilitate universal access to our cultural heritage by developing flexible tools for accessing and storing a wide range of digital objects.
We will address the problems of transferring digital objects stored on outdated computer media such as floppy discs onto current storage devices. This will involve the specification of file formats and the production of transfer tools exploited within a framework, and will take into account possible legal and technical issues.
Although primarily aimed at those involved in Cultural Heritage, such as memory institutions and games museums, the Emulation Access Platform will also serve the needs of a wide range of organisations and individuals because of its universal approach.
Overall, we will create the foundation for the next generation of permanent access strategies based on emulation.
The particular focus of the Humanities Computing Group within the wider effort is the investigation of metadata models and the development of guidelines for mapping digital objects onto emulated manifestations.
Official Reports relating to the Project
Anderson, D., Delve, J. & Konstantelos, K. (2011). Requirements and design document and database implementation for the KEEP Emulation Framework GUI. Report to the European Commission. 23pp.
Anderson, D., Delve, J. & Ciuffreda, A. (2010). Requirements and design document for the browsing system and user interface of the KEEP Emulation Framework. Report to the European Commission. 75pp.
Anderson, D., Delve, J., Alemu, G., Pinchbeck, D. & Ciuffreda, A. (2009). Preservation metadata standards for emulation access platforms. Report to the European Commission. 85pp.
Anderson, D., Ciuffreda, A., Delve, J., Alemu, G., Pinchbeck, D., Loman, B., Michel, D., Kiers, B. & Joguin, V. (2009). Guideline document and peripheral input/output libraries for digital preservation. Report to the European Commission. 23pp.
Digital Preservation Console Project (Development Study) – JISC [£13k]
Coordinators David Anderson & Janet Delve (University of Portsmouth)
This small project seeks to investigate the extent to which it might be possible to develop an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) to enable non‐specialist information professionals to undertake a variety of preservation and information management tasks with a minimum of preservation‐specific theoretical knowledge. This ‘Digital Preservation Console’, should offer considerable opportunity for capacity‐building across institutions to manage, preserve and strategically discard digital material.
POCOS (Preservation of Complex Objects Symposia) – JISC [£130k]
Coordinators David Anderson & Janet Delve (University of Portsmouth)
Over recent years significant progress has been made in understanding the issues involved in preserving complex materials and environments. European projects such as Planets and KEEP have provided tools and techniques which have moved forward the state of the art. The POCOS project will deliver a series of 3 symposia at locations across the United Kingdom at which global thought-leaders in research into the Preservation of Complex Objects will share and thereby extend the body of knowledge on this topic. Each seminar will be supported by a substantial and innovative dissemination programme to ensure that the maximum long-term value is obtained from the outputs of the seminar. This will include the production of a peer-reviewed book of the outputs from each symposium offered to the community in a variety of low-cost (or free) formats including print-on-demand, PDF/A and free Kindle e-book. It is also proposed to webcast and/or web-release parts of each symposium in order to increase access for the community. POCOS will deliver pathfinder conclusions to the JISC community which will contribute to shaping the future direction of research in this area.
Project Partners: University of Portsmouth, British Library, King's College London, HATII (Univ. Glasgow), Joguin sas.
Data Warehousing in the context of Digital Preservation (Report) – JISC [£2k]
Coordinators David Anderson, Richard Healey & Janet Delve (University of Portsmouth)
Unfunded Research Projects[Back to top]
The Newman Digital Archive. In a joint project with St John’s College, Cambridge, I am leading the development of a digital archive comprising the papers and memorabilia of the Cambridge topologist, mathematician and computer pioneer Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman. The physical archive currently contains approximately 650 items and the digital version is in excess of 3000 scanned pages. When complete this will be the world’s biggest digital archive in the History of Computing. Based on this I anticipate producing a biography of M. H. A. Newman.
Selected Publications
Earlier publication [CDPA] Publications since 2007 [IR]
Conference Papers[Back to top]
Anderson, D. (2004, revised 2007, online 2008) Was the Manchester 'Baby' conceived at Bletchley Park? British Computer Society Electronic Workshops in Computing (EWiC).
Anderson, D. (2007). LM 4: enabling autonomous intelligent machines to handle contradictory information. In H. R. Arabnia, M. Q. Yang & J. Y. Yang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI'07) Vol. II (pp.495-500). Las Vegas: CSREA Press.
Conference/Seminar Papers (unpublished)[Back to top]
Anderson, D. (2009). The corridors of power: Patrick Blackett and the political context of early British computing. Presented at: SIGCIS history of computing workshop: Michael Mahoney and the histories of computing(s). 18 October, Pittsburgh.
Anderson, D., Delve, J., Alemu, G., Ciuffreda, A. (2009). Preservation metadata initiatives and standards. Presented by G. Alemu at: Digital Media +100 years. 16 September, Bristol.
Anderson, D. (2008). It's amazing how many shapes the neck of a bottle can take: how a topologist changed the face of British Computing. Presented at: The Newcomen Society, Portsmouth Branch.
Anderson, D. (2008). The development of the computing community of practice: how physicists, electrical engineers and mathematicians combined to create a new community of practice. Presented at: Connecting disciplines: 6th joint meeting of the BSHS, CSHPS and HSS. 4-6 July, Oxford.
Anderson, D. (2008). 60 years after the birth of the computing revolution: an historical reassessment of the development of the Manchester Baby. Presented at: Paris, The Sorbonne.
Book reviews[Back to top]
Anderson, D. (2008). Review of B. J. Copeland, Alan Turing's automatic computing engine: the master codebreaker's struggle to build the modern computer. History & Philosophy of Logic, 29(4), 389-396.
Professional Memberships[Back to top]
Member of the IEEE Computer Society Publications Board
Vice Chairman, IFIP WG 9.7 History of Computing Committee
Founding member, Executive Committee of the European History of Computing Group
Member, Executive Committee of the BCS Computer Conservation Society (CSS)
Member, Executive Committee of the Association for History and Computing (AHC)
Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Member, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics
Member, Institute of Historical Research
Member, British Society for the History of Mathematics
Esteem Indicators[Back to top]
Series Editor: IEEE Computer Society, History of Computing Series
Webmaster for the BCS Computer Conservation Society (CSS)
Past Visiting Research Fellow, Christchurch University, NZ
Reviewer for numerous conferences and journals including IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
