Issue 10
Nov 2021
In this Issue
Editor’s note
It is my great pleasure to introduce to you the exciting events happening at the University Library. Echoing the words of the Acting University Librarian in our last issue, change is inevitable and constant, just like taking up the role as the Library newsletter editor and writing my first message here. Change is scary at first sight because we become inexperienced all of a sudden. But slowly and surely, we adjust and adapt, and we soldier on. This is reflected in the stories you are going to read in this issue.
The Digital Scholarship Projects at the Library has certainly triumphed in this regard. I remember back in 2014, being amazed at the aesthetically pleasing and interactive web design and data presentation of the Library’s first-ever digital project “History in Data – Tribute Data Curation 貢品數據管理”. Starting in 2013 as a mini-conference, the Digital Scholarship symposium has stepped into its 8th year, committed to bringing together data experts and scholars from HKBU and around the globe to share the fruits of their digital and technological projects despite the uncertainties brought by the pandemic. In particular, the Library has completed three new digital projects in collaboration with the Department of History, the Department of Communication Studies, and the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies. Each project comes with its unique features and body of knowledge. I am sure you will enjoy exploring them and the many other digital projects produced with the help of the Library.
With campus life gradually going back to normal, the Dr. Stephen Raidy Chinese Medicine Library has organized an exhibition of Li Shizhen and “Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)” with great support from the School of Chinese Medicine introducing and showcasing precious editions of the book. Visit the Chinese Medicine Library to learn about Li Shizhen and his works!
Last but not least, while we have said farewell to a number of Library colleagues in the previous year, we have recently welcomed new colleagues who bring in fresh ideas and expertise to the Library. A warm welcome to our new Research Support Manager, Dr. Eric Chow! Although Eric is a new member of the Library, he is no stranger to HKBU. Read on to learn more about Eric!
Enjoy the issue!
Maggie Wong
Information Services Librarian
Fall Symposium on Digital Scholarship 2021
The concept and practice of scholarship have been constantly evolving since the advent of digital technology decades ago. The need for creativity, credibility, and collaborative efforts in advancing digital scholarship has never been so pressing, particularly in times like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Well into our 8th year, the University Library held the 2021 Digital Scholarship Symposium virtually on 19 October. We had a line-up of great speakers this year, starting with Dr. Javier CHA (Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, College of Liberal Studies, Seoul National University, Korea) who presented the fruits of his two-year research at the Big Data Studies Lab, where he and his colleagues investigate the preservation, authentication, energy demands, and societal implications of big data.
Dr. Lucie KOLB (Project Manager, Sitterwerk Foundation, Switzerland) talked about the guided RFID technology the Sitterwerk Art Library has developed to implement dynamic book stack management, enabling a new and personal use of the Library. Dr. TSUI Lik Hang (Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong) shared how he rode on technology to successfully conduct interactive close reading entirely digitally in his Chinese literature course.
On top of these three guest speakers, Dr. KWONG Chi Man (Associate Professor, Department of History, HKBU), Dr. Stephanie Jean TSANG (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, HKBU), and Dr. Maialen MARIN-LACARTA (Former Assistant Professor, Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies, HKBU) also introduced their new digital scholarship projects co-developed with the University Library. You may refer to Dr. Eric Chow’s article below to learn more about their projects.
A total of 257 people from academics to librarians have attended the symposium. A post-symposium evaluation indicated that 57.1% and 38.1% of respondents were very satisfied and satisfied with the symposium. All respondents (100%) expressed that their interest in digital humanities / digital scholarship has increased after attending the event.
If you are interested in the inspirational talks and the dynamic discussions, you are most welcome to watch the recorded speeches here.
Rebekah Wong
Head of Digital Initiatives and Research Cluster
Introducing three new digital projects
The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: A Spatial History Project
“The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: A Spatial History Project” utilizes geographic information systems (GIS) to build a web map about the Battle of Hong Kong and a database of British military installations in Hong Kong during the Second World War. It offers an easy-to-use historical database for educators, tourists, and conservation professionals. The project is led by Dr. KWONG Chi Man, Associate Professor of the Department of History, who collected first-hand historical data from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Australia, and other places for this project. The website features:
- Map-based user interface for visualizing the Battle of Hong Kong campaign in 51 “time-steps”, each of which shows the positions and status of the units on both the British and Japanese sides.
- The geographic location of various military structures, including coastal defence batteries, anti-aircraft batteries, pillboxes, headquarters, shelters, medical posts, communication lines, demolition points, pre-arranged artillery targets, etc.
- Photos of objects and artefacts related to the battle (such as weapons, vehicles, military aircraft, vessels, personal equipment, etc.).
Hong Kong Facebook News Analytics Dashboard
The Hong Kong Facebook News Analytics Dashboard (“the Dashboard”) presents data of the Facebook public pages of 17 news outlets in Hong Kong from January 2019 to June 2021, including the text in posts, text in comments, and Uniform Resource Locator (URL) links, in addition to user engagement counts, such as frequencies of likes, shares, and post reactions. The website enables the public, media practitioners and academic scholars examines how Hong Kong residents interpret the term “fake news” and the motivations that drive news users to accuse a piece of information as “fake news”. The project is led by Dr. Stephanie TSANG, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, School of Communication, where she also leads the BU Audience Research Lab (BUAR), and serves as the director of HKBU FactCheck Service.
The website features:
- Search engine for searching news posts published in a specific time period, extracting posts categorized under specific themes, and generating a list of news posts alongside their respective user engagement data.
- Analytic dashboard that displays a list of respective “User Reactions” (i.e., user engagement counts such as the numbers of likes, shares, and post reactions) and the frequency of “Mentions of fake news” (i.e., how many times the Facebook users mentioned the term “fake news” when they commented on the news posts), illustrated in dynamic visualization graphics.
HKKH: Sinophone Hong Kong literature: translation anthologies
The HKKH Database is the outcome of the UGC-funded project Hong Kong and its Literature through a Double Lens: English and French Anthologies of Translated Literature, led by Dr. Maialen MARIN-LACARTA, Research Fellow from the Centre for Translation, Faculty of Arts. By focusing on translation anthologies of Sinophone Hong Kong literature, this project examines translators’ agency and the way their choices shape the representation of Hong Kong and its literature. The project also attempts to broaden the understanding of Hong Kong literary identity and the agency of translators, contributing to both Hong Kong literature studies and socially situated translation studies.
The website features:
- A searchable database comprises anthologies that include English and French translations of Hong Kong literature originally written in Chinese (i.e. Sinophone Hong Kong literature), including all genres, such as poetry, fiction, drama and essay.
- Database entries correspond to chapters in anthologies and include comprehensive information about the chapter, the anthology, the author, the translator(s) and the editor(s).
- Interviews, articles, prefaces and accounts of the translators’ own work that examines their stance.
Eric Chow
Research Support Manager
Exhibition on Li Shizhen and “Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)” in the Chinese Medicine Library
李棕博士中醫藥圖書館－李時珍與《本草綱目》展覽
Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 – 1593) was born 503 years ago and was a very famous herbalist, naturalist, and physician of Chinese Medicine during the Ming dynasty. He developed several methods for classifying herb components and medications for treating diseases and was the author of the Compendium of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu 本草綱目), a 27-year work with 1.92 million Chinese words. He made important contributions to the development of Chinese medicine.
The Exhibition on Li Shizhen and “Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica)” (李時珍與《本草綱目》展覽) was launched on the first day of July 2021 in the Chinese Medicine Library (CML). It introduces Li Shizhen and his great work “Compendium of Materia Medica” in detail through two posters and a combination of text, pictures, and charts broadcasted on the digital signage. It introduces the different editions of Compendium of Materia Medica from different eras and the precious editions that have been held overseas, as well as the information of library collections on physical books, e-books, and database contents related to the topic. The featured physical editions on display are an important part of the Library collection. The exhibition also provides high-quality videos produced by the School of Chinese Medicine, vividly introducing the interesting stories of the author and his book.
This exhibition received great support from Prof. ZHAO Zhongzhen, Chair Professor of the School of Chinese Medicine (SCM) and a world-renowned authority on BenCao (Chinese materia medica). He was invited to deliver a keynote speech in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Li Shizhen at the 6th China-EU Forum on International Cooperation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris of France on 16 May 2018.
The exhibition also gained great help from Dr. LIU Jing, Coordinator of the Dr. & Mrs. Hung Hin Shiu Museum of Chinese Medicine in the SCM. The exhibition project is another successful example of the collaboration between the Library and the School of Chinese Medicine.
David Su
Chinese Medicine Librarian
New Research Support Manager: Eric Chow
Hello there! I am the new Research Support Manager with the Digital Initiatives and Research Cluster. I actually started working at HKBU back in 2014 (briefly at the Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning, and then at the Faculty of Arts) on various digital initiatives and eLearning projects. And now here I am, working at HKBU Library! I currently manage the development of various digital scholarship projects. I have always enjoyed working with faculty members from different schools and departments, learning about their teaching and research, and helping to capture their valuable knowledge and know-how onto digital platforms, so as to benefit students, other scholars and the general public.
Recently I have conducted a series of workshops on the new IRIMS, and it was an insightful experience in which I have learned a lot about the different needs and concerns from faculty members with respect to scholarly communication. In the coming semesters, I will be conducting workshops on data visualization and basic computer programming – they are mainly for students, but if you are interested to learn about these topics as well, then please stay tuned!
I look forward to working with you all.
Eric Chow
Research Support Manager
Last updated: 23 November 2021