[MEI-L] Music and Digital Humanities: Today (11. May): Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller. Followed by 18. May: David De Roure

[David M. Weigl]

Distinguished Lecture Series in Music and Digital Humanities

https://iwk.mdw.ac.at/music-dh

Today's lecture in the Distinguished Lecture Series on Music and Digital 
Humanities taking place at the mdw — University of Music and Performing 
Arts Vienna will be given by Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller (RMIT University):

"Bridging Datasets: Linked Data for Digital Musicologists"

Abstract: As an information publication paradigm, Linked Data has a 
great deal to offer researchers in the areas of Digital Musicology and 
the Digital Humanities more broadly. In this talk, I will introduce the 
basics of the Linked Data methodology, including its potential and 
limitations, as applied in the context of broader interdisciplinary 
spaces that bridge the Humanities and Computer Science. My case study 
example, JazzCats, illustrates how musicological data in different 
formats from different sources can be successfully bridged, and queried 
for answers to questions that go far beyond what can be asked of a 
single dataset. The project aggregates three different kinds of 
information, namely a discography, performance metadata, and 
prosopographical information about musicians. These datasets come in 
three different formats; tabular data, in the form of a spreadsheet; 
relational data, as exported from a MySQL Lite database; and, graph data 
as RDF (.ttl).  Although the value of this aggregation, and in 
particular the benefit it has for researchers, is undisputed, the 
project itself has fallen victim to challenges of institutional change 
and policy regarding legacy projects. This talk will highlight how these 
challenges in academia are particularly disruptive to projects in the 
Digital Humanities, and have far-reaching consequences for Linked Data 
projects across disciplines and jurisdictions.

Bio: Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller is an Associate Professor, Information 
Interaction at the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University 
in Melbourne, Australia. Her interdisciplinary research examines 
different methods for data linking and integration, and how digital 
technologies support and diversify research. She is the author of Linked 
Data for Digital Humanities (2023, Routledge), and has publications that 
cover a range of topics from the use, development, and critical 
evaluation of Linked Data to gamification and informal online 
environments in education. She has also created 3D digital models for 
the British Museum (cuneiform tablets), the National Museum of Australia 
(carved boab nuts), and UNESCO (Fels Cave in Vanuatu). Terhi is an 
Honorary Associate Professor at POLIS, the Centre for Social Policy and 
Research at the Australian National University; a member of the 
Territory Records Advisory Council, Policy and Cabinet Division, of the 
Chief Minister Australian Capital Territory Government; and a co-chair 
of the Australian Government Linked Data Working Group.

The lecture will start at 17:00 (Vienna/CET).

** NOTE FOR LOCAL PARTICIPANTS: Our location today will be K0101, mdw 
Campus. As of next week's lecture, we return to our usual location in 
the Bankettsaal, mdw Campus. **

As always, the lecture will be streamed via Zoom, and both in-person and 
remote participation is free.

Zoom Link:

https://mdw-ac-at.zoom.us/j/67606221415?pwd=9VUR9zPcIe43mV2Gj5IIXyd3jgWZw1.1

Please refer to https://iwk.mdw.ac.at/music-dh for further information.

--

The following lecture will be held on May 18 2026, 17:00 (Vienna/CET).

David De Roure (University of Oxford)

"AI and Creativity in Music"

Abstract: It may feel like the AI world has just discovered music, but 
there have been decades of research in music and AI. When we look at 
humans improvising live with AI we are asking fundamental questions 
about what it means to be a creative human interacting in a world 
infused by AI, and this is a question that transcends music. This talk 
will present some explorations of this question through projects with 
the Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music (PRiSM) at the 
Royal Northern College of Music, featuring AI in both composition and 
performance.

Bio: David De Roure is Academic Director of Digital Scholarship and 
Professor of e-Research at the University of Oxford. He has co-founded 
multiple interdisciplinary centres, including the Centre for Practice 
and Research in Science and Music (PRiSM) at the Royal Northern College 
of Music in Manchester and the UK Software Sustainability Institute. 
David's research is at the intersection of music, maths, machines and 
AI, empowering the creative human in music composition and performance. 
David is also an advisor on digital research infrastructures, and has 
been involved in running the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 
since 2011.