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Same data, different stories: How different maps can change the data narrative

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Sep 1

While maps may appear an objective narrative, the mapmaker is telling a story through data & design.
Join @emily-fitzgerald.bsky.social & @wearehades.bsky.social to explore maps made with the same data, the stories they tell & what we can learn from them!
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

A geographic map can be powerful data visualisation, used to explore concepts of place, location, and distance that are inherent in much humanities...

Same data, different stories: How different maps can change the data narrative

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 25

Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar looks amaze, featuring MDAP's resident ‪historian, data-nerd, map maker, & cat lover @emily-fitzgerald.bsky.social
Monday 8 September, 2pm, online, all welcome!
Register rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

HADES @wearehades.bsky.social · Aug 25

While maps may appear as an objective narrative, the mapmaker is telling a story – using data, design & presentation. In this seminar we'll explore different maps made using the same data and question the stories maps tell – and what we can learn from them!
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

A geographic map can be powerful data visualisation, used to explore concepts of place, location, and distance that are inherent in much humanities...

How to thrive as a Latin American researcher abroad

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Reposted by Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP)

Mar Quiroga @mariadelmarq.bsky.social · Aug 13

Although the article does focus on the challenges, there are clear benefits to going overseas as a #latinx #researcher: in my case I found my absolute dream job at @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social, The University of Melbourne

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Four scientists share the emotional toll of pursuing science far from home — and the strategies that help them to protect their mental health.

www.nature.com

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 21

Are you considering putting in an EOI to our 2026 Collaboration round?
Come along to a collab info session, meet the team, ask questions and chat about your project.
Two sessions, 25 August in person, and 28 August online
Register: www.unimelb.edu.au/mdap/news/co...

Collaborate with MDAP in 2026

From research design and data collection, to analysis, AI and visualisation– work with us to apply creative, innovative and tailored approaches to your data.

www.unimelb.edu.au

Botanical time machines: AI is unlocking a treasure trove of data held in herbarium collections

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 20

New research from Jo Birch and MDAP's Robert Turnbull describes their new AI-driven tool #Hespi (short for “herbarium specimen sheet pipeline”), which has the potential to revolutionise access to biodiversity data and open up new avenues for research!
theconversation.com/botanical-ti...

Advances in imaging, text recognition and machine learning are transforming what can be done with collections of plants and fungi in herbaria and museums globally.

theconversation.com

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 20

At our next HASS Taskforce workshop, gain practical experience with user-friendly tools and methods that streamline data management, to make your research data more accessible, reusable, and impactful.
26 Aug, in-person, all day workshop lunch included
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/2318-s...

Sustainable Data for Humanities Researchers

Research data is valuable - we spend time (and often money) in collecting it, and it is fundamental to creating knowledge. Because of this value, w...

How to thrive as a Latin American researcher abroad

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 18

"Moving overseas is not an easy decision ... Although it offers many career opportunities, such as better salaries and sometimes a higher quality of life, it also comes at a huge cost." MDAP's Dr Mar Quiroga shares perspectives on pursuing science far from home! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Four scientists share the emotional toll of pursuing science far from home — and the strategies that help them to protect their mental health.

www.nature.com

Against erasure: Digital witnessing of the Manus Island Detention Centre

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 10

Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar Claire Loughnan explores #digitalhumanities #criminology & #memorial with Against Erasure, a 3D model of #ManusIsland Detention Centre, preserving collective knowledge of a controversial chapter in AU immigration history
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/agains...

The Against Erasure project developed a 3D digital reconstruction of the Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, as a multidisciplinary teaching r...

Collaborate with us in 2026

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 7

Want to see what your research data can do?
Collaborate with MDAP in 2026.
From research design and data collection, to analysis, AI, and visualisation – work with us to apply creative, innovative and tailored approaches to your data.
EOIs close 14 Sep ⬇️
www.unimelb.edu.au/mdap/news/co...

www.unimelb.edu.au

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Aug 1

In biology, phylogenetics reconstructs evolutionary relationships by analysing how traits are inherited and change over time.

The same technique is revealing the history of the New Testament

📜New research from MDAP's Robert Turnbull!
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/sci...

Scientific tools are tracing the evolution of ancient biblical manuscripts

In biology, phylogenetics reconstructs evolutionary relationships. The same technique is revealing the history of the New Testament, says a University of Melbourne expert.

pursuit.unimelb.edu.au

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jul 31

What does it mean to "harness" AI?
"AI is not just technical or futuristic, it has very real human connections into the deep past" @jamessmithies.bsky.social

Man at lectern with a slide in background detailing ATLAS: Analysis and testing of language models for archival systems, with linked discussion on the historical linguistics and socio-cultural uses of the term “harness”

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jul 31

Hearing from Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social talking H-STRICT principles for rapid software testing (RSTE):
Human
System Targets
Transparent
Reproducible
Iterative
Contextually informed measures and baselines
Tasks workflows & use cases

A man standing at a lectern with a slide in background with testing principles listed

The ATLAS test harness: Evaluating LLM-RAG systems for humanities research

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jul 15

Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social, ANU & Founding Director @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social presents ATLAS, an open source ‘test harness’ to evaluate AI in historical research, helping researchers ‘look under the hood’ of LLM-based tools.
31 July in-person & Zoom rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/the-at...

The prevailing discourse on Large Language Models (LLMs) suggests that humanities research, like many other fields, is about to be shaped by intell...

The ATLAS test harness: Evaluating LLM-RAG systems for humanities research

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jul 15

Good news everyone! MDAP's Robert Turnbull has joined the ERC-COG BICROSS project team @KU_Leuven, exploring multilingual manuscripts and cross-language interactions using AI and other digital tools.
Read more go.unimelb.edu.au/u5cp
Rob's site robturnbull.com
BICROSS theo.kuleuven.be/en/research/...

Dependancy graph showing the syntactic relationship between tokens or ‘parts’ of a sentence, eg words, in this case Greek and Latin

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our next seminar is with Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social of ANU presenting ATLAS, an open source ‘test harness’ to evaluate AI in historical research, and help researchers ‘look under the hood’ of LLM-based tools
Thu 31 July rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/the-at...

The prevailing discourse on Large Language Models (LLMs) suggests that humanities research, like many other fields, is about to be shaped by intell...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jun 5

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?
June @wearehades.bsky.social seminar features Sébastien Plutniak presenting on #archeofrag - software to analyse spatial relationships in archaeological sites.
10 June, 2pm - 3pm, Zoom
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/locati...

The archaeological space is continuous. Archaeological investigation, as surveys and excavation, is about discretising this space, determining rele...

Intro to network analysis with R

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · Jun 5

Intro to network analysis with R
Thu 12 June @melbconnect.bsky.social
Explore igraph and learn how to represent and model relational data with graph objects, calculate key network metrics, visualise networks and cluster a network and detect communities.
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/intro-...

Are you a researcher and would like to explore, measure, and analyse network structures? This workshop is for you if you: Are a HASS or STE...

Welcome to Text Mining with R | Text Mining with R

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · May 30

Learn about #tidytext www.tidytextmining.com - Text Mining with R: A Tidy Approach

A guide to text analysis within the tidy data framework, using the tidytext package and other tidy tools

www.tidytextmining.com

Are you a researcher in the Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences (HASS) and would like to analyse your textual data quantitatively with code, but d...

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · May 30

Hands-on workshop for HASS researchers @ Unimelb working with materials like archives, interviews, and social media data. Learn basic preprocessing tasks using tidy text and common textual analysis techniques. Basic R knowledge required.
26 June, register: rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/text-a...

Text analysis with R

NLTK :: Natural Language Toolkit

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Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · May 30

Learn about #NLTK nltk.org a free, open-source and easy to use platform for building Python programs to work with human language data.

nltk.org

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · May 30

Hands-on workshop for HASS researchers @ Unimelb working with materials like archives, interviews, and social media data. Learn basic preprocessing tasks using NLTK and common textual analysis techniques. Basic Python knowledge required.
11 June, register:
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/text-a...

Text analysis with Python

Are you a researcher in the Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences (HASS) and would like to analyse your textual data quantitatively with code, but d...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?

1 3

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP) @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social · May 30

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?
Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar, Sébastien Plutniak presents his research and introduces archeofrag, software to analyse spatial relationships in archaeological sites.
10 June, register: rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/locati...

The archaeological space is continuous. Archaeological investigation, as surveys and excavation, is about discretising this space, determining rele...