A world-leading web expert and alumna from the University has recently returned from holding a research position in residence at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall was based at the John W Kluge Centre for three months as the Kluge Chair in Technology and Society.
The role involved conducting research into the impact of fast-changing technology on human societies, and Dame Wendy used the rapidly growing digital online resources at the Library to aid her work.
Dame Wendy is Professor of Computer Science at the University and is a Director of the Web Science Institute. Her work has been at the forefront of computer science, the Semantic Web and digital libraries for more than 30 years.
She completed a PhD in Pure Mathematics in 1977 before joining the University’s Computer Science department in 1984. Her tenure in Washington began on 24 March and her research will inform a project entitled: Internet Histories and Futures.
Dame Wendy says:
I used the Library’s collections to explore the economic, social and technical dimensions that have contributed to the development of the Web as a socio-technical system.
During her time in Washington, Dame Wendy also led a public symposium looking at how libraries, governments and other institutions can preserve and archive the contents of the Web. In addition, she co-hosted a two day ‘Hackathon’ with 20-30 invited participants to develop new open-source tools and approaches for working with large data sets.
