This blog post features two new collections from the recent Legacy Data Preservation Pilot. The 2024 pilot was designed to capture and preserve at-risk data from completed research projects. There were 8 successful applicants to the scheme who worked with DRI staff and professional data stewards to ensure their research materials will remain accessible for the long term. We are pleased to announce that among the published collections now are resources of significant value to scholars of Irish language and literature.
Read about some of the other collections we’ve featured on the DRI blog, or view the collections in the Repository as they’re added.
Featured Collections
Logainm Sound Recordings / Taifeadtaí Fuaime Logainm
What kind of data is it? The Logainm Sound Recordings (LSR) collection were created under the Logainm Placenames Database of Ireland research project (Logainm), between 2007 and 2021 by Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, Dublin City University (DCU) in collaboration with the Placenames Branch of the Government of Ireland. The original data consists of audio recordings comprising an Irish and an English pronunciation of a subset of placenames from each of 29 counties in Ireland, i.e. all counties apart from Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone. The master recordings are in WAV format. These were edited and compressed to MP3 format for dissemination via the web on www.logainm.ie.
The sound recordings created for the project include the names of baronies, civil parishes, electoral divisions, centres of population and major natural features (such as rivers, lakes, mountains), as well as townlands in Gaeltacht areas (Irish-language form only) and the main streets of Dublin.
How is it preserved in DRI? The MP3 audio files generated by the original production workflow as part of the Logainm research project have been uploaded alongside metadata records that describe the placenames, give the name of the speaker, and provide a controlled identifier for the record corresponding to the resource on the Logainm website. These audio files can be played back in a user’s web browser or downloaded for reference offline. A copy of each file was made automatically by the Repository, which may be updated over time if the MP3 audio format falls out of use or is no longer compatible with current software. Detailed supporting documentation, including a README file and Data Management Plan, describes how the files relate to the original research project and can provide a wealth of information on the context, production process, scope and limitations of the collection for users interested in further research on the topic. The first sub-collection deposited with DRI represents only those placenames in Westmeath.
Who did the work? Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh is the Principal Investigator on the Logainm project and supervised the sound recording project. Dr Patrick Egan (MTU) advised and aided Dr Ó Raghallaigh in preparation of the dataset for preservation and reuse in DRI. Dublin Core XML metadata files were created to allow for a batch ingest of 495 audio files and their descriptive information.
Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh is an assistant professor in Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge at Dublin City University. His research focuses on digital terminology, onomastics and folkloristics, as well as phonetics and language technology, and he is the Principal Investigator of the Department of the Gaeltacht-funded Logainm Placenames Database of Ireland project.
Dr Patrick Egan is a metadata and research data librarian, digital humanist, ethnomusicologist and performer of Irish traditional music. His previous work has included research on ways to connect metadata from collections of Irish traditional music audio using digital visualisation and Linked Data. He currently works as a Metadata & Research Data Management Librarian at Munster Technological University.
Munster Women Writers Recovery Project / Tionscadal Aisghabhála Scríbhneoirí Mná na Mumhan
What kind of data is it? The Munster Women Writers Project (MWWP) database provides both a biographical and bibliographic record of 664 Irish women writers from or associated with the Munster region, who were active between 1800 and 2000. The original data gathering (1999-2002) was extensive and involved multiple researchers, producing content in both the Irish and English languages.
The MWWP outputs were published in print as Dictionary of Munster Women Writers, 1800-2000 by Dr Tina O’Toole, editor (2005) [ISBN:9781859183885] and as a digital resource, in the form of a searchable database on a dedicated website from 2007-2013.
How is it preserved in DRI? The DRI collection contains the results of a data recovery project carried out in 2022, which focused on a subset of the content of the database which was no longer online (writers associated with Co Tipperary). The resurrected database was captured as an interactive WACZ file which renders a functional copy of the website in the Repository’s web viewer. The DRI collection also includes the original database in its entirety, associated web resources (images, code) and ancillary documentation to further contextualise the structure, as well as the user experience, of one of the earliest Digital Humanities projects in Ireland.
Who did the work? The original research was primarily undertaken by Dr Tina O’Toole while based in the Department of English at University College Cork (UCC) under the mentorship of Prof. Patricia Coughlan. Others who contributed to the project included: Dr Máire Herbert, Gearóidín Ní Charthaigh, Síle Ní Chochláin (Department of Modern Irish), Dr Orla Murphy, Dr Eibhear Walshe, Kalene Kenefick, and June O’Sullivan (Department of English) and Jonathan Neville. Joan Murphy recovered the project website as part of her MA thesis in Digital Arts & Humanities at UCC in 2022, creating an Internet Archive copy which has also been referenced in the DRI collection.
Joan Murphy is a librarian, data manager, and researcher in the digital humanities. At DRI, she worked primarily on the WorldFAIR project which aimed to advance the implementation of the FAIR principles to improve the interoperability and reusability of digital research objects, including data.
