Accelerating embedded computational analysis of Web data about music in UK universities

网络数据对音乐的文化研究特别有用，因为互联网承载着新颖而复杂的文化和社会形式，如音乐流媒体、翻录和分享，以及在线联合制作音乐。然而，需要专门的数字技能来检索、处理和分析这些数据，特别是在处理网上研究人员可获得的越来越多的信息所需的规模上。尽管它的重要性最近得到了多个学科的音乐研究人员的认可，包括历史音乐学、民族音乐学、数字媒体和传播学以及社会学，但英国的研究人员获得必要技能的机会有限，这将使他们能够解锁这些宝贵的数据，用于他们自己的研究。这项拟议的研究将通过为音乐研究人员试行一项新的数字技能培训计划来解决这一问题，该计划将培训大约60名英国研究人员，他们的数字技能水平各不相同，代表着与使用网络数据作为主要来源相关的主题的不同职业阶段。将举办六个为期一天的在线讲习班，讨论与音乐研究人员的需求直接相关的主题，这些研究人员有兴趣在他们的研究中利用网络数据，这将通过达勒姆大学和伯明翰大学合作机构的调查方案和重点小组来引发。其中涉及的一些主题包括：面向音乐研究人员的Web技术入门；使用新的、用户友好的图形用户界面(GUI)检索Web数据的培训；以及高级命令行界面的使用，以捕获和分析大量的Web数据。所提供的培训将与音乐研究人员直接相关，因为所有研讨会负责人本身都是音乐研究人员，他们将被邀请说明数字技能培训如何使他们能够回答令人兴奋的、变革性的研究问题。为了确保培训课程对比本试点项目涵盖的第一批受训人员更广泛的受众有用，研讨会负责人和项目工作人员将根据一种创新的、广受好评的开放式、可重复使用和可持续的软件技能培训方法(称为木工项目)来准备培训材料。为确保这一点，该项目将与可持续软件研究所的培训员协商，他们将为车间领导人和项目工作人员提供成为认证木工教师所需的培训，并成功地设计和提供协作数字技能培训班。在项目接近尾声时，将分析调查方案和重点小组的结果，并将在共同撰写的同行评议的期刊文章中批判性地分析试点的优势和劣势。此外，研讨会中使用的培训材料将在网上发布，并向所有参与者和其他音乐研究人员免费提供，这样他们就可以反过来培训其他人了解将网络数据作为主要来源的数字技能。该项目由一个由多学科研究人员组成的团队领导，他们涵盖了计算机科学和音乐学，他们都利用数字技能来推进自己的研究目标。该项目团队与一名研究助理合作，将从三个方面影响英国的数字技能传授。在短期内，试点在达勒姆和伯明翰嵌入了一种新的能力，为音乐研究人员提供可扩展的数字技能培训，响应实际需求，并培训最佳实践。在中期内，项目交付成果将用于培训同行、教育学生，并支持数字技能培训利益攸关方未来的决策。最后，从长远来看，我们通过强调数字技能的变革性并创造未来对相关培训的需求，将数字技能嵌入音乐研究。

Web data is especially useful for the cultural study of music as the internet plays host to novel and complex cultural and social forms, like music streaming, ripping and sharing, and online co-production of music. However, specialised digital skills are required to retrieve, process, and analyse this data, especially at the scales that are required to deal with the increasing volumes of information available to researchers online. Despite its importance, which has been recently recognised by music researchers working in a variety of disciplines - including historical musicology, ethnomusicology, digital media and communication studies, and sociology - there are limited opportunities for UK-based researchers to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to unlock this valuable data for use in their own research. The proposed research will address this problem by piloting a new digital skills training programme for music researchers, which will train approximately 60 UK-based researchers at a variety of digital skill levels and representing various career stages in topics relevant to using Web data as a primary source. Six, one-day, online workshops will be held on topics that are directly relevant to the needs of music researchers who are interested in making use of Web data in their research, which will be elicited through a survey programme and focus groups at the partner institutions of Durham University and the University of Birmingham. Some of the topics covered include: an introduction to Web technology for music researchers; training in the use new, user-friendly graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for the retrieval of Web data; and the advanced use of command-line interfaces to capture and analyse large amounts of Web data. The training offered will be of direct relevance to music researchers, as all workshop leaders themselves are music researchers, and they will be invited to illustrate how digital skills training has allowed them to answer exciting, transformative research questions. To ensure the usefulness of the training sessions to a much broader audience than the first cohort of trainees covered in this pilot project, workshop leaders and project staff will prepare their training materials according to an innovative and well-regarded methodology for open, reusable, and sustainable software skills training, known as The Carpentries. To ensure this, the project will consult with trainers from the Sustainable Software Institute, who will provide workshop leaders and project staff with the training needed to become certified Carpentries instructors and to successfully design and deliver collaborative digital skills training lessons. Toward the end of the project, the results of the survey programme and focus groups will be analysed, and the strengths and the weaknesses of the pilot will be critically analysed in a co-authored, peer-reviewed journal article. Additionally, the training materials used in the workshops will be published online and made freely available to all participants and other music researchers, so that they in turn may train others in digital skills that unlock Web data as a primary source. The project is led by a multidisciplinary team of investigators, spanning computer science and musicology, who all have used digital skills to advance their research goals. Working together with a Research Associate, the project team will impact digital skills delivery in the UK in three ways. In the short term, the pilot embeds a new capability at Durham and Birmingham for scalable digital skills training for music researchers, responding to actual need and training best practice. In the medium term, the project deliverables will be used to train peers, educate students, and support future decision-making by digital skills training stakeholders. Finally, in the long term, we embed digital skills in music research by emphasising their transformative aspect and creating future demand for related training.