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Education Undergraduate Summer Programme
Education Undergraduate Summer Programme
Summer Programme for Undergraduate Research
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: Digitisation of an Alcalá Ledger
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML
Mentor: Aja Teehan (Technology Officer)
Duration: 10 weeks
Project Description:
An Foras Feasa recently digitally captured 324 pages from an account book from the Irish College of Saint George the Martyr in Alcalá de Henares. The College was founded in 1649 and continued until 1785 when it was incorporated into the Irish College in Salamanca. The accounts in this volume record monthly expenditure for the years 1774 to 1781. They form part of the Salamanca archive, the records of the Irish Colleges in Spain, now housed in the Russell Library.
In conjunction with the Irish in Europe Project, we have developed an interactive digital version of this text that allows the user to view (high resolution zoom and pan), search (filter pages based on keywords) and perform basic accounting operations on a digitised Ledger in Spanish and English. The current client-server application has been developed using Flex 3 and Flash (Adobe) and Fedora Commons. Each digitised page has been segmented, transcribed and translated from Spanish to English, and has been fully encoded in XML.
The current SPUR project will focus on the XML encoding of an additional, soon to be captured Account Book, from the Salamanca archive. A second, more recent text, from an Irish confraternity will also be analysed, an XML schema generated, and sample pages from the text encoded. The actual work will involve selecting the appropriate XML schema for individual pages, matching the image segments to the transcriptions and translations and building an accurate XML representation of the pages. The digitised objects will then be incorporated into the online digital version. The research assistant appointed will have excellent "attention to detail" skills and an excellent knowledge of XML.
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their document modeling, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art encoding methodology, and repository. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/hhis project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: The Irish Multilingual Web: Myth or Reality?
Contact: Professor Margaret Kelleher, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: Fluency in Irish would be desirable.
Mentor: Professor Margaret Kelleher (Director)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
It may be surprising for many to discover that, although two-thirds of the world's Internet users (around 1.5 billion in 2009) are non-native speakers of English, over 56% of 2,024 million pages analysed in 2002 were presented in English. In March 2009, it was estimated that there are 25.21 billion web pages and over 1 billion websites; the vast majority of these are presented using English, closely followed by Chinese and Spanish. An Foras Feasa is interested in establishing the extent of linguistic diversity in Irish-produced web pages and websites, and determining measures that correlate online web presence, user profiles, and user activity. This project will follow the methodology presented by Peter Gerrand in his 2007 paper entitled "Estimating linguistic diversity on the Internet: A taxonomy to avoid pitfalls and paradoxes" in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 8 (available online: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/gerrand.html), and apply it to the Irish context.
This project would suit a language, history, literature or media studies student interested in developing a project in the area of linguistic diversity, bilingualism, or multilingualism in an online environment. The student will work within the Multilingualism and Multicultural stream of An Foras Feasa. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications, and to have excellent information processing, analytical, and information management skills.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: Digitisation of Leinster Estate Maps
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML, Fedora Commons, Flex 3
Mentor: Dr. John Keating (Associate Director)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
This pilot research project entitled “Re-creating the 18th century landscape from digitised Leinster Estate Maps”. A core activity of this research is the digitisation of a small sample of Carton House’s Leinster Estate Maps; a unique collection of primary source material unavailable elsewhere. These highly-detailed, large format maps are of significant local and national interest, and are currently only available for limited public viewing in a display case located in Carton House Hotel. Furthermore, the complete collection has not previously been available for historical research.
The research assistant appointed to the position will work primarily generation of digital objects encoded in XML; there will also be some involvement with image acquisition, stitching and manipulation as these are large items. Some training on the use of An Foras Feasa’s fixed and portable digital imaging systems will be provided; this will include motorised macro stands with motorised focus, extended focus and exposure, and measurement and reporting facilities. Following image acquisition, the research assistant will be required to encode the primary source material, while applying metadata standards to it. The ideal candidate will have an interest in basic 2D imaging, including image processing fundamentals, ‘hands-on’ image acquisition using An Foras Feasa’s digital imaging systems, image post-processing, file formats and management, and digital conservation, and will be familiar with presentation metadata standards. The research assistant will also configure a Fedora Commons repository to store the digital objects, and liaise with another research assistant developing a Flex 3 application for viewing the maps.
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their document modeling, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art encoding methodology, and repository. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: An IP sensitive, online video player for a media-rich Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE)
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML, Flex 3, Video Formats, Digital Rights Management
Mentor: Dr. John Keating (Associate Director) and Aja Teehan (Technology Officer)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
An Foras Feasa has been working with the Irish Film Institute and Gael Linn to digitise and deliver Gael Linn's Amharc Eireann Video Archive for educational purposes. The goal of the overall project is to provide access to the video archive and accompanying documentation (director's notes, production notes, scripts, etc.) in a Wiki-style collaborative learning environment. This project is specifically concerned with building an online video player. The player should be IP sensitive, and implement basic security (watermarking) functionality. The player will be developed in Adobe Flex3. An Foras Feasa has partnerships with several local and overseas institutions (e.g. Boston College) who will use the material as part of their courses.
It is essential that this player provide support for subtitling and implement a multilingual user interface (for example, Gaeilge and English). The researcher will be expected to design and maintain an archive and accompanying metadata. The video clips themselves will also need to contain embedded metadata to support searching, accessibility, etc. The player environment should have online support software for adding, removing and updating video clips and their accompanying metadata (e.g. categorisation, access rights, etc.).
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their software engineering, development, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art digital object repository and a purpose built collaborative working environment. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
Project: Digitisation of an Alcalá Ledger
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML
Mentor: Aja Teehan (Technology Officer)
Duration: 10 weeks
Project Description:
An Foras Feasa recently digitally captured 324 pages from an account book from the Irish College of Saint George the Martyr in Alcalá de Henares. The College was founded in 1649 and continued until 1785 when it was incorporated into the Irish College in Salamanca. The accounts in this volume record monthly expenditure for the years 1774 to 1781. They form part of the Salamanca archive, the records of the Irish Colleges in Spain, now housed in the Russell Library.
In conjunction with the Irish in Europe Project, we have developed an interactive digital version of this text that allows the user to view (high resolution zoom and pan), search (filter pages based on keywords) and perform basic accounting operations on a digitised Ledger in Spanish and English. The current client-server application has been developed using Flex 3 and Flash (Adobe) and Fedora Commons. Each digitised page has been segmented, transcribed and translated from Spanish to English, and has been fully encoded in XML.
The current SPUR project will focus on the XML encoding of an additional, soon to be captured Account Book, from the Salamanca archive. A second, more recent text, from an Irish confraternity will also be analysed, an XML schema generated, and sample pages from the text encoded. The actual work will involve selecting the appropriate XML schema for individual pages, matching the image segments to the transcriptions and translations and building an accurate XML representation of the pages. The digitised objects will then be incorporated into the online digital version. The research assistant appointed will have excellent "attention to detail" skills and an excellent knowledge of XML.
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their document modeling, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art encoding methodology, and repository. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/hhis project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: The Irish Multilingual Web: Myth or Reality?
Contact: Professor Margaret Kelleher, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: Fluency in Irish would be desirable.
Mentor: Professor Margaret Kelleher (Director)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
It may be surprising for many to discover that, although two-thirds of the world's Internet users (around 1.5 billion in 2009) are non-native speakers of English, over 56% of 2,024 million pages analysed in 2002 were presented in English. In March 2009, it was estimated that there are 25.21 billion web pages and over 1 billion websites; the vast majority of these are presented using English, closely followed by Chinese and Spanish. An Foras Feasa is interested in establishing the extent of linguistic diversity in Irish-produced web pages and websites, and determining measures that correlate online web presence, user profiles, and user activity. This project will follow the methodology presented by Peter Gerrand in his 2007 paper entitled "Estimating linguistic diversity on the Internet: A taxonomy to avoid pitfalls and paradoxes" in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 8 (available online: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/gerrand.html), and apply it to the Irish context.
This project would suit a language, history, literature or media studies student interested in developing a project in the area of linguistic diversity, bilingualism, or multilingualism in an online environment. The student will work within the Multilingualism and Multicultural stream of An Foras Feasa. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications, and to have excellent information processing, analytical, and information management skills.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: Digitisation of Leinster Estate Maps
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML, Fedora Commons, Flex 3
Mentor: Dr. John Keating (Associate Director)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
This pilot research project entitled “Re-creating the 18th century landscape from digitised Leinster Estate Maps”. A core activity of this research is the digitisation of a small sample of Carton House’s Leinster Estate Maps; a unique collection of primary source material unavailable elsewhere. These highly-detailed, large format maps are of significant local and national interest, and are currently only available for limited public viewing in a display case located in Carton House Hotel. Furthermore, the complete collection has not previously been available for historical research.
The research assistant appointed to the position will work primarily generation of digital objects encoded in XML; there will also be some involvement with image acquisition, stitching and manipulation as these are large items. Some training on the use of An Foras Feasa’s fixed and portable digital imaging systems will be provided; this will include motorised macro stands with motorised focus, extended focus and exposure, and measurement and reporting facilities. Following image acquisition, the research assistant will be required to encode the primary source material, while applying metadata standards to it. The ideal candidate will have an interest in basic 2D imaging, including image processing fundamentals, ‘hands-on’ image acquisition using An Foras Feasa’s digital imaging systems, image post-processing, file formats and management, and digital conservation, and will be familiar with presentation metadata standards. The research assistant will also configure a Fedora Commons repository to store the digital objects, and liaise with another research assistant developing a Flex 3 application for viewing the maps.
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their document modeling, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art encoding methodology, and repository. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
SPUR 2009 (An Foras Feasa)
Project: An IP sensitive, online video player for a media-rich Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE)
Contact: Dr. John Keating, An Foras Feasa ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Languages: XML, Flex 3, Video Formats, Digital Rights Management
Mentor: Dr. John Keating (Associate Director) and Aja Teehan (Technology Officer)
Duration: 10 weeks
Description:
An Foras Feasa has been working with the Irish Film Institute and Gael Linn to digitise and deliver Gael Linn's Amharc Eireann Video Archive for educational purposes. The goal of the overall project is to provide access to the video archive and accompanying documentation (director's notes, production notes, scripts, etc.) in a Wiki-style collaborative learning environment. This project is specifically concerned with building an online video player. The player should be IP sensitive, and implement basic security (watermarking) functionality. The player will be developed in Adobe Flex3. An Foras Feasa has partnerships with several local and overseas institutions (e.g. Boston College) who will use the material as part of their courses.
It is essential that this player provide support for subtitling and implement a multilingual user interface (for example, Gaeilge and English). The researcher will be expected to design and maintain an archive and accompanying metadata. The video clips themselves will also need to contain embedded metadata to support searching, accessibility, etc. The player environment should have online support software for adding, removing and updating video clips and their accompanying metadata (e.g. categorisation, access rights, etc.).
This project would suit a computer science or software engineering student interested in developing their software engineering, development, XML and information management skills. The student will work with a state-of-the-art digital object repository and a purpose built collaborative working environment. The selected candidate will become a member of the summer internship team, and will attend weekly group meetings with the rest of the An Foras Feasa Technical Team. Opportunities for online, group and one-to-one training, support and professional development will be provided and encouraged. The selected candidate will be expected to disseminate her/his project efforts by contributing to public presentations and publications.
