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James Perry
Research &
Teaching Portfolio
Raising the vision of humanities
scholars through digital research
and publication.
Follow along at: www.jamesperry.uk/byu/

Overview
1. Background
2. Research
a. Migration into Britain, 1851-1911
b. ‘British Saints in the Great War’
c. Others
3. Teaching
a. Research Informed Teaching (RIT)
b. Postgraduate Digital Humanities
c. Undergraduate Courses & Summer Schools
4. Academic Citizenship
2
‘What use could the humanities be in a
digital age? University students focusing on
the humanities may end up, at least in their
parents' nightmares, as dog-walkers for
those majoring in computer science. But,
for me, the humanities are not only relevant
but also give us a toolbox to think seriously
about ourselves and the world.’
Nicholas Kristof, NY Times, 13 August 2014

Hello!
Nice to meet you
3
About me;
I am a historian that specialises in utilising digital humanities within my
research.
I joined the Church in 2006, in Somerset, England. Between 2008 and
2010, I served a full-time mission in the England Manchester Mission.
My wife, Debs, and I were married in 2011, we have one daughter, Leah
(2), and we are expecting another baby girl in May 2017.
I completed my BA History (Hons) at Lancaster University, and
graduated with First Class honours, from which I received a financial
award for my MA and PhD, also at Lancaster. My MA History thesis was
on the subject of religious nonconformity, for which I was awarded the
M.F. Howson Prize. My MA was completed in 2014 with distinction.
Currently, I am finishing my doctoral thesis.
Feel free to contact me:
▪ www.jamesperry.uk
▪ james.perry@Lancaster.ac.uk
▪ @JamesAGPerry

DIGITAL FLUENCY
‘The ability to understand, make judgements about, select and use appropriate technologies and
technological systems for different purposes.’
6

The Digital
Humanities
Schema
or
‘the dh meta-discussion’
The ‘Makers’
Coders/programmers, ‘techies’.
Might come from non-traditional
humanities backgrounds. They
create the tools used by digital
humanists, which they also might
identify as. This can include self-
taught scholars.
The ‘Convert’
Received traditional training,
made the transition to using
digital tools at some point.
Utilises both approaches in their
research. Understands the
opportunities and limitations of
DH and makes judicious
decisions accordingly.
The ‘Born in the Faith’
Formal training in digital &
traditional humanities. Small
but growing group that are
emerging from the
proliferation of DH centres.
Come prepared with critical
understanding of the field and
skills necessary for projects.
7
1. A knowledge site
2. A digital edition of a text or texts
3. A database
4. A semi-linear, customizable narrative that includes text, images, audio, and/or video
5. A large-scale text analysis or topic modeling project
6. A geographic mapping site
7. A digital 3D model
8. An online event
9. A crowdsourcing project
Paige Morgan, ‘What Digital Humanists Do’, Demystifying Digital Humanities, 2 September 2013,
available at: http://www.dmdh.org/2013/09/what-digital-humanists-do/, [accessed: 3 April 2017].
What is digital humanities?
How do digital humanities differ from
traditional ‘humanities’?
What additional value is provided?
What is the future for DH?
Issues; usability, accessibility, critical
reflection, fair citation, inclusivity,
Divergent channels of communication
and networking, reflect its interest in
the digital; GitHub, Twitter, open-
access digital journals, listservs, and
others.
The ‘Traditional Scholar’
Traditionally trained scholars,
might utilise digital resources,
search engines, and so on.
May have interest, but feel
uncertain how DH would relate
to their work. Some might view
be critical of the growth,
interest in, claims of, and
perceived self-interest of DH.
E.g. Brian Lennon

8
Digital Humanists
HumanitiesDigital

“
‘Research is formalized curiosity. It is
poking and prying with a purpose’
Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road
(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1942), 143.
10

British Saints
in the Great
War
May-July 2016
▪Context: No memorials or remembrance
events for British LDS soldiers who died
during the war, or any idea who they were.
▪Questions: How many people were involved
in the war? How many died? In what ways did
members respond to the increased demands
placed upon them?
▪Source: Millennial Star, weekly publication
for the duration of the war, Church History
Library archive, and others.
▪Methodology: Antconc to identify and extract
death notices from OCR’d copies of the Star.
Matched individuals to the 1911 Census, and
the Commonwealth War Graves commission
database. Used QGIS to map deaths,
branches, members, and conferences.
▪Findings: 63 British LDS members died
during active service, hundreds of Sisters
were called as missionaries, and much more.
▪Outputs: Boundary shapefiles of the British
Conferences, LDS branches shapefile, social
media posts (British Latter-day Saint History),
article forthcoming in the Journal of Mormon
History, presentations to LDS and non-LDS
audiences, including academics at Oxford
University.
11

British Saints
in the Great
War
May-July 2016
▪Using GNU Wget, I used a simple command to
mass download all of the Millennial Star issues
in .txt and pdf format, which are available on
archive.org (1901-1969).
▪Imported the documents into ArcGIS, which
allowed keyword and phrase searching, but also
a whole suite of corpus linguistics tools.
▪Required the blending of humanistic close
reading and analysis, with the digital and semi-
automated processes of acquiring and
processing the data.
▪A batch geocoder was used to pair the locations
identified within the text with coordinates.
▪QGIS was used to then plot deaths, branches,
boundaries, and other data onto a
georeferenced basemap.
▪Different forms of analysis could then be carried
out.
12
8%
4% 4%
5%
7%
8%
2%
7%
10%
19%
7%
5%
13%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
% of LDS Casualties per total local Priesthood of each Conference, 1918
J. E. Simister (left) with son
George Simister (right)
Private Archie Brammer

Becoming
British
April 2016-Current
▪Utilises batch geocoding
▪Has been used in teaching GIS
▪Raises questions of integration –
where did migrant communities seek
to integrate?
▪How did different nationalities differ?
13

Migration,
Segregation, and
Integration,
1851-1911
October 2014-Current
14
▪Case Studies: Whitechapel, London &
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland.
▪Approach: Data led project  What can
we learn from the I-CeM data about migrant
communities?
▪Key Findings: Migrants were rarely
segregated within households, only 15%
lived in exclusively migrant composed
households.
▪Migrants remained predominantly male,
except for the French, who were largely
composed of females.
▪Occupations, such as sugar refining, were
heavily segregated, others were
underrepresented.
▪Used a series of logical statements to
ascertain the number of second-generation
migrants, in some places this was as high
as 35% of the population.
▪Migrant groups varied significantly in their
attempts to integrate, some such as
Germans, actively integrated, others such
as Russians and Italians remained spatially
and demographically segregated.
To what extent were foreign-born migrants
segregated from or integrated with the host society?
1. First critique of the largest dataset of British socio-
economic data.
2. Utilised micro census data for individual
household plotting.
3. Offered national level analysis of occupations via
micro census data.

The European
Mormon Arts
▪Purpose: To amass the forgotten Mormon art produced in Europe, by
members and missionaries, since the restoration, in all its forms.
▪Impact: Reinvigorate interest in the arts amongst Latter-day Saints,
and to memorialise the contributions of previous generations of members.
15
Published Poetry, Stories, and Songs
▪ De Ster (Dutch) 1896-1967
▪ Der Stern (German) 1869-1967
▪ Millennial Star (United Kingdom) 1840-1970
▪ Skandinaviens Stjerne (Scandinavia) 1851-
1967
Music and Song
▪ Reimagining long forgotten
pieces, this might include
working with the School of
Music.
▪ Breathing life into the
works produced by early
Latter-day saints, revealing
their thoughts, desires, and
beliefs in alternative forms.
▪c
Exploring the wealth of personal
materials that exist within collections
and holdings of the Church.

British LDS
Births, Baptisms,
Marriages, and
Deaths
Hidden Data, Hidden Stories
October 2016-Current
Data
Collection
Processing
Data
Linkage
Analysis
16
‘Our history begins
before we are born. We
represent the hereditary
influences of our race,
and our ancestors
virtually live in us.’
James Nasmyth, 1883

German
Migrants and
Criminality in
London,
1887-1895
in collaboration with Ruth
Byrne, Lancaster University
Identifying Crimes and Criminality
Utilised CQPWeb to conduct a twenty-
word proximity search of ‘German’ or
‘Germans’ within the Reynolds Daily
Newspaper, with the following terms;
[arrest, arrests, arrested, crime, crimes,
criminal, imprison, imprisons,
imprisonment, imprisoned, custody,
court, courtroom, prisoner, prisoners,
convict, convicts, convicted, jury, judge,
coroner, magistrate, police, trial,
prosecutor, defendant] ▪Total Germans: 29,032
-Males: 16,129 (55.6%)
-Females: 10,598 (36.5%)
-Unknown: 2,305 (7.9%)
17
Exploring the German community within the
context of crime;
1. Were they victims, perpetrators, or
witnesses?
2. What types of crime were they
connected to?
3. How did the occupations of German
criminals relate to the broader
community?
4. Where were crimes committed?

US
Influences in
the European
Church
December 2016-
Current
▪How do we reduce anxieties amongst prospective and less-
active members who think that we are an ‘American Church’?
▪What cultural norms and practices of the Church can be
changed within Europe to better reflect indigeneity?
18
Finding faith affirming ways to redress
cultural frustrations that have emerged
since the correlation program of the
1960s/70s.
▪Collaborative project formed in
December 2016 from a BYU sponsored
seminar at the London Centre.
▪Scholars from UK, Norway, and Italy.
Additional support from;
▪Professor James Faulconer, BYU
▪Wheatley Institute

“
‘If you're teaching today what
you were teaching five years ago,
either the field is dead or you are.’
- Noam Chomsky
20

Research
Informed
Teaching
(RIT)
Co-researchers/Collaborators
‘Treating students as co-
researchers supports student
engagement within and beyond
the formal curriculum, furthering
knowledge and understanding.’
Utilising current research leads to
the formation of valuable
employability skills for students.
Cutting edge research offers
innovative and engaging subject
material for classes, and can
challenge students to face real-
life research issues.
Pedagogy
I am actively developing tools
and methodologies that move
students from passive
receivers, to active and
engaged learners.
My teaching styles rotate to
reflect the learning objectives
and needs of the students.
Lectures, workshops, seminars,
lab sessions are adapted to
facilitate the most effective
learning experience.
My teaching pedagogies evolve
in response to new research,
and provide high quality
learning experiences for
students.
Associate Fellow of the Higher
Education Academy (HEA)
Professional development and
training is a marker of a
conscientous educator.
I am passionate about personal
development, which includes
staying up to date with
pedagogical developments and
debates within the field of higher
education.
Supported Learning Practice
(SLP) course completed in
January 2017.
Due to be awarded in July 2017.
21
- research-led – where students
are taught research findings in
their field of study;
- research-oriented – where
students learn research
processes and methodologies;
- research-tutored – where
students learn through critique
and discussion between
themselves and staff; and
- research-based learning –
where students learn as
researchers.

Digital
Humanities
Teaching
Experience
Digital Research Skills for
Historians (HIST 492)
▪Created and convened the
module in the academic year
2015-2016.
▪Introduced students to
spreadsheets, and quantitative
data for use within historical
research.
Spatial Technologies for
Historical Analysis (HIST 429)
▪Co-convened and co-taught the
module with Dr Leif Isaksen and
Alexander Reinhold in the
academic year 2016-2017.
▪Topics include; Spreadsheets,
relational databases, GIS, and
linked open data.
Using Digital Texts as
Historical Sources (HIST 426)
▪Co-taught the module with Ian
Gregory, Professor of Digital
Humanities in the academic
year 2016-2017.
▪Topics include; HTML, XML,
texts and databases, writing for
the web, and corpus linguistics.
22

Undergraduate
Teaching
Experience &
Summer
Schools
▪HIST 100: From Medieval to Modern:
History and Historians
▪An introduction to history as a discipline,
with a broad chronological and thematic
survey.
▪Underlying the course is a dedicated skills
syllabus, which advances students
understanding of what it means to be a
historian. The course also introduces
students to the different approaches to
historical research that exist.
I assisted with the teaching of the
Lancaster University European Research
Council Summer School in GIS for the
Digital Humanities, 2015, 2016, and
again in 2017.
23
The Medieval World, c. 750 to c. 1450
1. Self and Society in the Age of Charlemagne
2. Kingship, Government and Society
3. Religion and Society in the Middle Ages
4. The Significance of the Vikings
5. War and Peace in Stateless France
Early Modern Europe, c. 1450 to 1789
6. Life, Sex and Death in Early Modern Europe
7. Religious Turmoil and State Formation
8. Changing Ideas: Re-Arranging the Universe
9. The Enlightenment
10. Overseas Expansion: from Columbus to Cook
The Modern West, 1789 to the Present
11. What is “Modern” about Modern History?
12. Modern Work
13. The Modern City: Life, Governance, Identity
14. The Violent Twentieth Century
15. The End of Modern History?

24
‘We were
encouraged to
challenge each
others
statements and
ideas to support
our own.’
‘James got everyone
involved. Splitting us
into smaller groups
made it less intimidating
to talk. There was a laid
back atmosphere, with
very good teaching.’
‘Group work and
discussion helps
with understanding
what we learnt in
the lecture.’
‘James’ seminars
are always very
interesting, well
planned, and
stimulate interest in
history.’
‘Very informative
seminars, great at
grabbing attention
and making it
interesting.’
HIST 100 Student
Feedback (2016-2017)

3.
Academic
Citizenship
‘…talk to anyone working in the
profession and they will be
quick to point to a host of other
roles and functions that are far
less well known or understood
outside the academy but are
nonetheless integral to
academic life.’, Times Higher
Education, 2015 25
Students
Colleagues
InstitutionDiscipline
Public

Academic
Citizenship
‘…refers to the duties,
responsibilities or virtues
of academic faculty…it is
important not to lose
sight of their obligations
in relation to the
communities they serve.’
Bruce Macfarlane
The Athena SWAN Charter was
established in 2005 to encourage and
recognise commitment to advancing
the careers of women in science,
technology, engineering, maths and
medicine (STEMM) employment in
higher education and research.
Invited to sit on the history department
board at Lancaster University.
In 2015, it was expanded to include
those involved in the arts, humanities,
social sciences, and other disciplines.
The charter now recognises work
undertaken to address gender
equality more broadly, and not just
barriers to progression that affect
women.
More information available here.
Objective: To provide LDS
scholars with the opportunity to
connect and collaborate, and to
create a space for the
discussion of Mormonism within
an academic environment.
Established in early 2017 to
serve LDS members in
academia who are either based
in Europe or with research
interests connected to Europe.
Applications developed for
network funding through the
AHRC, and other research
councils.
Semi-annual symposiums,
sponsored presentations, blog
posts, and a digital network.
Scholars come from around
Europe, and are represented in
a number of prestigious
institutions, including, Lancaster
University, Oxford University,
Cambridge University, London
School of Economics, Université
de Franche-Comté, and others.
B.E.A.M.S was designed to
enable experienced academics
to support LDS scholars.
www.beamscholar.org
I am also a member of the
European Association for
Digital Humanities
(EADH)
26
‘A university must not only
choose the intellectually
best candidate but one
who will do his duty to the
university and the
academic world as a loyal
and responsible academic
citizen’ Edward Shils

Key Guiding
Principles of
Digital
Humanities
According to James
Cross-fertilization
The mixing of the ideas, customs, etc. of
different places or groups of people, to
produce a better result.
Working with various departments,
individuals, both internally and externally
is crucial for the development of innovative
projects.
Balancing the ‘Digital’ and ‘Humanities’
DH requires clear goals and visions. Digital
tools might be developed and utilised, but
they need to be answering carefully
composed questions. The strengths of ‘the
digital’ and the humanities need to be
blended and simultaneously utilised.
Does this project need these digital tools?
What is question being asked?
27

Thank you for your time!
28
Feel free to contact me:
▪ www.jamesperry.uk
▪ james.perry@lancaster.ac.uk
▪ @JamesAGPerry
Questions?

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