Computing for Cultural Heritage

In 2019, the Institute of Coding (IoC) provided funding to the British Library, the National Archives and Birkbeck University to co-develop a one-year, part-time Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) called Computing for Cultural Heritage. The funding was part of the Future Projects Fund, which was overseen by the IoC’s Industry Advisory Board.

The aim of this trial PGCert was to provide professionals working in the cultural heritage sector with an understanding of basic programming and computational analytic tools to support them in their daily activities at work.

During the autumn & spring terms (October 2019 – April 2020), 12 staff members from British Library and eight from the National Archives completed two new modules at Birkbeck University. The first was called Demystifying Computing for Heritage Professionals and the second was a work-based project.

One learner reported: “I have gone from not being able to print ‘hello’ in Python to writing some relatively complex programs and having a much greater understanding of data science and how it is applicable to my work.”

To learn more, including descriptions of the student projects, visit https://www.bl.uk/case-studies/computing-for-cultural-heritage-student-projects.

Birkbeck University have launched an Applied Data Science (Postgraduate Certificate) based on the outcomes of the trial. To learn more about the programme, click here.