Dr James Baker

Professor of Digital Humanities, University of Southampton, UK

James Baker is a Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Southampton, UK.

James started out working on the satirical artist-engraver Isaac Cruikshank and the business of visual satire in late-Georgian London. Whilst he retains a passion for printed images and visual culture, these days he works primarily at the intersection of history, cultural heritage, and digital technologies. His current research examines histories of knowledge organisation and production in twentieth and twenty-first century Britain.

Prior to joining Southampton, James held positions of Senior Lecturer in Digital History and Archives at the University of Sussex and Director of the Sussex Humanities LabDigital Curator at the British Library, and Postdoctoral Fellow with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. He is a member of The Programming Historian Editorial Board and a Director of ProgHist Ltd (Company Number 12192946), a Hidden REF committee member, and a founding member of the Digital Humanities Climate Coalition.

I’ve worked at the intersection of research, libraries, and archives most of my career. Digital is a vital thread to that work, and librarians are key partners in what I do. I’m delighted to be part of the LIBER Digital Humanities Working Group, to share my experience of teaching librarians computational skills, and to learn from some of the most forward thinking librarians in Europe.