Tim Sherratt: The perfect face
Channel: NDF - National Digital Forum
Date: 17/10/2015

Day 1 of NDF 2015, 11.00am session, Tuesday 13 October 2015

Tim is interested in the possibilities of extracting faces from within heritage collections and presenting them as points of access, exploration, analysis, and critique. Looking into another face creates a connection across time and culture, potentially opening space for empathy and obligation. But facial detection technology is more commonly used in security and marketing, where the face is something to be read for data – for labelling or identification. How do those of us working with cultural data, who want to highlight the human dimensions of our collections, respond to the politics of facial detection and recognition? This talk will present a few experiments, ranging from the playful to the provocative.

Tim is a historian and hacker who researches the possibilities and politics of digital cultural collections. Online resources he has created include Bright Sparcs, Mapping our Anzacs, QueryPic, and The Real Face of White Australia. He is currently half of the Trove management team at the National Library of Australia, and Associate Professor of Digital Heritage at the University of Canberra. @wragge