So, Shawn has finally returned to trying to get some research (my own)-related writing happening (it’s only taken me two years to get back to it). And as those that know me realise, I am very place-conscious when it comes to finding the magic Third Place that I need to work effectively. The parameters are defined:

1. I can only seem to get effective writing and thinking done in the morning. Starting at 6am doesn’t pose a problem, in fact the mind is nice and sharp and creative at this point. Nothing makes me feel better than being able to put finger to key (or when using the iPad to screen;-) and get into the flow. Realistically in changed circumstances 8-8:30am as a starting point is more realistic.
2. I am not easily distracted by going on around me (within reason) and do actually seem to cocoon mentally when there is a bustle about.
3. I do like to be able to get a good latte and sometimes an occassional breakfast item, but usually am bringing along my own porridge.
4. I need a power outlet as the batteries on both MacBooks went to about two hours life after making the ‘upgrade’ to Snow Leopard.
5. I also need wifi access as much that I seem to do requires internet access. My little 3G dongle often suffices, but I have discovered that it can be easily stymied and can prove problematic.
6. Comfort is nice (i.e. a plush chair), but often a table keeps me honest (and let’s be honest – good posture is to be respected).
7. It should be located within easy proximity of home, but also in the direction of the office.

So, the usual suspects are easily investigated.

Starbuck’s Mespil Road is a nice shop. Comfortable and location is great. There is free wifi when you keep a minimum amount on your Starbuck’s Card, but the BTOpenZone service at this location is dodgy to the point of unusable. The iPad does better than the laptop. Unfortunately the 3G modem cannot find signal and is a non-starter. The coffee is good, although vanilla lattes at Starbuck’s in Ireland are very different beasts and I tend towards a soy chai latte instead. The porridge (referred to as perfect) very pricey and comes in a very small quantity. The addition of fruit and honey to it is a nice touch, but not at nearly €2 extra. I am forced to look elsewhere.

The alternate Starbucks is a 10 minute walk to Shelbourne Road. There is no wifi here. It’s a non starter. It might have worked on the 3G front, but that is limited to one device and location takes it away from the office.

The Coffee Company on Mespil is also potential, but it too suffers from a 3 3G blackout and only has outside seating…fine on the fine days…not so good otherwise. They make a mean latte though and do have porridge available at a reasonable price and good quality.

The new Fixx Cafe over on Dawson Street is also a contender. It offers free robust wifi and is a very comfortable spot. The coffee is extremely good. The rather funky furniture works for me and there is a good buzz about the place. When the Costa here closed (I am still in the dark as to why) it was a real blow to the immediate scene. The Fixx has gone a fair distance to filling the gap. The only real downside is that there are no apparent power outlets and I seem to know far too many people that walk in for a cuppa. Maybe a backup.

Today’s excursion was to the Cafe Java on Leeson Street. Currently the front runner. Offers free wifi, but cannot join the network. Luckily the place next door also offers free wifi and so we are up and running on the internet access front. There are even two tables serviced with power. The coffee is good, and even a few possibilities should one need some added food content. The only apparent downside is that it is a little quite. Business seems to pick up after 10:30 as locals drift in for a late breakfast. Clearly its not on the business route and doesn’t seem to be an arranged rendezvous for business meetings. Current front runner.

Will keep you posted.

With a few spare hours to spend before the DHO Summer School, I decided to revisit Glasnevin Cemetery and check out the new interpretive centre. As you may remember from my earlier post, there was a grand, but damp ceremony staged to reopen the refurbished crypt of Daniel O’Connell late last year. When there I was impressed by this swoopy modernistic centre being built to welcome visitors to Glasnevin. Well, it opened a few months back and I finally got a chance to visit it.

A little background, to prove I actually visited the centre and took in a little of the knowledge they are dispensing. Glasnevin is a non-denominational cemetery that was opened in 1832 and is the largest cemetery in Ireland. Think Pere Lachaise in a less rolling and less forested surrounding. There are over one million souls buried in Glasnevin.

The new interpretative centre backs on the cemetery walls on Finglas Road. The cemetery itself is surrounded by high walls and even features watchtowers at the corners. The need to protect the inhabitants of the cemetery stems from the nineteenth century grave robbers that preyed upon the bodies of the deceased. The centre is a stunning new addition to the cemetery. The design, although modernistic does seem in harmony with the surroundings, the horizontal expanse fitting in well with the long walls surrounding the cemetery. The building is squat, and although a large edifice, the glass and stone sits well amongst the stone grave markers. There is a €6 entry fee to the museum. This seems a bit high given the paucity of exhibition content offered. There are basically two floors of things to see. On the lower floor (where you start) the theme is a journey under the ground of the cemetery proper…rather like a trip through the catacombs in Paris. The exhibits are well done, but brief. A short widescreen interpretative video is presented to establish the context of the cemetery within Irish history. There is an attempt to allow the guest to connect with the individuals buried in the cemetery through a collection of individual artefacts. The mood of the visit is established with lots of running water and a message relating to the multi-demoninational aspect of the cemetery is presented.

Taking an elevator to the first floor you get to play with some touch screens that take you through the life of Daniel O’Connell. Underneath a wall of windows that face the cemetery are a series of additional screens that choose from a select set of individuals buried at Glasnevin presented as a longitudinal timeline visualisation. As a visitor you can choose to explore biographies by choosing individual names using trackballs (remember those). Additionally (and I think this is rather cool) the timeline morphs into a social network visualisation of the person (node) of interest. Essentially the presentation presents a virtual community of the deceased, but allows you to explore the web of that society. Quite interesting.

The museum ends there. You proceed down the stairs to the ground floor and sandwiched between the two exhibit spaces is the obligatory museum shop and a lovely cafe. It’s a pleasant surrounding, but I am not sure that I have seen this level of heritage management at a cemetery. Quite fascinating.

The day was a fine one and I had a chance to tag along with one of the guided tours of the cemetery itself. Our guide was a very perky sort (in a positive sense) and expressed a wonderful enthusiasm for the history and the people buried in Glasnevin. She took us on a wide ranging tour of the grounds as well as Irish history and how much of it is bound up with the notable individuals buried here. The cemetery itself is a huge space and there are a number of very different spaces within it. Many of the spaces are wonderfully tree-lined in a way similar to Pere Lachaise. Many of the monuments are being restored by the Office of Public Works in Ireland and all in all this creates a very relaxing and specially spiritual environment. Obviously wandering in a cemetery is not for all people, but for those of us that find rooting in historical presence, Glasnevin is a very special place.

Eric Fischer has posted a new series of visualisations ‘Locals and Tourists‘ depicting the location of photos taken in urban areas around the world. In this

series he attempts to distinguish between those taken by tourists (people who seem to be a local of a different city and who took pictures in this city for less than a month) and those by locals (people who have taken pictures in this city dated over a range of a month or more). Intriguing.

I was struck by his ingenious re-use of the existing data to create new information. By exploring individuals posted pictures over time he was able to hypothesise as to whether they were visiting or residing in a particular area. This allowed for a means to compare the gaze of the two groups.

I immediately started to explore his map of Dublin to see if any patterns emerged and then to try and suggest explanations for them. There is a healthy and regular mix of photos by both groups in the central core, but immediately to the east is a large blue box of photos taken by locals. It appears to surround the new Aviva Lansdowne Stadium in Ballsbridge. On the northside there is a similar cluster of photographs by locals taken at the National Botanical Gardens. Interestingly around the Powerscrourt area to the south of the city are a cluster of photographs which cannot be distinguished as being from locals or tourists (yellow in colour). Fischer’s methodology of distinguishing between locals and tourists suggests that the people posting photos of Powerscourt revisit the area on an irregular basis or post pictures irregularly from only a select group of places. Interesting.

The most practical application of Locals versus tourists is to consider how a visitor might use these visualisations to find the hidden city known only to its inhabitants – to find those secret spots worthy of capture by locals, but seemingly missed in the tourist guides.

This set builds on his earlier work ‘The Geotaggers’ World Atlas‘ looking at from where the pictures were taken, whether from car, bicyle or when walking.

Walking into Rinsgend last night I was just struck on what a pleasant evening it was. Here’s a lovely shot looking down the Dodder towards the nearly complete Aviva Stadium with the Dublin Mountains in the background. It occurs that just to the right side of the Stadium you can even see the shape of Sugarloaf off in the distance.

Although a rather ‘soft’ day yesterday, circumstances demanded a flying visit to Glasnevin Cemetery. The occasion was the public opening of the crypt of Daniel O’Connell, one of the great Irish figures of the nineteenth century. I felt compelled to make the journey, and with a small group of weather braving souls we paid a sort of tribute to the Great Liberator.

I have been wanting to visit Glasnevin since arriving in Ireland and it had, until yesterday, eluded my grasp. The cemetery as you can read from the linked wikipedia article is the largest nondenominational cemetery on the island and it contains the last resting spots of some of the most notable public figures of the last two centuries. In fact, the article claims it contains the remains of over 1.5M souls. That seems a rather heady claim, but bears consideration. Existing during famine times the cemetery existed during a period when roman catholics were not permitted to maintain their own cemeteries and had to conduct what rites they could in protestant graveyards.
Certainly Glasnevin is on par with a place like Pére LaChaise in Paris as the national cemetery. However, the cemetery in Paris is rather lush and you have a feeling of creeping organic decomposition and a sense that you are at the portal to the underworld. At Glasnevin, there is a sense of reaching out towards heaven. The vast collection of monuments soar upwards and you feel surrounded and amongst the concrete remembrances, but clearly on a worldly plain.

The cemetery is hard to miss. As you approach you can see the magnificent round tower erected over the crypt of Daniel O’Connor for a great distance and on closer approach the towering walls and guard towers at the corners make the site unmistakable. Even on a dreary day one is in awe on approach. This feeling of great appreciation that one is in a special place is all the more heightened as you walk amongst the markers of figures that you may only be familiar with from the pages of history books or spoken in reverence. Casement, Boland, Devoy, Brugha, Collins, Maud Gonne Macbride, to but name a few. And only a few as the weather was filthy and I now look forward to heading out on a sunnier occasion to pay proper respect to the memory of the many more that are buried here.

The President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, gave a very thoughtful and extremely poignant speech (in the driving rain) paying tribute to O’Connell as one of the first human right activists and connected his legacy directly to the ideals of the Irish people today. The visit was brief, but we did manage to get down to the crypt and actually touch O’Connell’s sarcophagus. The vault itself is decorated with motif’s rooted in the nineteenth century, fine celtic knot work and bold statements of the accomplishments of the great man. I hope that the pictures that I share can do this justice.

On another note there is a huge shiny new visitors centre nearing completion which promises to ‘tell the story’ of the souls buried at Glasnevin…I look forward to seeing the interpretation.

If you choose to visit Glasnevin, Bus 40 leaves from Parnell Square quite frequently and drops you right at the gates to the cemetery. Bus 140 is even better as it comes right from UCD down the dual carriage way, Leeson Street, Stephen’s Green and across the river right past the cemetery as well, so it is very easy to reach. For myself, I hope that I can find a nice dry day to revisit and experience the cemetery.

Yesterday I had the honour of giving the first seminar in the Long Room Hub Methods Series at Trinity. I presented a paper entitled ‘Visualising Historical Data’ to a packed room. We had 45 people in the room, some sitting on the floor, and apparently another dozen or so were turned away at the door. Jennifer Edmond gave me a warm and thoughtful introduction and I then launched into a high-level discussion of a few of the very interesting and innovative tools and methods available for working with both structured and unstructured text and numbers. The talk was intended to merely spark interest and hope that attendees might be inspired to try something new with their own research data.

The talk explored tag clouds of a couple varieties, tree maps, timelines, and introduced OpenCalais as a machine driven means to apply context to data. We had a very fruitful discussion afterward as attendees raised some very intriguing questions ranging from issues of visual misrepresentation, the role of the consumer of the visualisation in the making judgements, as well as privacy and the crucial importance of not losing sight of traditional research fundamentals in the glitz of technological toys. I attempted to convey the use of data visualisation for both analytical process and as a means of presenting research findings. Technology forced me to present using PDF as the presentation driver and thankfully the last minute change came off without a hitch. Hopefully, if technology cooperated, the talk will be available for public consumption through iTunes U very shortly.

It was my pleasure to be invited to give the talk and I thank Jason McElligott and Jennifer Edmonds fo the opportunity. I was enormously pleased by the interest in data visualisation in the humanities and certainly this looks like a very ripe area for the DHO to focus some efforts as part of our mandate.

The talk was delivered in the Trinity Irish Art Research Centre which is housed in the renovated Provost’s House Stables. A very unique location and a rather cool architectural reuse.

The videophone is one for a hasty jaunt through St. Stephen’s Green.

Jaunt Movie (Click to Watch)

One thing that has enamoured me of this town is the wealth of little things going on that one can avail oneself of informally. Today is an excellent case in point. I headed over to the Academy at noon to help with some interviews for an IT position there. I was a few minutes early, so I cut down Kildare Street and popped into the National Library. They have a W.B. Yeats exhibition on and I had discovered this amazing display featuring notable Irish voices reading selected poems. The readings are delivered in this gazebo-like area with images projected aside words on translucent screens. It’s a uniquely captivating experience and I find myself transported from the work-a-day world onto (dare I say it) a transcendental plain. Its really a very special experience and I took ten minutes to savour a few poems and then headed onto my appointment. Entrance is free and its just inside the building. Its a splendid little place along the way. It allows you to spike your journey with some variety.

I work quite near St. Stephen’s Green and it has the obvious attractions of parkland, strollers (flaneur) and serendipitous engagement – like the brass band from two weekends ago. I live beside the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) grounds and one of the highlights of the year here is the annual Horse Show. It started the other day and has been attracting huge crowds. I don’t even have to contend with the horsey set though, as I can sit on my balcony and it overlooks the show grounds. Its quite a treat. The dressage, show jumping, all sorts of wonderful displays…and I don’t even have to leave my home. I remain truly blessed in the wonderful little diversions.

Well, our first adjacency to a bank holiday here is Ireland. Bank holidays seem to exert a curious waterfall effect on all days surround. The academy closed an hour early on Friday, because Monday is a bank holiday. Not complaining about that. I was going to avail myself of library services today as Matt alerted me that my local public library is right across the street. But…because Monday is a holiday, the bank is closed today, Saturday. Sure, makes all the sense in the world.

Anyway, a slow start to the weekend, as I had a number of errands to run about town. All accomplished by noon, I decided to check out a restaurant recommendation from one of our pals at the academy Vanessa Carswell, who writes a foodie column for the Sunday Business Post. The Winding Stair is located Liffeyside at Ormond Quay. There’s a lovely little bookshop downstairs with new and used books. Upstairs there is an airy open restaurant with spectacularly large windows overlooking the river. The fare (as promised) was solid Irish. Today’s specials featured Irish Chicken, Lamb, Haddock and fourth which I can’t remember. I started with an amazingly rich fish chowder that was seasoned with chorizo sausage. Normally, I’d have wondered about such a combination, but I like them both, so hazarded an order. Scrumptious. My main was the lemon and herb haddock, which was an ample portion and tasty, but a tad greasy for my liking. One thing I have noted with the fish and chips here in Dublin is how amazingly light the batter is and possibly (in my dreams) somewhat less unhealthy than back home. Partnered the meal with a Celtic Wheat Beer. Quite nice for an afternoon nosh.

Finding myself on the north side of the Liffey (a rarer occurence for me), I had the thought to bike on out to Howth and check out a few northern neighbourhoods. Although as I sit back in ballsbridge and write this, the sun is shining nicely, the weather has been rather changeable today. Thus, even in the short jaunt as far as St. Anne’s Park in Clontarf, there were at least three points at which I sought some respite from the rain under a handy tree (or at St. Patrick’s in Drumcondra). Managed a very leisurely journey through Drumcondra, Fairview, Kilester, Coolock, Raheny, Kilbarack and Sutton. The route I happened upon was rather urban, moving along relatively busy roads. When I hit the spit of and heading out towards Howth I discovered that there is a lovely coast road. Should have figured that one. Took it the way back and it was a far more enjoyable journey. The city has created a well maintained and scenic promenade along marshes and the wild of the north Dublin coast. There is a gold course located out from the coast along a casueway and the lovely twin smokestacks of the Dublin powerstation guide you back home. Far more conveniently and unbeknownst to me on the way out, was the outer bridge over the Liffey takes you right into Irishtown/Ringsend and I am home in 10 minutes. A rather long journey, but one with very cool finds.

We work in a charming Georgian townhouse on Upper Pembroke Street at Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin. The DHO rents a series of offices in here and it isa very pleasant surround. The neighborhood is a busy one, but largely of pedestrians and of tourists. Over the past few weeks we have all been commenting on how many tourist photos we must now be appearing as they let off busloads to marvel at the colourful doors and ornate doorways. There is a large green area in the centre of the square with dense trees surrounding it and charming grassed areas in side. The Georgian terraces are quite impressive and give real sense of a Dublin of days past.

For all of the wonderful architecture, I had, to my chagrin, not dug any deeper into the historical connections with the area. That is, until today. There is a lovely closed park in the centre of Fitzwilliam Square, and I couldn’t figure out how to get in. Well…as it turns out, it is a private park only available to the householders surrounding the park. I am now trying to see if we qualify as such as I can get in. I have just heard back that we do and this feels all so clubbish.
However, when I was wandering about websites to discover the bye laws surrounding the park, I discovered that our address has some greater notoriety. Many of the buildings in the area have little plaques on them, noting famous personages that were born or lived in the the area. Our address is a little more tragic. 28 Upper Pembroke (as well as a couple other houses) were targeted by Michael Collin’s squads during the sweep of Sunday 21 November 1920. These early morning lightning raids were intended to decapitate the british intelligence efforts in Ireland. Throughout the city, british agents whose addresses and whereabouts had been obtained in the weeks previous were hunted down in homes, parks and cafe’s. In the case of 28 Upper Pembroke, a certain Captain Fitzgerald was killed here and papers were found in his possession detailing the movements of senior IRA figures. Apparently four agents were gunned down in this townhouse alone. For those of you that may have seen Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins, these same assassinations were followed by the wanton slaughter of innocent civilians and players at Croke Park during a GAA match.
The War of Independence was fought right on our front steps. Perhaps I will give second thought to working late in the office here. Ohhhh…scary!