Hello everyone,
The British Library Labs have let us know about a competition they're running which might interest people on this list. The original blog posthttp://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2013/05/labs-competition-win-3000.html is below:
"Details have been released for the first British Library Labs competitionhttp://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013 ...
[image: BL_labs_picture] http://labs.bl.uk/*Calling all researchers and software developers!*
"Propose an innovative and transformative project that answers a research question using the British Library's digital collections / datahttp://labs.bl.uk/Digital+Collections and if your idea is chosen, the Labs team will work with you to make it happen and you could win a prize of up to £3,000.
"From the digitisation of thousands of books, newspapers and manuscripts, the collecting of UK websites, bird sounds or location data for our maps, over the last two decades we’ve been faithfully amassing a vast and wide-ranging digital collection for the nation. What remains elusive however is understanding what researchers need in place in order to unlock the potential for new discoveries within these fascinating and diverse digital collections.
"The Labs competition is designed to attract scholars, explorers and trailblazers to the Library who see the potential for new and innovative research lurking within these immense digital collections. Through soliciting innovative and transformative projects utilising this content you will be giving us a steer as to the types of platforms, arrangements, services and tools needed to surface it. We’ll even throw the Library’s resources behind you to make your idea a reality.
"To find out more, visit the competitionhttp://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013 pages (deadline for submission of ideas is the 26 June 2013), sign uphttp://www.wikispaces.com/user/join?goto=http%3A%2F%2Flabs.bl.uk%2Fspace%2Fjoin to the wiki, express your interesthttp://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013+-+Expression+of+interest and participate in one of the related events, virtuallyhttp://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013+-+Virtual+Events (17 May 2013, 1500 GMT), at one of our roadshow eventshttp://labs.bl.uk/Calendar, or hack event http://labs.bl.uk/Competition+2013+-+Hack+Event in London on the 28 and 29 May, 2013.
"Good luck!"
Richard Nevell