As you may have already noticed, the Statistical Accounts of Scotland service now has a new look as well as new and improved features. We hope you have been exploring them since the new service was launched at the beginning of November. This is the first in a series of blog posts about some of the functionality you may have come across or may not have yet discovered! Here we concentrate on the search and structure of the new website.

Improved search

We have aimed to allow searching in the same way as you would use an internet search engine. The service will look not only for direct matches but also for possible variations and related terms.

Search features include:

• The ability to limit your search to the old statistical accounts or new statistical accounts by adding either OSA or NSA to your search terms, e.g. OSA schools. It is also possible to limit your search still further by stating the actual volume and even the specific page, e.g. OSA vol5 pg27.
• The ability to search by geographical area, by using one of the eight cardinal compass points in your search term, i.e. N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW.
• A subject search which allows you to search for pages which are discussing a particular topic but which may not mention the exact word. The system looks at the words you type into the search box and tries to deduce any subjects you might be interested in or you can include the subjects directly. The full list of subjects can be found on the How to get the most out of the Statistical Accounts of Scotland online page. This functionality is a little experimental at the moment, so it would be great to get any feedback on this feature.
• The ability to search the related resources, with access to these available from the main search results page. Please note that related resources, such as digitised versions of Sinclair’s Specimens of Statistical Accounts (1793) and Analysis of the Statistical Account of Scotland (1825-1826) and related surveys such as the Stow Census, are only available to subscribers.
• Associated words which is another experimental feature that may present words that frequently appear in proximity to your search terms. If your search term returns a box of associated word you can click on these words to explore terms related to those you are interested in.

Search results page showing a number of features of the new service. Screen-shot captured from the Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online on Wednesday 30th November 2016.

County and Parish Pages

We also wanted to make it easier to search for material that is related to specific places, and tried to do this by bringing together information on each parish or county on one dedicated page. These can be navigated to using the maps, as well as the search box. These pages present all the content we have that is related to that county or parish, alongside a county or parish map and a brief description, extracted from the text. From here, you can view the map in high resolution, navigate to the county page if you are on a parish page, or navigate to one of the accounts or resources related to the parish if you are on a parish page.

We hope that the improved functionality and re-design of the Statistical Accounts of Scotland will both allow you to find the relevant information quickly and to explore other related information easily. Try the new features and discover more about Scotland’s counties and parishes.

More information on all the features mentioned above, as well as others, can be found in the Statistical Accounts of Scotland Help Pages and the How to get the most out of the Statistical Accounts of Scotland online page. If you have any comments or queries please contact the EDINA Help Desk (edina@ed.ac.uk).

Registrations have been coming in thick and fast for the Data-X Symposium to be held on 1 December, Main Lecture theatre, Edinburgh College of Art (programme below).

Data-X is a University of Edinburgh IS Innovation Fund initiative supported by the Data Lab & ASCUS | Art & Science. It brings together PhD researchers from the arts and sciences to develop collaborative data ‘installations’.

To register visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/data-x-symposium-tickets-29076676121

Programme:

10.00 – 10.30: Registration & coffee

10.30 – 10.40: Welcome – Stuart Macdonald (Edina, Data-X Project Manager) & Introduction – Dr Martin Parker (Director of Outreach, Edinburgh College of Art)

10.40 – 11.20: Guest speaker: ASCUS & the ASCUS Lab: catalysts for Artiscience- Dr James Howie (Co-Founder, ASCUS)

Session 1 presentations: Chair – Dr. Rocio von Jungenfeld (School of Engineering & Arts, University of Kent)

· 11.20 – 11.35: PUROS Sound Box – Dr Sophia Banou, Dr Christos Kakalis (both School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art), Matt Giannotti (Reid School of Music)

· 11.35 – 11.50: eTunes – Dr Siraj Sabihuddin (School of Engineering)

· 11.50 – 12.05: Inside the black box -Luis Fernando Montaño (Centre for Synthetic and Systems Biology) & Bohdan Mykhaylyk (School of Chemistry)

· 12.05 – 12.20: Wind Gust 42048 – Matt Giannotti (Reid School of Music)

· 12.20 – 12.30: Session 1. wrap-up

12.30 – 13.15: Lunch

Session 2 presentations: Chair – Martin Donnelly (Digital Curation Centre)

· 13.15 – 13.30: Elegy for Philippines Eagle – Oli Jan (Reid School of Music)

· 13.30 – 13.45: Feel the Heat: World Temperature Data Quilt – Nathalie Vladis (Centre for Integrative Physiology) & Julia Zaenker (School of Engineering)

· 13.45 – 14.00: o ire – Prof. Nick Fells (School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow)

· 14.00 – 14.15: Sinterbot – Adela Rabell Montiel (Queen’s Medical Research Institute) & Dr Siraj Sabihuddin (School of Engineering)

· 14.15 – 14.25: Session 2. wrap-up

14.25 – 15.05: Guest speaker: FUSION – where art meets neuroscience – Dr Jane Haley (Edinburgh Neurioscience)

15.05 – 15.15: Closing remarks: Stuart Macdonald (Edina, Data-X Project Manager)

15.20: Close

Data-X is supported by: The Data Lab, ASCUS, Information Services

Stuart Macdonald
DATA-X Project Manager / Associate Data Librarian
EDINA

A large proportion of the earliest thesis we have digitised from the turn of the century are medical thesis. However, they little resemble the modern medical thesis being produced today. They are full of the personality of the students who wrote them and the people they studied. Sometimes it feels like we are hearing voices that no one has listened to for a very long time.

For example, one student named Donald Sutherland Murray undertook a study of an outbreak of alopecia he witnessed in the small town of 9000 people where he was practicing medicine. His study presents a cross section of the town, his patients ranged in age from 8 to 65, and were students, joiners, bakers, apprentice engineers and domestic servants. His thesis also includes beautiful portraits, such as the one below of a joiner, ages 35 with a ‘scanty moustache’. This thesis may no longer be relevant for the treatment of alopecia, but it provides information about people’s lives that would not have survived had they not suffered from alopecia.
It is also important to remember that the people who produced the hundreds of volumes that pass through our hands and scanners every week were human beings who probably wept and had many sleepless nights in behalf of the work we are digitising. Sometimes it is rewarding to try to find out more about these individuals. A few months ago I came across a medical thesis from 1906 written by a woman called Sheila M. Ross. It is entitled Acute hallucinatory insanity – a type of the confusional insanities, with clinical notes. As female authors from this period are relatively unusual, I sought to find out a little more about Dr. Ross. I haven’t manages to find masses of information, but I did discover that she was awarded a medal from the School of Medicine in 1899 for Systemic Anatomy. The medal, along with a few others from the same time period, were sold for £170 by the auction house Dix Noonan Web. I have also found a record of her graduation in the July 1904 edition of the British Medical Journal. Of a graduating class of about 130, 7 were women, Sheila M. Ross, Aimee E. Mills, Margaret H. Robinson, Isabelle Logie, Amy M Mackintosh, Eslpeth M. McMillan, Margaret CW Young and Mildred ML Cather.

Much of the early thesis collection are MD’s, however, their value lies not just within the realm of medicine. Murray’s thesis contains a snapshot of life in a small town at the turn of the century, and is unique in that it is the only thesis on alopecia we have come across thus far. Ross’s thesis contains information about the prevalence of mental illness in Scotland and elsewhere, but it can also be used to learn more about the history of women’s participation in the University, and the School of Medicine in particular.

D.S. Murray’s thesis is being processed in the current block and should be available on Edinburgh Research Archive in the next few weeks. Once it has been uploaded a link will be added to this post.