— Eason Liang, LINCS computer science co-op — When I began my first co-op placement, I had no idea how software development worked in a professional environment. Previously, my experience had only been in the classroom, where  my classmates and I developed software for assignments. When I moved into a professional context, I was exposed […]

— Mohammed Marzookh Farook & Ananya Rao, LINCS Junior Research Analysts — If you’ve ever listened in on a technical conversation between computer scientists, you might’ve heard them refer to something called an API. What exactly is an API? Let’s break it down. An application is any software that performs a distinct function. Microsoft Excel […]

— Basil Yusuf, LINCS computer science co-op — LINCS is using ResearchSpace as a platform for exploring relationships in interlinked cultural datasets. With ResearchSpace, researchers can browse, search, and visualize data in the LINCS datastore. In summer 2022, I was part of a team that was developing new features for LINCS’s version of ResearchSpace. Our […]

— Jordan Lum, LINCS UX co-op — The UX team has been conducting user research on LINCS tools to get them ready to move from development to production. So far, we have completed card sorts, usability tests, surveys, and interviews. This research has provided us with a wealth of information. However, if we want to […]

— Farhad Omarzad, LINCS UX undergraduate research assistant — During my time at LINCS, the UX team has laid the groundwork for implementing an intuitive and effortless user flow for ResearchSpace. To accomplish this, we have conducted numerous user and usability tests, interviews, and card sorts. Working on ResearchSpace was my first real experience in […]

— Ze Xi (Jessica) Ye, LINCS metadata co-op — During my graduate courses in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, I gained a high-level understanding of Linked Open Data (LOD) and the CIDOC CRM ontology, a theoretical and practical tool for information integration in the field of cultural heritage. Because I am an Archives […]

— Kate LeBere, LINCS vocabularies and documentation co-op — If each part of a ship were replaced over time, when, if ever, does it become a new ship? Little did Heraclitus, Plato, and others know that the problems posed by the “Ship of Theseus” paradox would continue to vex digital humanists in the twenty-first century. […]

— Emily McKibbon, LINCS metadata co-op — My first job in the museums field was in 2008, right at the height of the Great Recession. The digitization team I joined had just lost roughly a quarter of their staff in a series of buyouts and layoffs, and the mood was grim. We were tasked with […]

— Nem Brunell, LINCS UX co-op — The situation is this: you’ve been asked to design a way for a researcher to easily move between two tools. You familiarize yourself with both tools, learn about the known issues, and read about what’s already been tried. You spend a few days deciding on the best way […]

— Evan Rees, LINCS UX co-op — The road to UX for me has been long and winding, and I, much like the LINCS users in the Tube Map in Figma, have found myself at various stations along the way, assessing where I should go next. Initially studying Life Sciences at University of Toronto, I made […]