The information on this page was last updated on February 26, 2024.

Purbasha Auddy, Independent researcher in the humanities

Founder and Researcher, প্রকল্পperiodicalDB

• Research interests: Early Bengali Periodicals, Book History, Digital Humanities, Digital Archiving, Metadata, Knowledge Sites

• PhD from the School of Cultural Texts and Records (SCTR), Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
  - Thesis titled ‘Development of Contents in Bengali Periodicals (1818–1867): A Narrative of Objectives’
  - This PhD research was awarded a fellowship from the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) for the period 2015-2018, and the SYLFF Research Abroad Grant in 2017 to carry out research at the British Library and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
  
  

Presentations

• ‘What does “Digital” aspire to do to the “Humanities”?’ at international seminar on 'Digital Humanities and Literary Mapping: Pedagogy and Curricula' organised by the Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, January 7-9, 2020


• ‘Managing and Execution: Perceiving the Workflow, Creating Metadata’ at British Library Endangered Archives Program (EAP) workshop on 'Building Digital Archives: Tools, Techniques, Approaches' organised by the School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University, November 5-8, 2019


• ‘The Titles, Epigraphs and Editorials of Early Bengali Newspapers and Magazines (1818-1867)’ at the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) 26th annual conference titled ‘From First to Last Texts, Creators, Readers, Agents,’ Western Sydney University, July 9-12, 2018


• ‘বাংলা সংবাদপত্র প্রকাশনার প্রথম পঞ্চাশ বছর ১৮১৮-১৮৬৭: কয়েকটি বিশেষ ঘটনা’ or ‘The first fifty years of Bengali periodicals 1818-1867: A few salient points’ at the one-day national seminar on ‘ভারতীয় সংবাদ-পত্র: সেকাল ও একাল’ or ‘Indian newspapers: Then and Now’ organised by the Vidyasagar Centre of Indological Studies, Rabindra Bharati University, February 23, 2018


• ‘A project to look into the narrative of the publication of the first fifty years of Bengali periodicals, 1818-1867’ at the international conference titled ‘Turning the Page: New Directions in South Asian Book History’ organised by the University of Chicago Center at New Delhi, March 9-10, 2017


• Co-conducted workshop titled ‘#SpottingData’, at the international Internet Researchers’ Conference organised at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, February 26-28, 2016


• ‘Easy Access for Rare Books: A Proposition’ at ‘Re-booting Public Libraries for the 21st Century to Recreate the Future,’ national seminar organised by the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Calcutta in collaboration with the University Grants Commission and Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, March 3-4, 2016

Publications

• 'Mining Verbal Data from Early Bengali Newspapers and Magazines: Contemplating the Possibilities' in Domenico Fiormonte, Sukanta Chaudhuri, and Paola Ricaurte, eds., Global Debates in the Digital Humanities (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022), pp. 117-126. (ISBN: Hardcover: 9781517913250; Paperback: 9781517913267; E-book: 9781452967103)


• ‘The Journey of Questions of Women in Early Bengali Periodicals (1818-1867): An Overview’ in Aparna Bandyopadhyay, ed. Interrogating Cultures of Complicity and Resistance: A Women’s Studies Compendium (Kolkata: Paiolck, 2019), pp. 148-157. (ISBN: Paperback: 9789388207720; E-book: 9789388207737)


• ‘বাংলা সাময়িকপত্রের ব্যবসায়িক জীবন’ or ‘Commercial lives of early Bengali periodicals,’ proceedings of the researchers’ conference organised by the Department of Bengali, Jadavpur University, November 29-30, 2018. Volume edited by Barendu Mandal (Kolkata: Jadavpur University, 2018) (ISBN: 9789383660483)


• ‘প্রাচীন বাংলা পত্রিকার ইতিহাসের সন্ধানে’ or ‘In search of old Bengali periodicals,’ proceedings of the researchers’ conference organised by the Department of Bengali, Jadavpur University, March 28-29, 2017. Volume edited by Sekhar Samaddar (Kolkata: Jadavpur University, 2017) (ISBN: 9789383660414)


• Editor and contributor to the 10th, 11th and 12th issue of Fellows, newsletter of the Jadavpur University SYLFF Association (2016-2019). Articles titled ‘Finding new methodology for overcoming challenges’, ‘Not Only for Keeps: But Also for Documentation and Access’ and ‘I try to keep senses open’.


• Co-wrote three chapters (‘Images and Scanning’ (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23678-0_4), ‘Data Management and Hyperbibliography’ (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23678-0_6) and ‘Planning the Website’ (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23678-0_9) in Bichitra: The Making of a Tagore Website (New York: Springer, 2015) (ISBN: Hardcover: 9783319236773; Softcover: 9783319795201; E-book: 9783319236780)


• ‘Digitising and Documenting Endangered Material: A Tale of Three Projects,’ proceedings of ‘Documenting Diversity—Collections, Catalogues & Context,’ annual conference of ‘Comité International pour la Documentation/ International Committee for Documentation (CIDOC),’ New Delhi, September 5 -9, 2015.


• ‘Users and the Internet’ (2015), ‘Studying Internet in India’ essay series, ‘Researchers at Work’ blog, The Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru.

Grants

• Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) Research Development grant for BIPOC scholars, 2020


• SHARP travel grant for attending their 26th annual conference titled ‘From First to Last Texts, Creators, Readers, Agents,’ Western Sydney University, July 9-12, 2018


• Jadavpur University international research travel grant for 2018-2019


• SYLFF Research Abroad grant for conducting research at the British Library, London and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, May-August 2017


• Sambrook Fund bursary for attending the London Rare Book School course ‘Introduction to Bibliography’ at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, July 3-7, 2017


• Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru Digital Innovation Fund for attending the international Internet Researchers’ Conference organised at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, by the Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru, 2016


• Jadavpur University national research travel grant for 2015-2016


• Jadavpur University-Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (JU-SYLFF) PhD fellowship for the period 2015-2018


• Comité International pour la Documentation/ International Committee for Documentation (CIDOC) bursary for attending the annual international conference of CIDOC in 2015


• Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru award for being selected to contribute to the ‘Studying Internets in India’ essay series, 2015

Work profile at SCTR, Jadavpur University

• Archival Associate, Wellcome Trust, UK-funded research project, University of Calcutta, on ‘Western Medicine and Indigenous Society: History of Disease, Medicine and Public Health Policy in Colonial Eastern India, 1757- 1947’ (2021). Principal Investigator: Prof. Suranjan Das, Vice-Chancellor, Jadavpur University


• Archival Associate in charge of creating metadata and building the archive, British Library Endangered Archives Project on Songs of Old Madmen: Recovering Baul Songs from the Note-Books of 19th and 20th Century Bengali Saint-Composers (April 2020 - March 2021). Principal Investigator: Dr. Carola Erika Lorea, Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore


• Project Fellow, Shabdakalpa, a historical dictionary of the Bengali language (2019-April 2022). Principal Investigator: Sukanta Chaudhuri, Professor Emeritus, Department of English, Jadavpur University


• Coordinating/ Teaching in a post-graduate diploma course titled ‘Digital Humanities and Cultural Informatics’ offered by the SCTR (2013-2020). (A student project)
  
  
• Project Fellow, ‘Social Science and Cultural Resources’ programme, under the scheme ‘University with Potential for Excellence – Phase II’ funded by the University Grants Commission. This programme digitised cultural material and prepared metadata regarding these cultural artifacts. (2013-2015)


• Project Supervisor, Bichitra, a variorum edition of the works of Rabindranath Tagore funded by Ministry of Culture, Government of India. (2011-2013). Principal Investigator: Prof. Sukanta Chaudhuri


• Operations Co-ordinator, British Library Endangered Archives Project on Archiving Early Bengali Drama (September 2009-February 2010). Principal Investigator: Prof. Sukanta Chaudhuri


• Operations Co-ordinator, British Library Endangered Archives Project on Bengali Street Literature (February-September 2009). Principal Investigator: Prof. Sukanta Chaudhuri


• Project Fellow, British Library Endangered Archives Project on Bengali Street Literature (2008)


• Project Fellow, British Library Endangered Archives Project on Archiving texts in the Sylhet Nagri script (2007). Principal Investigator: Anuradha Chanda, Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University



Represented SCTR at ‘Archives and Access’ workshop twice (2009 and 2010), supported by Jamsetji Tata Trust housed at Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru. This was an initiative to set up a network of archival agencies in India.

Co-presented on the Shabdakalpa project at the 6th international congress of Bengal studies organised by the International Society of Bengal Studies and the department of Modern Indian languages and literary studies, University of Delhi on February 28, 2021

Co-presented on the Bichitra project at various academic seminars, such as at seminars organised by (a) the English department, Visva-Bharati University; (b) the Bengali department, Jadavpur University; and (c) the English department and School of Cultural Texts and Records, Jadavpur University (2013-2016)

Co-ordinator on behalf of the SCTR in the project ‘Mapping Digital Humanities in India’ which was commissioned by The Higher Education Innovation and Research Applications programme, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bengaluru. This research project looked at understanding the field of Digital Humanities as it has emerged in India, with a focus on youth, technology and higher education.

Other work

• Post-doctoral part-time Research Associate, Energy Demand Changes Induced by Technological and Social Innovation (EDITS-AIT project), Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (May - July 2021, December 2021 - February 2022). Principal Investigator: Prof. Joyashree Roy

Teaching experience

• Guest lecturer, Digital Humanities and Cultural Informatics postgraduate diploma course, SCTR, (2013-2020)


• Guest lecturer, Communicative English undergraduate major, Jogamaya Devi College, University of Calcutta (2010-2017)


• Guest lecturer, Communicative English undergraduate major, Gokhale Memorial Girls’ College, University of Calcutta (2007-08)

Membership of academic associations

• SYLFF network

Academic qualifications

Short-term courses