We were deeply saddened to hear of the recent death of Associate Professor Chris Jones. Chris has had a long association with the Lab, and was a valued member of our research community.
Chris first approached the ADL in 2016 to collaborate on an ambitious project to digitise the Canterbury Roll, a 5m-long manuscript dating from the 15th century which records a genealogy of the English kings.
From the start, Chris wanted the project to involve as many students as possible and give them an opportunity to participate in real research. More than 30 students in total worked on the Roll over the next few years, contributing to the transcription, translation, TEI markup, coding, and research on the many historical, biblical and mythical people and places that appear in the text.
Only weeks before his untimely death we had been discussing with Chris his plans for a revised edition of the Canterbury Roll, which would incorporate more of the students’ research into the digitisation.
Chris collaborated with the ADL on a second digitisation project last year, to create a digital edition of the Donnithorne-Christchurch “Wicked” Bible, which features a famous printing error, “Thou shalt commit adultery”. Once again, students were at the forefront of the research, working under the guidance of the ADL and UC Library to build an Omeka site to display the digitised Bible.
The blending of research and pedagogy Chris brought to these collaborations contributed to the development of the ADL’s own “research alongsider” philosophy, which has seen many of our students co-author papers and give presentations alongside more senior academics.
He will be missed, both by the ADL team, and by the many students who worked with him.
