Events
CAFe Speaker Series: “Computing Cultural Heritage: Re-imagining Search & Discovery”
Event Start Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 - 4:00 pm
Event End Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 - 5:00 pm
Location: Virtual
UMD students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends—join us for the CAFe Speaker Series. (Registration Required)
Abstract:
Widespread efforts by libraries, archives, and museums have drastically improved digital access to collections. Yet, scholars and the public alike face a persistent challenge: how to explore and analyze these digital collections, which frequently contain millions of items and often suffer from imperfect metadata. My interdisciplinary research in this field of “computing cultural heritage” addresses this question by bringing together approaches from AI, library & information science, and the digital humanities in order to build and examine large-scale search systems for digital collections. In this talk, I will present my genealogy of work in this space. I will conclude with a horizon of opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
Bio:
Benjamin Charles Germain Lee
Benjamin Charles Germain Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington, where he has started the Lab for Computing Cultural Heritage. Ben’s research explores how to re-imagine search and discovery for large-scale digital collections held by libraries, archives, and museums. Previously, Ben has served as an Innovator in Residence as well as a Kluge Fellow in Digital Studies at the Library of Congress. He also was the inaugural Digital Humanities Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Ben received his Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington, which was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in machine learning.
Speaker(s): Benjamin Lee, Assistant Professor, Information School, University of Washington