Expert Interview: Dr. Marilena Daquino, Polifonia researcher

‘Share your knowledge, teach if you can, and learn as much as possible, because we will need it’, Dr. Daquino

portrait of Dr. Marilena Daquino
8 March 2021

What is your expertise and role in Polifonia?
After a master’s in history, I learnt coding and, since then, I have been active in the digital humanities research community. My role in the Polifonia project is to develop the final Web portal in collaboration with other partners. Before that, I was involved in creating musoW, a preliminary catalogue of musical resources on the web that we will leverage into the Polifonia Web portal.

What drives you to conduct research in this field?
I had a particular interest in archival science but I didn’t want to study one single topic. Within this area, I found working on the metalevel far more interesting because focusing on research methods through programming has a much bigger impact on the field. It has a real added value to archival and library information sciences.

How is the gender balance in this discipline, and has it changed in the past years?
Of course in the humanities there are more women, while in computer science there are fewer, or better, they are less visible. This is not new. However, I am lucky to be part of the Research Centre for Digital Humanities at the University of Bologna, where many women are now enrolled in our MA programme there. I think, in contrast to computer science, digital humanities can be seen as an applied science which makes it more appealing to people starting a course with fewer coding skills.

Would you like to share a message for International Women’s Day?
I found this article on Groove magazine quite inspiring. It is about some Mexican women coders who create electronic music through live coding. Not only they hack the system by using free software and self-written code, free from the capitalistic industry, but they also break new ground in this world dominated by men.
An important section of this article is about how women have started passing on their coding knowledge to other women so that they can learn, freely express themselves and challenge themselves. This used to be rare in programming. So, my message is: share your knowledge (in coding), teach if you can, and learn as much as possible. We will need it to make the world a better place!

Recent News

Last year, the Polifonia project and new ways of engaging with our musical past were introduced to audiences of all ages during the European Night of the Researcher. This year, the Polifonia team looks forward to returning to this colorful event!

Last year, the Polifonia project and new ways of engaging with our musical past were introduced to audiences…

21 September 2023

The MEETUPS pilot  focuses on supporting music historians and teachers by providing a Web tool that enables the exploration and visualisation of encounters between people in the musical world. A new demo video gives a sneak peak into the interface.

The MEETUPS pilot  focuses on supporting music historians and teachers by providing a Web tool that…

18 September 2023

This year, Europeana’s annual conference puts all things tech in the spotlight, with EuropeanaTech 2023 – Explore, Engage, Experience: cultural heritage in the data space and beyond led by the experts, developers and researchers from the R&D sector who make up the EuropeanaTech community.

This year, Europeana’s annual conference puts all things tech in the spotlight, with EuropeanaTech…

13 September 2023

Do you want to learn more about pipe organs, but can’t wait for the ORGANS Knowledge Graph to be ready? On Nationale Orgeldag (National Organ Day), organs can be viewed, played and heard throughout the Netherlands.

Do you want to learn more about pipe organs, but can't wait for the ORGANS Knowledge Graph to be ready?…

7 September 2023

Last summer, the first version of the Polifonia Ecosystem was released. Now the project is ready to present an updated version with 22 datasets, 20 tools and 67 reports.

Last summer, the first version of the Polifonia Ecosystem was released. Now the project is ready to…

23 August 2023

by James McDermott

When writing a tune, when do composers repeat some material; when do they introduce a variation of previous material; and when do they introduce totally new material? To ask the same questions in a different way: what are the abstract syntactical structures in melodies?

by James McDermottWhen writing a tune, when do composers repeat some material; when do they introduce…

11 August 2023

How do you ensure that everyone can participate in musical activities? That’s the question the ACCESS is trying to answer and this Polifonia pilot is doing so by developing haptic devices in relation to music making. And by actively engaging users during workshops, as was the case at Milton Keynes International Festival 2023 (UK) last Sunday.

How do you ensure that everyone can participate in musical activities? That's the question the ACCESS…

28 July 2023

Polifonia is preparing for the 7th Polifonia Project Meeting. This face-to-face meeting will take place in Bologna from Oct. 16-20. 

Polifonia is preparing for the 7th Polifonia Project Meeting. This face-to-face meeting will take…

25 July 2023

Last weekend, Polifonia was part of Sonár festival Barcelona. Max Tiel from our consortium partner Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, gave a presentation on the insights of the Polifonia project.

Last weekend, Polifonia was part of Sonár festival Barcelona. Max Tiel from our consortium partner…

23 June 2023

Polifonia team members Nicolas Lazzari, Andrea Poltronieri and Valentina Presutti recently won the Best Research Paper Award at ESWC23.

Polifonia team members Nicolas Lazzari, Andrea Poltronieri and Valentina Presutti recently won the Best…

16 June 2023

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 101004746