Augmented Reading: Retrieval, Context, and Interpretation across Literary and Archival Materials

Thursday, 25 June 2026, 11am to 1pm

This talk introduces Augmented Reading, a human–AI co-reading framework that enables close(r) reading at scale through retrieval-mediated contextual expansion. Its central claim is that retrieval technologies do more than increase access to information: they reshape the contextual conditions through which interpretation begins.

Drawing on examples from Irish Troubles poetry and ongoing work with Oxford institutional archives, the talk explores how retrieval-based approaches may support the navigation of fragmented, dispersed, and historically layered materials across literary and archival settings. Through these case studies, the talk considers broader questions of contextual access, provenance, evidence, and the role of retrieval technologies in humanities interpretation under conditions of information abundance.

This session will be followed by a Q and A and lunch.

Speaker(s): Jenny Kwok (Hong Kong Baptist University)

Department: Bodleian Libraries (Department)

Organiser: Kat Dickinson

Host: Centre for Digital Scholarship

Register here: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/augmented-reading-registration-form