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Sebastian Rahtz, a celebration of his work

Sebastian Patrick Quintus Rahtz (13 February 1955-15 March 2016) was Chief Data Architect for the University of Oxford and a member of Wolfson College and its Digital Research Cluster. This series of short talks by colleagues celebrates 'SPQR' and his many and varied achievements in Humanities computing. Sebastian’s involvement with free and open source software goes back to the late 1980’s as a developer in the community around the TeX typesetting system on which he published widely. He maintained an open source TeX distribution for ten years and a variety of TeX-related packages. He was an active member of the XML and XSLT communities most importantly as one of the technical leads for the Text Encoding Initiative in which he served on the Board of Directors and Technical Council over many years. He was also Director of Academic IT Services and setup the JISC-funded national advisory service for open source software, OSS Watch, and worked on linked data projects such as CLAROS.

# Episode Title Description People Date
14 Welcome Donna Kurtz (Professor of Classical Art and Senior Research Fellow of Oxford e-Research Centre) and Anne Trefethen (CIO) introduce the day along with providing some personal insights in working with Sebastian. Donna Kurtz, Anne Trefethen 16 Nov 2016
13 Memories of Sebastian Leonor Barroca, Sebastian's long-term partner, gives some words on Sebastian's and her life together. Leonor Barroca 16 Nov 2016
12 Sebastian's contributions to the Text Encoding Initiative Lou Burnard, James Cummings and Hugh Cayless discuss Sebastian's contribution to the Text Encoding Initiative live via satellite. Lou Burnard, James Cummings, Hugh Cayless 16 Nov 2016
11 Humanities Computing at Southampton, and The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome Wendy Hall and Les Carr share their memories of work at Southampton University. Nicholas Stanley-Price and Amanda Thursfield, (The Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome) share their experiences with working with Sebastian Rahtz. Wendy Hall, Les Carr, Nicholas Stanley-Price, Amanda Thursfield 16 Nov 2016
10 Linked Open Data Dr. Leif Isaksen and Alex Dutton talk about Sebastian's inspiring leadership in the Linked Open Data movement in cultural heritage. Alex Dutton, Leif Isaksen 16 Nov 2016
9 SPQR and Computer Archaeology: the early years Gary Lock and Paul Reilly talk about how Sebastian helped British CAA school of practitioners be more international. Gary Lock, Paul Reilly 16 Nov 2016
8 TeX and LaTeX software Phillip Taylor talks about Sebastian's contribution to the TeX and LaTeX software community. Phillip Taylor 16 Nov 2016
7 TeX Live - Don Knuth remembers SPQR Anne Trefethen reads a special statement from founder Donald Knuth on Sebastian's contribution to TeX Live. Anne Trefethen 16 Nov 2016
6 The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names Robert Parker, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, Oxford, talks about Sebastian's work with Oxford Classics in developing the lexicon of greek names. Robert Parker 16 Nov 2016
5 The Open Source Advisory Service - OSS Watch Rowan Wilson gives a talk about working with Sebastian on setting up the national service - OSS Watch, the Open Source Software advisory service. Rowan Wilson 16 Nov 2016
4 Linked Cultural Heritage Donna Kurtz talks about working with Sebastian over a number of years on various Linked Cultural Heritage projects. Donna Kurtz 16 Nov 2016
3 What Sebastian Taught Us Joe Talbot talks about Sebastian's many achievements, his work and shares some personal reflections and video footage of the man. Joe Talbot 16 Nov 2016
2 Digital Humanities Dave De Roure talks about Sebastian's contributions to the digital humanities community in Oxford and the wider world. Dave De Roure 16 Nov 2016
1 Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School Pip Wilcox from the Bodleian Libraries talks about Sebastian's long standing contribution to teaching at the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School (DHOxSS). Pip Willcox 16 Nov 2016