Zack Batist

Education

2016 - Present PhD - Information Studies
University of Toronto

• Thesis: From pipelines to pragmatic engagement: archaeological data curation as continuous and collaborative practice
• Supervised by Dr. Costis Dallas

2012 - 2014 MA - Anthropology
McMaster University

• Thesis: Obsidian Circulation Networks in Southwest Asia and Anatolia (12,000 - 5700 B.P.): A Comparative Approach
• Supervised by Dr. Tristan Carter

2009 - 2012 BA - Directed Interdisciplinary Studies, High Honours
Carleton University

• Thesis: Feasting In Bronze Age Greece: A Network Analysis Approach
• Supervised by Dr. Shawn Graham

2007 - 2009 DEC - Social Sciences
Dawson College

Experience

Research

2018 - 2020 Research Assistant, E-CURATORS - Pervasive Digital Curation Activities, Objects and Infrastructures in Archaeological Research and Communication

• University of Toronto
Data collection following observational and interview-based methods
Qualitative data analysis
Systematic literature review
Manage and delegate project tasks
Set up and maintain a cloud server to assist with internal project management tasks

2016 - 2020 Database Manager, Stelida Naxos Archaeological Project

• The Canadian Institute in Greece & The Cycladic Ephorate of Antiquities
Design, implementation and maintenance of the project's databases
Development of tools to assist with knowledge management in fieldwork-based research settings
Responsible for seamlessly integrating data across the project's many specialist domains
Assist with designing queries that suit a variety of research questions
Supervise the contributions of assistants who help with data entry and data cleaning
ICT setup and support

2009 Research Assistant, Redpath Museum

• McGill University
• Supervised by Dr. Mitch Irwin
Transcription of field notes derived from observation of lemur social behaviour

2007 - 2009 Research Assistant, Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory

• Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research
Lab technician (sample preparation, western blot analysis, and photography/imaging of results)

Teaching

2020 Teaching Assistant, Curatorial Practice (MSL 2000)

• Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

2017, 2018, 2020 Teaching Assistant, Representing, Documenting, and Accessing the Cultural Record (INF 1321)

• Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

2017 Teaching Assistant, Information Policy, Regulation and Law (INF 2181)

• Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

2016 Teaching Assistant, Archaeology and Popular Culture (ANTH 2PC3)

• Department of Anthropology, McMaster University

2014, 2015 Teaching Assistant, World Archaeology (ANTH 2WA3E)

• Department of Anthropology, McMaster University

2012, 2015 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Anthropology: Identity, Race and Power (ANTH 1AB3E)

• Department of Anthropology, McMaster University

2013 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Anthropology: Sex, Food and Death (ANTH 1AA3)

• Department of Anthropology, McMaster University

Academic Service

2019 - 2020 UTGSU Representative, Doctoral Student Association

• Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Participate as a member of the UTGSU General Council and represent the interests of doctoral students from the Faculty of Information
Advise my course union about opportunities and initiatives spearheaded by the UTGSU

2016 - 2019 Tech Fund Committee, Doctoral Student Association

• Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Oversee the management of funds allocated to directly enhance information, communication and technology based learning, research and administrative services for PhD students

2013 - 2014 Faculty Representative - Social Sciences, Graduate Students Association

• McMaster University
Represented the interests of graduate students within my faculty at committee meetings
Managed an interdisciplinary graduate student colloquium along with my co-representative

Other

2017 - 2020 Coordinator, Archaeological Information Interest Group

• The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto
Created a forum for discussing how archaeologists engage with information and construct knowledge
Responsible for inviting guest lecturers to speak about their work

2012 - 2016 Webmaster, Nexus: The Canadian Student Journal of Anthropology

• Department of Anthropology, McMaster University
Transitioned the journal to the Open Journal Systems framework
Designed the updated website
Helped troubleshoot editors’ and reviewers’ issues navigating the new system
Social media engagement

2010 Web Design, Segal Cancer Center

• Jewish General Hospital (Montreal)
Contributed to the development of the design for the new website
Coded the new website using a combination of HTML/CSS and CMS-based tools
Coordinated with department heads to generate written and visual content to display on the new site
Coordinated with web developers working on other related projects being conducted throughout the hospital system

2008 - 2009 Distribution Manager, The Plant: Dawson College’s Student Press Dawson College

Responsible for distributing the printed copies of the well-established and award-winning student newspaper to distribution stations across campus (~10,000 copies weekly)

Publications

Journal Articles

2017 T. Carter, Z. Batist, K. Campeau, Y. Garfinkel & K. Streit. Investigating Pottery Neolithic Socio-Economic “Regression” in the Southern Levant: Characterising Obsidian Consumption at Sha’ar Hagolan (N. Israel) Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15:305-317. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.08.016

2014 K.P. Freund & Z. Batist. Sardinian Obsidian Circulation and Early Maritime Navigation in the Neolithic as Shown through Social Network Analysis Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 9(3):364-380. DOI: 10.1080/15564894.2014.881937

2009 M. Loignon, W. Miao, L. Hu, A. Bouchard, T.A. Bismar, P.J. Scrivens, K. Mann, M. Basik, P. Fiset, Z. Batist & G. Batist. Frequent Nrf2 depletion due to Cul3 overexpression in breast cancer is associated with sensitivity to carcinogens, oxidative stress and chemotherapy Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 8(8):2432-2440. DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-08-1186

Books

2018 S. Graham, N. Gupta, J. Smith, A. Angourakis, A. Reinhard, L. Richardson, K. Ellenberger, Z. Batist, J. Rivard, B. Marwick, M. Carter, & B. Compton. The Open Digital Archaeology Textbook Environment (ODATE)

Recipient of the Archaeological Institute of America’s Award for Outstanding Work in Digital Archaeology

Conference Presentations

2019 Z. Batist. Untangling and extending the discursive relations mediated by archaeological data through grounded research. Paper presented at On shifting grounds – the study of archaeological practices in a changing world. COST-Arkwork & the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Crete, October 2019.

2018 Z. Batist. Documenting archaeological knowledge construction as socially-embedded information practices. Paper presented at PhD Research Days 2018. Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, April 2018.

2018 Z. Batist. Documenting archaeological knowledge construction as distributed information practices. Paper presented at the 46th Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference (CAA 2018). Tübingen, Germany, March 2018.

2017 Z. Batist & C. Dallas. A view from the bridge: human- and thing-centred approaches to research practice, disciplinary discourse and local engagement with the archaeological record. Paper presented at TAG (North America) 2017 - The Medium is the Message: Media and Mediation in Archaeology. Toronto, Ontario, May 2017.

2017 T. Carter, K. Campeau, Z. Batist, Y. Garfinkel, D. Rosenberg, Y. Rowan & K. Streit Social Interaction at Distance Over the Long Term: Obsidian Sourcing from the Southern Levant (9th – 4th millennia cal BC). Paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting. Vancouver, British Columbia, March – April 2017.

2014 Z. Batist. An Examination of Obsidian Circulation Patterns in Terms of Relational and Geographical Distance in Southwest Asia and Anatolia from the Epi-Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic Periods (14000 – 5700 B.P.). Paper presented at Archaeological Sciences and the Ancient Mediterranean Environment. The Archaeological Centre, University of Toronto, March 2014.

2014 Z. Batist. Using Network Analysis to Examine Relative Resource Procurement Strategies in Anatolia and Southwest Asia from the Epipaleolithic to Chalcolithic Periods (14,000 – 5700 BP). Paper presented at the American Archaeological Institute 115th Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, January 2014.

2013 K. Freund & Z. Batist. Tracking the Circulation of Sardinian Obsidian using Network Analysis: Lithic Procurement, Cultural Interaction, and Early Maritime Navigation in the Neolithic. Paper presented at Networks of maritime connectivity in the ancient Mediterranean: Structure, continuity, and change over the longue durée. The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto, November 2013.

2013 Z. Batist. Using network analysis to examine obsidian assemblage variability in Anatolia and Southwest Asia from the Epi-Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic periods (14000 – 5700 BP). Paper presented at The Future of Historical Network Research Conference. Historical Network Research, University of Hamburg, September 2013.

2012 Z. Batist. Eat, Drink and Be Networked: Feasting and Bronze Age Networks. Invited panelist at the Colloquium on Digital History and the Transnational History of Nursing. Department of History, Carleton University, March 2012.

Posters

2017 Z. Batist. Identifying Obsidian Procurement Habits during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in the Levant using Network Analysis. Poster presented at the Archaeological Institute of America 118th Annual Meeting. Toronto, Ontario, January 2017.

2015 Z. Batist. The Database of Obsidian Sourcing Studies (DObsiSS): Using Git for Collaborative Management of Archaeological Data. Poster presented at the American Archaeological Institute 116th Annual Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana, January 2015.

Workshop Presentations

2018 Designing & Implementing Relational Databases, Archaeological Information Interest Group

• The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto. January 28, 2018.
Active and participatory session focusing on fundamental aspects of database design

Grants & Scholarships

2019 - 2021 SSHRC Doctoral Award, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada

2019 School of Graduate Studies Research Travel Grant, Faculty of Arts and Science and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

2017 Joseph and Maria Shaw Graduate Student Travel Award, The Archaeology Centre, University of Toronto

2015 McMaster University Travel Scholarship for OpenCon 2015, McMaster University Library

2015 Edith M. Wightman Travel Scholarship, School of Graduate Studies, McMaster University

2014 Robert P. Wolff Thesis Prize, Society for Philosophy & Culture, McMaster University

2012 Michael Kelway Oliver Scholarship, Carleton University

Software

FetchAbstracts.R

• A small script that reads DOIs from a bibtex file, fetches abstracts from Crossref when they are available, and exports another bibtex file with that added info

Fexible Lithic Recording Tool [FLiRT]

• A flexible and dynamic database interface written in R that facilitates with the irregular, iterative and non-linear workflows employed in lithic analysis and other fieldwork-based tasks
• Noteworthy features include: the ability to seamlessly expand and copy inormation accross scales of granularity, the ability for users to create and modify the taxonomy of artefact types on the fly, and the ability for updates to be transmitted to other members of the project in real-time

Resources on the Web

open-archaeo

• A list of open source archaeological software and resources that I maintain, along with various other contributors
• User friendly and searchable interface is under active development in my spare time

open-SocSci

• A list of open source software and resources for social science research

Database of Obsidian Sourcing Studies [DObsiSS]

• A listing of chemically characterized archaeological obsidian, compiled from published journal articles, excavation reports, conference papers and other scholarly records
• Includes amounts of obsidian artefacts at sites in southwest Asia and Anatolia made from material derived from various volcanic sources based on geochemical analysis and comparison with geological samples
• Last updated in January 2017, but I'm open to working with others to add more data or expand from its current scope

Computing Skills

• Database Management - MySQL/MariaDB, Neo4J, Microsoft Access, SQLite
• R, Python - Data wrangling, data analysis, Shiny app development
• Geographic Information Systems - QGIS, GDAL, Leaflet, Carto/Mapbox
• Network Analysis - igraph, gephi, cytoscape
• Web Development - HTML/CSS, PHP, JavaScript
• Audio/Visual - ffmpeg, GoPro hacking, basic video & audio editing
• Misc. digital workflow - git, bash, VPS administration, Raspberry Pi tinkering, web scraping, API access

Languages

• English
• French (moderate fluency)