Ian Milligan

Research

Network analysis visualization showing nodes and connections
Network visualization of web archive connections

Ian Milligan’s research explores how web archives and other born-digital traces can be used as historical evidence, and how they are transforming historical practice. His work sits at the intersection of history, archival studies, and digital infrastructure, spanning computational methods, large-scale digital preservation, and the cultural history of the internet. From 2017 to 2023 he was principal investigator of the Archives Unleashed project, now offered as a service by the Internet Archive, and he is co-editor of the journal Internet Histories.

Research Funding

Grants (CAD $2,861,294 total; CAD $2,477,041 as PI)
(USD/GBP amounts shown with CAD equivalents as provided.)

As Principal Investigator (PI)

  • SSHRC Insight — “Digital Terror: The September 11th, 2001 Attacks Online.” CAD $75,543. 2025–2029.
  • SSHRC Connection — “Building an Inter-Institutional and Cross-Functional Research Data Management Community: From Strategy to Implementation.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: Alison Hitchens, Jennifer Abel. CAD $22,258. 2023–2024.
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — “Integrating Archives Unleashed Cloud with Archive-It.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: Jimmy Lin, Nick Ruest, Jefferson Bailey. CAD $1,084,087. 2020–2023.
  • UW AI Institute & Microsoft (AI for Social Good) — “MANNERSS: Multilingual Adaptation for NER in the Social Sciences.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: Jimmy Lin. CAD $25,000. 2020–2021.
  • SSHRC Insight — “Averting the Digital Dark Age: The Digital Preservation Movement, 1991–2001.” CAD $97,602. 2020–2023.
  • SSHRC Connection — “Workshop on Quantitative Analysis and the Digital Turn in Historical Studies.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: Chad Gaffield. CAD $11,779. 2018–2019.
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — “Archives Unleashed Project.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-PIs: Nick Ruest, Jimmy Lin. CAD $610,625. 2017–2020.
  • Microsoft Research — Microsoft Azure Research Award (“Web Archives for Longitudinal Knowledge”). CAD $26,804 (USD $20,000). 2016–2017.
  • Compute Canada — Research Platforms & Portals (“Web Archives for Longitudinal Knowledge”). PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: Nick Ruest. CAD $11,635. 2016–2019.
  • SSHRC Insight — “A Longitudinal Analysis of the Canadian World Wide Web as a Historical Resource, 1996–2014.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-Is: Nick Ruest, William Turkel. CAD $257,541. 2015–2020.
  • Ontario MRI — Early Researcher Award (“A Longitudinal Analysis of the Canadian World Wide Web as a Historical Resource, 1996–2014”). CAD $150,000. 2015–2020.
  • SSHRC Connection — “Unlock Your Web Archives Hackathon.” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-Is: Jimmy Lin, Matthew Weber, Nathalie Casemajor, Nicholas Worby. CAD $23,715. 2015–2016.
  • SSHRC Insight Development — “An Infinite Archive?” PI: Ian Milligan; Co-I: William Turkel. CAD $74,952. 2013–2015.
  • UW / SSHRC Institutional Block Grant. PI: Ian Milligan. CAD $5,500. 2013–2015.

As Partner / Co-Investigator

  • IMLS — Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (“Continuing Education to Advance Web Archiving”). PIs: Zhiwu Xie, Edward Fox; Partners: LANL Research Library, ODU Computer Science, University of Waterloo (History), Internet Archive, GWU Libraries. CAD $314,824 (USD $248,451). 2018–2020.
  • AHRC (UK) — “Born-Digital Data and Methods for History and the Humanities.” PI: Jane Winters; Co-I: Tobias Blanke; Partners: The National Archives (UK), University of Cambridge, University of Sussex, British Library, University of Waterloo (Ian Milligan), Webster Research & Consulting. CAD $60,125 (£32,210). 2016–2017.
  • SSHRC Connection — “New Directions in Active History: Institutions, Communication, and Technologies.” PI: Thomas Peace; Co-Is: Ian Milligan, Jim Clifford, Daniel Ross, Kaleigh Bradley, Krista McCracken, Andrew Nurse. CAD $19,304. 2015–2016.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Book Chapters

Peer-Reviewed Conference Publications