Sam Burns

Director of Digital Strategy and Communications at UT Austin School of Information. Web accessibility advocate and technology mentor.

Academic Research Projects

YouTube Tagging Dataset and Research Study

Role: Co-Researcher & Data Collector
Period: 2006 - 2025
Status: Completed - Dataset Published

Comprehensive research on tagging conventions and strategies in early YouTube community, including collection and preservation of 1+ million videos from YouTube’s first year of operation

Collaborators: Gary Geisler

Publications:

  • Geisler & Burns (2008) TCDL Bulletin 4(1)

  • Geisler & Burns (2007) JCDL - DOI: 10.1145/1255175.1255279

Key Outcomes:

  • Published two peer-reviewed papers on tagging conventions

  • Created one of the earliest systematic YouTube datasets

  • Preserved historical snapshot of early social media behavior

  • Demonstrated organic folksonomy before algorithmic influence

  • Dataset prepared for public release (2025)

Learn More

GitHub

Microsoft ClearType Usability Study

Role: Research Assistant
Period: 2003 - 2005
Status: Completed

Conducted usability evaluations of Microsoft’s ClearType font rendering technology with Dr. Randolph Bias

Collaborators: Dr. Randolph Bias

Publications:

  • Bias et al. (2005) HFES

Collection Understanding

Role: Researcher
Period: 2004 - 2004
Status: Completed

Research on digital library collection understanding

Collaborators: Chang, Leggett, Furuta, Kerne, Williams, Bias

Publications:

  • Chang et al. (2004) JCDL

Personal Projects

Major General Robert W. Burns Flight Record Archive

Period: 2025 - present Status: Ongoing

Digitization and web gallery of AAF Form No. 5 Individual Flight Record documents from my grandfather’s archive. Features a structured database, data validation pipeline, and an interactive website with aircraft photos and maps tracking his assignments from England to stateside.

Technologies: Python, SQLite, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, Leaflet.js, GitHub Actions

View Project

GitHub

Major General Robert W. Burns Home Films

Period: 2015 - 2015 Status: Completed

Partnered with the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) to professionally digitize 8mm home films from my grandfather’s personal collection. The Polebrook footage, shot between April 1943 and May 1945, captures scenes from RAF Polebrook (AAF-110), home of the 351st Bomb Group (H) and the 94th Bombardment Wing headquarters of the USAAF 8th Air Force. The films document daily life on the base, B-17 operations, and notable figures including Brigadier General Julius K. Lacey (94th BW commander), Lt. Col. James T. Stewart (508th Bomb Squadron commander), and Lt. Col. Elzia LeDoux. Personal footage includes 1st Lieutenant Ruth J. Blackburn, a US Army nurse stationed at Lilford Hall and later Abergavenny and Bath, who married my grandfather after the war. Col. Burns served as Group Commander of the 351st BG from October 12, 1944 to March 30, 1945. The remaining reels span the postwar years and include the October/November 1945 honeymoon trip, family scenes at McGavock Pike in Nashville, TN (Spring 1947), an F-86D gunnery training film from Yuma, AZ, and a round of golf at the Panama Country Club near Tyndall AFB (circa 1963).

Videos:

Interested in collaborating? Get in touch!