THE UK'S ARTS AND HUMANITIES DATA SERVICE
(plus some ideas for the e-Humanities Network)

Alastair Dunning
King’s College London

Who am I?

Communications Manager at AHDS

Responsible for website, workshops, publications and publicity

Previously worked at Resource Discovery Network (RDN)

Graduate in History and Philosophy from University of Glasgow

Included History and Computing component

Scottish not English

Prone to fast talking

No pictures of Jonny Wilkinson

What is the AHDS?

3 main tasks.

  • Within the arts and humanities, it:
    • Advises on digital resource creation
    • Disseminates digital resources
    • Preserves digital resources
    Plus project work and general background research.

    • How was it Organised? (Then)

    • Established in 1995
    • Managing Executive (King’s College, London)
    • Oxford Text Archive (Uni. Of Oxford)
    • History Data Service (Uni. Of Essex)
    • Archaeology Data Service (Uni. Of York)
    • Performing Arts Data Service (Uni. of Glasgow)
    • Visual Arts Data Service (Surrey Inst. of Art and Design)

    How is it Organised? (Now)

    Evolved in 2003 with AHDS Centres for:

    • Literature, Languages and Linguistics
    • History
    • Archaeology
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts

    (AHDS Managing Executive remained)

    More subjects to be added ?

    Philosophy, Religious Studies, Classics?

     

    Funded by

    Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)

    Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB)

    Audiences

    UK Higher Education (Arts and Humanities)

    Academics, Librarians, Info Scientists (10% of 12,000 interested in humanities computing (HC)?)

    UK Further Education: Huge market — difficult to reach (1% interested in HC?)

    Heritage, Museum, Library, Archive sectors: Often interested in AHDS, but we are not funded to support them (50% interested in HC?)

    Task No.1 - Advising

    AHDS covers many aspects of data creation

    Project Management

    Data capture

    Metadata and Documentation

    Deposit & delivery

    Copyright

    (But not web delivery, nor software and hardware!)

    But focus tends to be on data capture, metadata and deposit

    Advising specialties:

    • Guides to Good Practice
    • AHDS Workshops
    • Information Papers
    • Case Studies
    • Telephone / Advice service
    • Individual meetings
    • Speaking at conferences

    Task No.2 - Collecting & Disseminating

    AHDS collects high-quality digital resources in the arts and humanities

    Many resources collected via AHRB

    All AHRB grant holders must deposit with the AHDS

    Vital lever for developing AHDS Collections

    More collections received from others working in Higher Education

    Still more from other sectors and also outside the UK

    AHDS Deposit Licence

    • Rights remain with depositor
    • Non-exclusive

    Varieties of Deposit Offered

    Complete delivery:

    • Develop interface to deliver digital objects
    • Requires extra funding

    Reduced delivery:

    • Deliver raw digital objects

    Partial deposit:

    • Deliver metadata only

    Preservation only

    Describing Collections

    • AHDS adds / refines Collection Level description
    • AHDS devised own metadata framework for the Clods
    • Descriptions are added to AHDS cross-search catalogue, where all collection records are searchable
    • Search mechanism is at http://ahds.ac.uk/collections

    Item-level Delivery

    • Very different search mechanisms for each subject
    • Developed organically since 1995
    • Links from http://ahds.ac.uk/collections
    • Plan to bring all item-level searching together by 2005.

    Task No.3 - Preservation

    Long-term repository for all collections deposited

    Previously distributed model used; now being unified under shared model

    Common techniques for ingest, migration, etc.

    Key task for the AHDS?

    Issues for Australian e-Humanities Network

    • Who is it for?
    • What will it do?
    • Set up wish-list and then trim back according to pragmatism
    • How will it survive in long term?
    • Inevitable tensions will arise

    Who are the audiences?

    Expanding the Humanities Computing base?

    Need to cater for different audiences — 4 groups?

    1. Those at cutting-edge of HC - i.e. Members of audience today!

    • Useful for exploiting new ideas and technologies?
    • Maybe a part of the programme …
    • … but probably not the whole of it

    2. Those familiar with concept of digitisation? This means focussing on:

    • Providing solid detailed advice
    • Promoting standards and best practice
    • Providing means of communication
    • Providing specialist advice on research methods

    3. Those new to digitisation but familiar with IT? This means a greater need for:

    • Intellectual arguments for benefit of digitisation
    • Exemplars and case studies
    • Avoidance of jargon, explanation of technical terms
    • More training, advice and support
    • You become involved by default with this audience

    4. Those new to digital resources, even computers? This means a greater need for:

    • Help !!!
    • Situating Network within wider landscape of ICT
    • Providing very basic training and support or liasing with others who already do this work
    • (AHDS often receives calls from people with interest in digitisation and no IT knowledge)

    Choosing between models

    • Current Australian planning seems to suggest preference for smaller models
    • AHDS follows largest model
    • Benefits and disadvantages in all
    • Porous boundaries among them — need to be clarified
    • I hope to elucidate issues involved, plus other operational issues

    Difficulties with smaller model?

    Strategy towards re-use and retention of resources determines much

    Our instinct tells us this is important

    • Professionally necessary to preserve
    • Re-using resources is the only way to let humanities computing blossom within research

    Larger model seems preferable

    Re-use of resources implies

  • Preservation mechanisms
  • Delivery mechanisms
  • Certain type of standards and best practices employed

    • Not necessarily all the responsibility of the Network

    Network can operate within larger landscape

    Where Will the Data Go?

    To be re-used, data needs to be preserved. Who will do this task?

    Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)?

    Advice between E-Humanities Network & APSR should be harmonised

    (Communication might be easier in Australia)

    Tension between humanities and other areas?

    Tension between different repositories?

    How Will Data Be Delivered?

    Delivered via repositories or centralised delivery system?

    Complex task to organise metadata and interface

    Coherent link between preservation and delivery bodies required

    Issues for Long-term Re-use

    Preservation metadata

    Resource discovery metadata

    Documentation

    Advice on long-term file formats

    But is that what researchers want?

    Are Researchers Interested In Re-use?

    Example: An art historian wants to create a text database of early modern festival texts

    To preserve / re-use this resource requires full documentation … e.g.

    • Transcription policy
    • Resource discovery metadata

    Researcher only interested in digitising for sake of own research

    May have developed a rough transcription policy, but doesn’t want to publish it.

    Little interest in making resource publicly available

    Maybe the Smaller Model...

    Avoids plenty of operational problems

    Copes with short-term aims of research

    Useful for getting initial enthusiasm off the ground?

    Advanced ideas can be supported quickly

    Whatever is decided upon ..

    This tension will always remain, but it’s important to be aware of it

    To be discussed at this conference

    Subject or Format Network Nodes?

    Subject:

    • Easier for researchers to identify with
    • Interaction between technology and research aims / outputs easier to understand
    • Subject-specific advice (e.g. metadata)

    Format:

    • Easier to keep up with technical developments
    • Expertise can be located within defined environment

    Whichever option is chosen, importance of keeping to standard strategy

    • Saving on costs and time
    • Maintaining technical infrastructure
    • Offering unified brand to audiences

    Integrating With Researchers

    AHDS does not intrude on deeper research questions

    But debate / fora required to sustain academic interest

    Researchers need to speak to each other, and not through AHDS

    What work is being done in what field?

    How useful is HC? Is HC a separate discipline?

    Setting up journals, databases of knowledge, courses, depts., u/g and p/g teaching

    Other departments within UK attempt this.

    New AHRB ICT Methods Network

    Promoting humanities ICT

    Advanced methodologies

    Support for postgrads and postdocs

    Database of current digitisation practices

    National forum for discussion

    Very useful point of comparison for E-Humanities Network

    Media For Advice (Guides)

    AHDS offers Guides to Good Practice

    Printed and web versions available

    Provide core advice on digitisation issues

    Appear authoritative, cited often

    Help reputation of AHDS and authors

    But time-consuming to produce

    Can date quickly, e.g. Virtual Reality

    http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/guides

    Information Papers

    New series under development

    Shorter, more focussed, web-based info

    Tailored to more specific problems / can provide greater level of detail

    Aim to complement Guides

    Easier to update or archive

    Easier to produce, but carry less weight in terms of authority

    http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/information-papers

    Other Channels ofAdvice

    Case Studies

    Very useful for providing exemplars and getting away from jargon

    http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/case-studies

    http://ahds.ac.uk/news/events

    Telephone / email service

    People just want to talk, not read

    Strategy dependent on intended audience for Network