ict in arts and humanities research e-science in the arts and humanities 7 july 2006
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ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science in the Arts and Humanities
7 July 2006
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research Programme• includes the creative and performing arts
– practice-led research • £3.8m for 5 years from October 2003• Part of a uniquely centralized system of public support for ICT
in the arts and humanities– but precarious...
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Existing provision • AHRC Research Panels
– Up to 2003, about 50% of £100m of research projects have some kind of digital output and/or input
– What kind of projects?• Support services funded by AHRC and JISC
– Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS)• creation, curation, preservation, and on-line
dissemination of digitised research materials– Resource Discovery Network (RDN: now Intute)
• gateways for the discovery of online resources
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
ICT Programme’s aims:• to build capacity nation-wide in the use of ICT for arts and
humanities research– complementing existing provision
• to develop, promote and monitor the AHRC's ICT strategy– later...
• strong infrastructure in place on which to build up e-Science activities– despite arriving at the table very late
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Main activities:• ICT Methods Network: £1m for 3 years from April 2005
– use of advanced ICT methods• Projects and methods database (with support from JISC)
– methods taxonomy– will be part of a unified on-line resource: ICTGuides (AHDS)
• including training materials at all levels• register of experts• list of centres
• ICT Strategy Projects (£1m)– knowledge-gathering: needs, uses, scoping surveys– resource-development
• Problems of funding tools development
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
AHRC-JISC Arts and Humanties e-Science Initiative (EPSRC?)• e-Science vs e-Research
– Oxymoron?• Agenda rather than a methodology, still less a subject• As developed in the natural sciences and technology
– Infrastructure of advanced technologies for collaboration and resource-sharing across the Internet
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
AHRC-JISC Arts and Humanties e-Science Initiative• Grid technologies
– Computational grid– Data grid– Access grid
• Associated technologies– Visualization– Data mining– Security
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science
• Why is it important for the humanities?
– Money
• tools and generic resource development
– Injection of new technologies
• collaborations between computer scientists and arts and humanities researchers
– Dispersed and heterogenous nature of typical humanities data resource
• the typical AHRC-funded resource
– Not an instant solution
• Combination of top-down and bottom-up developments to integrate resources
– But not just the data grid
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
AHRC-JISC Arts and Humanties e-Science Initiative• Now
– Scoping survey (later)– JISC A&H e-Science Support Centre (King’s: 2006-8)
• based in AHDS and Methods Network– AHRC A&H e-Science Research Workshops – EPSRC e-Science demonstrators
• This Summer/Autumn– six 4-year AHRC e-Science postgraduate studentships. – AHRC-JISC e-Science research projects (£1.2m + EPSRC?)
• varying emphasis on tools development and research findings
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
AHRC-JISC Arts and Humanties e-Science Initiative• Scoping survey: Scoping e-science and e-social science
developments and their value to the arts and humanities (Sheila Anderson, King’s College London)– Identify, collate and analyse information on e-science
technologies, projects and outputs – Match these against methods and challenges in the arts and
humanities – series of expert seminars– Create an on-line information base for consultation by arts and
humanities scholars• Draft report end July• Final report mid-August
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Expert Seminars on….• Library and Information Studies• Archaeology• Literary and Textual Studies• History• Visual Arts • Performing Arts• Linguistics and Languages
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Workshops in e-Science for the Arts and Humanities
• Alan Bowman User Requirements Gathering for the Humanities
• Paul Ell Geographical Information System e-Science: developing a roadmap
• Angela Piccini Performativity/Place/Space: Locating Grid Technologies
• David Shepherd The Access Grid in Collaborative Arts and Humanities Research
• Gregory Sporton Building the Wireframe: E-Science for the Arts Infrastructure
• Melissa Terras ReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
– cross dataset searching (across complex and fuzzy data) and developing a configurable tool to undertake record matching
• not merely limited to historians and census material• physicists and astrophysicists working on the
Astrogrid – to track and trace different entities in space
across massive datasets
Workshops in e-Science for the Arts and Humanities
• Melissa Terras ReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science Demonstrators (EPSRC)
• Peter Ainsworth Virtual Vellum: Online Viewing Envionment for the Grid and Live Audiences
• Charles Crowther
A Virtual Workspace for the Study of Ancient Documents
• Sarah-Jane Norman
Motion Capture Data Services for Multiple User Categories
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science and other current issues:• Sustainability, standards and quality assurance of e-
resources – quality– reusability– harmonization and interoperability
• The added value of ICT for the quality of research– achievements to date – possible quantum leap resulting from grid technologies
• Need for interagency collaboration