Lorna Hughes

Century-of-Information Research (CIR): A Strategy for Research and Innovation in the Century of Information

Abstract More data will be produced in the next five years than in the entire history of human kind, a digital deluge that marks the beginning of the Century of Information. Through a year‐long consultation with UK researchers, a coherent strategy has been developed, which will nurture Century‐of‐Information Research (CIR); it crystallises the ideas developed by the e‐Science Directors’ Forum Strategy Working Group. This paper is an abridged version of their latest report which can be found at: http://wikis.nesc.ac.uk/escienvoy/Century_of_Information_Research_Strategy which also records the consultation process and the affiliations of the authors. This document is derived from a paper presented at the Oxford e‐Research Conference 2008 and takes into account suggestions made in the ensuing panel discussion. The goals of the CIR Strategy are to facilitate the growth of UK research and innovation that is data and computationally intensive and to develop a new culture of ‘digital‐systems judgement’ that will equip research communities, businesses, government and society as a whole, with the skills essential to compete and prosper in the Century of Information. The CIR Strategy identifies a national requirement for a balanced programme of coordination, research, infrastructure, translational investment and education to empower UK researchers, industry, government and society. The Strategy is designed to deliver an environment which meets the needs of UK researchers so that they can respond agilely to challenges, can create knowledge and skills, and can lead new kinds of research. It is a call to action for those engaged in research, those providing data and computational facilities, those governing research and those shaping education policies. The ultimate aim is to help researchers strengthen the international competitiveness of the UK research base and increase its contribution to the economy. The objectives of the Strategy are to better enable UK researchers across all disciplines to contribute world‐leading fundamental research; to accelerate the translation of research into practice; and to develop improved capabilities, facilities and context for research and innovation. It envisages a culture that is better able to grasp the opportunities provided by the growing wealth of digital information. Computing has, of course, already become a fundamental tool in all research disciplines. The UK e‐Science programme (2001–06)—since emulated internationally—pioneered the invention and use of new research methods, and a new wave of innovations in digital‐information technologies which have enabled them. The Strategy argues that the UK must now harness and leverage its own, plus the now global, investment in digital‐information technology in order to spread the benefits as widely as possible in research, education, industry and government. Implementing the Strategy would deliver the computational infrastructure and its benefits as envisaged in the Science & Innovation Investment Framework 2004–2014 (July 2004), and in the reports developing those proposals. To achieve this, the Strategy proposes the following actions: 1. support the continuous innovation of digital‐information research methods; 2. provide easily used, pervasive and sustained e‐Infrastructure for all research; 3. enlarge the productive research community which exploits the new methods efficiently; 4. generate capacity, propagate knowledge and develop skills via new curricula; and 5. develop coordination mechanisms to improve the opportunities for interdisciplinary research and to make digital‐infrastructure provision more cost effective. To gain the best value for money strategic coordination is required across a broad spectrum of stakeholders. A coherent strategy is essential in order to establish and sustain the UK as an international leader of well‐curated national data assets and computational infrastructure, which is expertly used to shape policy, support decisions, empower researchers and to roll out the results to the wider benefit of society. The value of data as a foundation for wellbeing and a sustainable society must be appreciated; national resources must be more wisely directed to the collection, curation, discovery, widening access, analysis and exploitation of these data. Every researcher must be able to draw on skills, tools and computational resources to develop insights, test hypotheses and translate inventions into productive use, or to extract knowledge in support of governmental decision making. This foundation plus the skills developed will launch significant advances in research, in business, in professional practice and in government with many consequent benefits for UK citizens. The Strategy presented here addresses these complex and interlocking requirements.

Assessing and measuring impact of a digital collection in the humanities: an analysis of the SPHERE (Stormont Parliamentary Hansards: Embedded in Research and Education) project

Although a substantial corpus of digital materials is now available to scholarship across the disciplines, objective evidence of their use, impact, and value, based on a robust assessment, is sparse. Traditional methods of assessment of impact in the humanities, notably citation in scholarly publications, are not an effective way of assessing impact of digital content. These issues are problematic in the field of Digital Humanities where there is a need to effectively assess impact to justify its continued funding and existence. A number of qualitative and quantitative methods exist that can be used to monitor the use of digital resources in various contexts although they have yet to be applied widely. These have been made available to the creators, managers, and funders of digital content in an accessible form through the TIDSR (Toolkit for the Impact of Digital Scholarly Resources) developed by the Oxford Internet Institute. In 2011, the authors of this article developed the SPHERE project (Stormont Parliamentary Hansards: Embedded in Research and Education) specifically to use TIDSR to evaluate the use and impact of The Stormont Papers , a digital collection of the Hansards of the Stormont Northern Irish Parliament from 1921 to 1972. This article presents the methodology, findings, and analysis of the project. The authors argue that TIDSR is a useful and, critically, transferrable method to understand and increase the impact of digital resources. The findings of the project are modified into a series of wider recommendations on protecting the investment in digital resources by increasing their use, value, and impact. It is reasonable to suggest that effectively showing the impact of Digital Humanities is critical to its survival.

Embedding Impact into the Development of Digital Collections: Rhyfel Byd 1914-1918 a’r Profiad Cymreig / Welsh Experience of the First World War 1914-1918

This poster describes a mass digitisation project led by the National Library of Wales to digitize archives and special collections about the Welsh experience of the First World War. The digital archive that will be created by the project will be a cohesive, digitally reunified archive that has value for research, education, and public engagement in time for the hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World War. In order to maximize impact of the digital outputs of the project, it has actively sought to embed methods that will increase its value to the widest audience. This paper describes these approaches and how they sit within the digital life cycle of project development.

The British lsles Network of Expert Centres: A collaborative approach to the digital arts and humanities

The UKs Network of Expert Centres: A collaborative approach to the digital arts and humanities. A Network of Expert Centres has been recently been established with a broad mission to facilitate exchange of expertise and outreach across the community of practice engaged in all aspects of digital arts and humanities research and scholarship, including practice-led research; and to promote and facilitate engagement with digital methodologies within the broader research community. Areas of interest and expertise of members include data creation, curation, preservation, management (including rights and legal issues), access and dissemination, and methodologies of data use and re-use. Its membership is open to all such Centres in Great Britain and Ireland. Since the demise of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the AHRC ICT Methods Network, there has been no centralized supporting infrastructure and co-oordination of activity in this area. While the Network is by no means a substitute for these services, ...

Finding Belgian refugees in Cymru1914.org: using digital resources for uncovering the hidden histories of the First World War in Wales

Abstract This paper examines Belgian refugees in Wales during the First World War and local responses to their presence. A case study from a rural, Welsh-speaking area examines how, as the War continued, the refugees became a burden on the dwindling resources of local refugee committees and ultimately had to leave to be re-settled elsewhere. Using digital resources and methods for this study raises issues about fragmentation of sources and the completeness of the archival record, and suggests how digital archives on the Belgian refugee migration may be further developed to enable new insights into local responses to the largest movement of refugees in the early part of the twentieth century.

Cultural Heritage Infrastructures in Digital Humanities

What are the leading tools and archives in digital cultural heritage? How can they be integrated into research infrastructures to better serve their intended audiences? In this book, authors from a wide range of countries, representing some of the best research projects in digital humanities related to cultural heritage, discuss their latest findings, both in terms of new tools and archives, and how they are used (or not used) by both specialists and by the general public.

What Makes the Digital "Special"? The Research Program in Digital Collections at the National Library of Wales.

This article introduces some of the digital projects currently in development at the National Library of Wales as part of its Research Program in Digital Collections. These projects include the digital representation of the Librarys Kyffin Willams art collection, musical collections, and probate collection, and of materials collected by the Library of the Welsh experience of the First World War. Although different, they are driven by the need to ensure that the digital delivery of special collections provide opportunities that go beyond what is possible using the originals only, thus attempting to retain, or re-discover, their specialness in digital form.