Summer School 2012 Creating Digital Data Resources: Issues to consider David Robey Oxford e-Research Centre

Focus on funded schemes… What’s been funded? AHRC: (see also report) o : 473 with digital resources –19% of total, £121.5m o Resource Enhancement Scheme o ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ( o Digital Transformations ( o Standard Research Grants: ancillary to research questions –30% include digital resources –No real difference in success rate –Average cost: £414k with digital resources, £325k without o What kind of resource? –Data rather than tools –On-line multi-media and highly specialized

JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) o Generic mission o But very substantial corpus of arts and humanities resources – o What kind of resource? –Generally broader scope, but not always o Future funding prospects Contrast problems and issues o Visibility and discovery o Optimization and reusability o Sustainability and preservation –Closure of Arts and Humanities Data Service

Applying for Funding: the AHRC Technical Appendix o Review at o Present headings as a guide to good practice (funded or not) 1.project management of technical aspects 2.data development methods 3.infrastructural support 4.data preservation and sustainability 5.access 6.copyright and intellectual property issues

AHRC Technical Appendix (contd) 1.project management of technical aspects o Consult early and often with IT support staff 2.data development methods o ensure you make due provision for – risk –visibility and impact  Naming!  Toolkit for the Impact of Digitised Scholarly Resources –user-testing –standard software solutions widely supported in the University 3.infrastructural support –risks of outsourcing –vs project partners: expert centres

AHRC Technical Appendix (contd) 4.data preservation and sustainability o sustainability (e.g. of a fully functioning on-line database) o preservation (of its underlying data): standards and standard formats o what, where, how and for how long? –consider the institutional support needed o Include a reliable official commitment to meet costs after the project’s end –3-year minimum the AHRC requires o documentation –for users –technical 5.access o open access default

AHRC Technical Appendix (contd) 6.copyright and intellectual property issues o rights of owners of materials you use o other people’s rights to use your data Other considerations o Look for similar projects in other subject areas: – o Value for money –£413,838 vs £324,703 –Don’t underestimate! o Scholarly benefits –Potential vs planned

General considerations for grant applications o Who are you writing for? –Specialist in a field close to yours o Make it interesting! –Key points up-front o Descriptive rather than evaluative language –Sound objective! o Not too much detail –But make clear that you know what you are talking about! –Not too technical