3. Aims and Objectives “ The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) supports research, learning and teaching with high quality and dependable digital resources. ” It hosts the AHDS Centre for Archaeology, which is jointly funded by

4. Digital archiving Enabling access to existing data via Internet-accessible catalogue Encouraging and describing good practice in IT Advice to funding bodies and applicants Our main activities are:  

5. AHDS: A Distributed Service Archaeology Data Service – AHDS Centre for Archaeology (University of York) History Data Service – AHDS Centre for History (University of Essex) Oxford Text Archive – AHDS Centre for Literature, Language and Linguistics (University of Oxford) Performing Arts Data Service – AHDS Centre for Performing Arts (University of Glasgow) Visual Arts Data Service – AHDS Centre for Performing Arts (Surrey Institute of Art and Design) Executive (King’s College, London)

6. Subject specialist advice General strategic advice

7. So, ADS can help with So, ADS can help with Funding opportunities British Academy - http://www.britac.ac.uk/ NERC - http://www.nerc.ac.uk/ Leverhulme - http://www.leverhulme.org.uk/ Society of Antiquaries - http://www.sal.org.uk/ Heritage Lottery Fund – http://www.hlf.org.uk/ New Opportunities Fund – http://www.nof.org.uk/ AHRB - http://www.ahrb.ac.uk/ 

8. The AHRB Example: Research Grants over £5,000 Research Enhancement Awards

9. The ADS and the AHRB What services do the ADS provide? Advise AHRB applicants on the technical feasibility of their projects Part of the AHRB’s technical review process Provide long-term archival home to AHRB funded digital resources (as a condition of grant)

10. The ADS and the AHRB What can we do to help you? ADS will comment upon every application before it is submitted In particular we can help with the technical appendix: standards and best practice archiving and dissemination strategy

11. 1.Project Management … or will the project actually work Is there appropriate provision for piloting the proposed work? Are the estimated costs appropriate to the technical proposals? Is there an acceptable project plan? milestones definable tasks Is there adequate project management? Core team contact Project board meetings External review

12. 2. Data Development Methods … or how will you create the digital resources? have knowledge and application of appropriate standards and best practices been demonstrated? are the data development methods described appropriate and feasible?

13. 3. 3. Infrastructural Support … or what help can your university provide? departmental expertise in software and hardware university computing centre support for hardware and software is there adequate provision to back-up and secure data during the project?

14. 4. Data Preservation and Access are there appropriate plans for long-term maintenance of any data resources created? are there appropriate plans for distribution of data resources? have copyright issues been addressed appropriately?

15. Details Guides to Good Practice: http://ahds.ac.uk/guides.htm

16. From the ADS … GIS Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing Geophysical Survey Databases in Archaeology (in prep) Excavation and Fieldwork Virtual Reality (in prep) CAD http://ahds.ac.uk/guides.htm

17. From others in the AHDS … Digitising History, GIS for historians, Creating electronic texts Developing linguistic corpora Digital performance resources Digital resources for the visual arts, Secondary Analysis in Historical Research http://ahds.ac.uk/guides.htm

18. Developed by Expert Community Discovery and Preservation Focus Generic “Good Practice” Not standards Not a manual A focus on core technology Need constant review

19. The Future Growing number of collections Greater role for digital resources in learning, teaching and research Increased acceptance of standards and good practice Wider cross-sector partnerships Greater recognition given to researchers who create, develop and use digital resources

20. Further information? URL: http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/ E-mail:help@ahds.ac.uk Mailing list: ads-all@jiscmail.ac.uk