1. ICT in Arts and Humanities Research e-Science in the Arts and Humanities 7 July 2006

2. 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...

3. 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

4. ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT Programmes 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 (Kings: 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

10. 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, Kings 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

11. 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

12. ICT in Arts and Humanities Research Workshops in e-Science for the Arts and Humanities Alan BowmanUser Requirements Gathering for the Humanities Paul EllGeographical Information System e- Science: developing a roadmap Angela PicciniPerformativity/Place/Space: Locating Grid Technologies David ShepherdThe Access Grid in Collaborative Arts and Humanities Research Gregory SportonBuilding the Wireframe: E-Science for the Arts Infrastructure Melissa TerrasReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings

13. 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 TerrasReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings

14. ICT in Arts and Humanities Research e-Science Demonstrators (EPSRC) Peter AinsworthVirtual 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

15. 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