Arts and Humanities e-Science Support Centre A&H E-SCIENCE Stuart Dunn AHeSSC Centre for e-Research, Kings College London E-Science Institute, 7th May

Arts and Humanities e-Science Support Centre

A&H E-SCIENCE

Stuart Dunn

AHeSSC

Centre for e-Research, King’s College London

E-Science Institute, 7th May 2008


‘The development and deployment of a networked infrastructure and culture through which resources - be they processing power, data, expertise, or person power - can be shared in a secure environment, in which new forms of collaboration can emerge, and new and advanced methodologies explored'

Arts and Humanities e-Science in the UK

- AHDS e-Science Scoping Study, 2006


Arts and Humanities e-Science in the UK

2005: AHRC-JISC e-Science Initiative begins

2006: - AHeSSC begins

- EPSRC joins initiative

- 3 small scale demonstrator projects funded by EPSRC

- 6 research workshops funded by AHRC

2007: 7 research projects and 4 PhD studentships announced


Arts and Humanities e-Science in the UK - 2006

Workshop projects (AHRC)

• User Requirements Gathering for the Humanities (Professor Alan Bowman, University of Oxford) • Geographical Information System e-Science: developing a roadmap (Dr Paul Ell, Queen’s University Belfast) • Performativity/Place/Space: Locating Grid Technologies (Dr Angela Piccini, University of Bristol )• The Access Grid in Collaborative Arts and Humanities Research (Professor David Shepherd, University of Sheffield) • Building the Wireframe: E-Science for the Arts Infrastructure (Dr Gregory Sporton, University of Central England)• ReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings (Dr Melissa Terras, University College London)

Demonstrator Projects (EPSRC)

• Virtual Vellum: Online Viewing Environment for the Grid and Live Audiences (Professor PF Ainsworth, University of Sheffield)• A Virtual Workspace for the Study of Ancient Documents (Dr CV Crowther, University of Oxford) • Motion Capture Data Services for Multiple User Categories (Dr SJ Norman, University of Newcastle)

http://www.ahessc.ac.uk/projects


Example 1: Virtual Vellum

Prototype manuscript viewer by Colin Dunn, Scriptura Ltd. Images © Stonyhurst College, Lancashire and Scriptura Ltd

The Froissart Chronicles. From ‘Incipit’ portal, Peter Ainsworth, Leverhulme Research Fellow and Director of the Froissart Chronicles Project. © Besançon Public Library (ms 865, f. 133v)


http://www.shef.ac.uk/hri/projects/projectpages/virtualvellum.htmlhttp:/ahessc.ac.uk/virtual-vellum




• Supports networks of very high resolution images

• Utilization of image tiling technologies and JPEG2000

• Scalable

• Collaborative - integration with Access Grid

• Extensible - can be applied to any area of research involving large or

hi-res images

• Project report http://www.ahessc.ac.uk/files/active/0/VV-report.pdf


Example 2: Associated Motion Capture User Categories

“a prototype data retrieval tool, allowing movement features or sequences to be called up from a motion capture database”


Example 2: Associated Motion Capture User Categories

• Ultra-sensitive method of capturing dance movement

• Involved a huge range of collaborators

• The project was built around a dialogue between CS experts and performance researchers

• Information retrieval

• Project report: http://www.ahessc.ac.uk/files/active/0/VWSAD-report.pdf


Co-directors

Research Associates

Lorna Hughes Sheila Anderson

Tobias Blanke Stuart Dunn


Support, co-ordinate and promote e-Science in all arts and humanities disciplines, and to liaise with the e-Science and e-Social Science communities, computing, and information sciences.

AHeSSC:


Practical assistance and liaison

• Helpdesk function

- [email protected]

• Other national support services

• Access Grid Support Centre

• National Grid Service

• National Centre for e-Social Science

• National e-Science Centre

AHRC/EPSRC funded activities

Other projects/centres of activity

• Information on funding opportunities:


http://www.arts-humanities.net

Torsten Reimer, Methods Network


http://www.ahds.ac.uk/ictguides


Scoping survey

Expert seminars:

-Library and information studies (Melisssa Terras)

- Archaeology (William Kilbride)

-Literary and textual studies (Peter Robinson)

-History (Mark Greengrass)

-Visual arts (Sue Gollifer)

-Performing arts (Angela Piccini)

-Language and linguistics (Paul Rayson)

Reports on e-science tools and projects


Scoping survey

I. Guiding principles

- Agenda must be by and for arts and humanities

- Must be inclusive - i.e. not just for the tech savvy

- e-science is about empowerment and democratization

- innovation

- new forms of collaboration across domains and sectors

- redefining the concept of e-science

- international collaboration

- scalable and sustainable - evidence of value


II. Grand challenges: Content

- Data deluge - information inaccessible in analogue form

- Access to commercial data

- Need for deep mining technologies

- Curation of complex digital content


II. Grand challenges: Collaboration

- Access grid

- VREs - ‘share and contest ideas and theories, share source materials and other data collaborate to create to create new forms of online editions…’

- Cultural shift

- Institutional issues


II. Grand challenges: Needs for new methods and tools- Tools to aid search, retrieval, annotation and visualization

- Tools for data management and standards

- ‘Reservoir’ of user data

- A&H are interprative - ‘cycle of interpretation and debate’

www.ahessc.ac.uk/scoping-survey