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ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science Institute Public Lecture
A Potential for All: e-Science for the Arts and Humanities
30 April 2007
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
What is e-Science in the Arts and humanities
• Agenda rather than a methodology, still less a subject
• An Oxymoron? • e-Science vs e-Research
• National agenda developed in the natural sciences and technology
• Infrastructure of advanced technologies for secure collaboration and resource-sharing across the Internet
• all Research Councils committed in their Delivery Plans
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Grid technologies
• Computational grid
• Data grid
• Communications grid (Access Grid)
Associated technologies (service grid)
• Visualization
• Data mining
• Security
But looser definition
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
First phase of the Programme: 2000-
• £98m spread across Research Councils• Core e-Science Programme managed by EPSRC on behalf of
all the Research Councils• AHRB misses out• Tony Hey Director of the e-Science Core Programme
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Third phase of the Programme: 2006-• No earmarked money: AHRC misses out again• Core e-Science Programme managed by EPSRC on behalf of
all the Research Councils• Malcolm Atkinson e-Science Envoy
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
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
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...
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
ICT Programme’s aims:• to build capacity nation-wide in the use of ICT for arts and
humanities research– complementing existing provision
• to advise on 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
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
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
AHRC-EPSRC-JISC Arts and Humanties e-Science Initiative
– Scoping survey
– JISC A&H e-Science Support Centre (King’s: 2006-8)
• based in AHDS and Methods Network
– AHRC A&H e-Science Research Workshops
– EPSRC e-Science demonstrators
– 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
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Workshops in e-Science for the Arts and Humanities
• Alan Bowman User Requirements Gathering for the Humanities
• Paul Ell Geographical Information System e-Science: developing a roadmap
• Angela Piccini Performativity/Place/Space: Locating Grid Technologies
• David Shepherd The Access Grid in Collaborative Arts and Humanities Research
• Gregory Sporton Building the Wireframe: E-Science for the Arts Infrastructure
• Melissa Terras ReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings
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 Terras ReACH: Researching e-Science Analysis of Census Holdings
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
e-Science Demonstrators (EPSRC)
• Peter Ainsworth Virtual 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
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Research Grants and Studentships Scheme
Aims:• to advance research in the A&H through the use and
development of e-Science technologies– build up the infrastructure of tools and resources for ICT-
based research in the A&H, – and to demonstrate the value of such tools and resources
through the achievement of significant A&H research findings.
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Balance between development and research findings may vary from one project to another
• the development of e-Science tools or resources specifically for research in the arts and/or humanities– must present a significant research or development
challenge in terms of the technology• and/or the achievement of significant research findings in an
arts or humanities subject using e-Science technologies. – must achieve significant research findings
• panel expects to fund a selection of both types of project
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
The Panel sought to fund a broad range of activities, • covering a number of different technologies and subject areas,• including practice-led research in the creative and performing
arts.
Projects of varying size, which may last for a period of from six months up to a maximum of four years
• maximum FEC of £400,000 (plus any studentships)
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Projects must involve an appropriate level of collaboration between ICT specialists and arts or humanities scholars
• expressed in terms of time commitment• and demonstrate that their participants possess collectively the
appropriate level of expertise in both areas.
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Archaeology 4
Art 5
Dance & Drama 8
Generic 4
History Politics 2
Language & Linguistics 4
Literary Studies 5
Media Studies & Photography 2
Museums 3
Music 4
Creative Writing 1
TOTAL 42
A&H PI 25
CS PI 17
ICT in Arts and Humanities Research
Malcolm Atkinson, national e-Science Envoy
e-Science is the systematic development of methods using advanced ICT to enable better research (20th March 2007)