The joint University of Bath- and UKOLN-based Research360 Project is now fully up and running.
Research360 is one of a number of projects being funded through the JISC Managing Research Data Programme. It is an institutional project designed to pilot policies, infrastructure and training resources to provide high-quality support for research. Further details are available from a news feature on the UKOLN Web site.
The International Journal of Digital Curation, published by the Digital Curation Centre and produced at UKOLN has just published Volume 7, No 1 (2012) which includes an article by Liz Lyon, DCC Associate Director. In her article The Informatics Transform: Re-engineering Libraries for the Data Decade, Liz explains how library staff may need to supplement their existing skills in the light of the changes in the way scientific research is being conducted. With the advent of data-intensive research and a plethora of Web technologies, the landscape in which HE libraries will operate in the current decade is bound to change also. Liz asks how will library services, and also LIS schools and curricula, adapt? She considers how the position of data informaticians will alter, provides a set of assertions on which enhancements in recruitment practice may be based, and offers a view of the new role of advocacy in scholarly communication practice that libraries may wish to adopt.
An article by Brian Kelly entitled Predicting the Future: Evidence-gathering and Interpretation to Inform Planning has been published in Panlibus Magazine (Issue 23, Spring 2012) in PDF format.
In his article, Brian, a member of the Innovation Support Centre based at UKOLN, University of Bath, describes approaches to gathering and interpreting evidence in order to inform planning processes. This work is being carried out as part of the JISC Observatory service which is being provided by UKOLN and the JISC CETIS service.
Further information about the JISC Observatory is available on the JISC Observatory Web site.
Registration for the free DCC Roadshow on Data Management to be held in the Northwest of England over 20-21 March 2012 will close soon. The Roadshow is organised with The Library, University of Salford and will take place at the Clifford Whitworth Building, University of Salford.
DCC Roadshows are designed to support every institution in the UK to prepare for effective research data management and to understand more about how the Digital Curation Centre can help. Further information about the DCC Roadshows is available from the DCC Web site.
All UKOLN blog services, including this newsfeed, will be subject to interruption due to network maintenance operations.
The JISC Observatory is provided by UKOLN and JISC CETIS to “systematise the way in which the JISC anticipates and responds to projected future trends and scenarios in the context of the use of technology in Higher & Further Education, and Research in the UK”.
The JISC Observatory is responsible for commissioning reports which cover areas of IT which are felt to be of significance for the Higher and Further Education sector. To this end we commissioned a report Delivering Web to Mobile which is being written by Mark Power, JISC CETIS. As explained on the JISC Observatory blog, a preview version of this report has now been made available for comment (in PDF format).
This report looks at the growth of mobile technologies and the state of the Web while giving an overview of approaches to delivering content and services optimised for the mobile environment. They include approaches to Web design in respect of responsive sites, leveraging access to device functions and capabilities, and the use of Web technologies to build mobile applications.
This preview version of the report is being made available for a period of 1 month to allow for public comment and feedback. A final version will be produced shortly after 23 March 2012, the last day for submitting comments which will be addressed in the final updates.
Please send us your observations using the comments facility on the JISC Observatory Web site. Comments of any nature are welcomed but we would particularly value those pointing out:
We look forward to hearing from you.
Liz Lyon recently gave a keynote presentation to VALA 2012 in Melbourne. The Conference’s theme this year was eM-powering eFutures, seeking to promote the understanding and use of communication technology in libraries and the related museums, archives and galleries services. In her presentation entitled “The Informatics Transform: Re-engineering Libraries for the Data Decade”, Liz explored how research data are positioned within the wider “Big Data” space and examined the role of libraries and librarians in research data management, highlighting some urgent actions needed to develop essential data informatics skills within the sector.
Slides from Liz’ presentation together with a link to the video footage of her keynote are now available on the UKOLN Web site.
The work of the JISC Observatory, provided by the ISC at UKOLN and JISC Cetis, has been featured in an article published in JISC Inform. The article describes how the JISC Observatory has pulled together the top issues that are on the horizon within the year, within two to three years and within four to five years. The areas include mobiles and cloud computing (which are important for institutions now); game-based learning, new scholarship, learning analytics and semantic applications (which are expected to be significant in two to three years) and augmented reality, collective intelligence, telepresence and Smart Objects (which are expected to be of importance in four to five years).
Monica Duke of UKOLN will give a presentation on Data Management Plans at the DCC East Midlands Roadshow being held at the University of Loughborough. She will consider research funder requirements and data management planning in terms of what funders expect, how to write a Data Management Plan, and what DMP Online can offer.
Catherine Pink and Rosemary Russell of UKOLN will be contributing to the CERIF Tutorial and UK Data Surgery on Thursday 9 February in Bath. Catherine will be giving a short introduction to the JISC-funded Research360 Project during the data surgery, demonstrating how the project aims to explore the use of CERIF in research data management. Rosemary will contribute to the CERIF tutorial during the morning by providing a brief overview of the UK CERIF landscape. She has also written a news feature on the importance of CERIF to UK Higher Education institutions which is available on the UKOLN Web site.