UKOLN Informatics Research Group » Peer-Reviewed

IMPACT final conference 2011

Marieke Guy — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

The IMPACT Project (Improving Access to Text) [1] was funded by the European Commission back in 2007 to look at significantly advancing access to historical text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) methods. As the project reaches its conclusion, one of its key objectives is sharing project outputs. The final conference was a 2-day event held over 24 - 25 October 2011 at the British Library in London where it demonstrated findings, showcased tools and presented related research in the field of OCR and language technology. Marieke Guy. "IMPACT Final Conference 2011". March 2012, Ariadne Issue 68 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue68/impact-rpt

Citation

Guy, M., 2012. IMPACT final conference 2011. Ariadne, 68

IMPACT final conference 2011

Marieke Guy — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Citation

Guy, M., 2012. IMPACT final conference 2011. Ariadne, 68

Visualizing research data records for their better management

Alex Ball — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

As academia in general, and research funders in particular, place ever greater importance on data as an output of research, so the value of good research data management practices becomes ever more apparent. In response to this, the Innovative Design and Manufacturing Research Centre (IdMRC) at the University of Bath, UK, with funding from the JISC, ran a project to draw up a data management planning regime. In carrying out this task, the ERIM (Engineering Research Information Management) Project devised a visual method of mapping out the data records produced in the course of research, along with the associations between them. This method, called Research Activity Information Development (RAID) Modelling, is based on the Unified Modelling Language (UML) for portability. It is offered to the wider research community as an intuitive way for researchers both to keep track of their own data and to communicate this understanding to others who may wish to validate the findings or re-use the data.

Citation

Ball, A., Darlington, M., Howard, T., McMahon, C. and Culley, S., 2012. Visualizing research data records for their better management. Journal of Digital Information, 13 (1)

Visualizing research data records for their better management

Alex Ball — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Citation

Ball, A., Darlington, M., Howard, T., McMahon, C. and Culley, S., 2012. Visualizing research data records for their better management. Journal of Digital Information, 13 (1)

Lightweight product lifecycle information management for small enterprises

Lian Ding — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive and global market, small enterprises can benefit just as much from Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as larger enterprises. However, the software currently available to support PLM is aimed at larger enterprises and does not entirely suit the more flexible business processes and heterogeneous systems environment of smaller enterprises. We argue that some of the most important benefits of PLM may be achieved by small enterprises using the combination of a full-featured CAD system with lightweight visualization formats and a system of overlaid annotations that may be applied to a model regardless of its format. We outline a proof-of-concept implementation of these ideas and indicate where further work is needed.

Citation

Ding, L., Ball, A., Patel, M., Mullineux, G. and Matthews, J., 2011. Lightweight product lifecycle information management for small enterprises. International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management (IJPLM), 5 (1), pp. 21-36

10 cheap and easy ways to amplify your event

Marieke Guy — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

In 2007 Lorcan Dempsey coined the phrase 'the amplified conference'. He used the term to refer to how event outputs (such as talks and presentations) were being amplified 'through a variety of network tools and collateral communications'. The term 'amplified event' is now fairly well recognised within the academic and cultural heritage sectors and is used as an umbrella expression for many practices and technologies that allow not only those external to an event to participate but also those who are actually there to get more out of the event. Brian Kelly's blog post Escaping the Constraints of Space and Time] explores the idea that such approaches can save "talks from the walled garden of the place and time at which they were given".

Citation

Guy, M., 2011. 10 cheap and easy ways to amplify your event. Ariadne, 66

10 cheap and easy ways to amplify your event

Marieke Guy — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Citation

Guy, M., 2011. 10 cheap and easy ways to amplify your event. Ariadne, 66

Modelling the Development of Research Data

Alexander Ball — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

There are a whole host of challenges that face researchers as they attempt to manage their data: clarifying intellectual property rights issues, determining the optimal formats and standards to use, forecasting expenditure on preparing data for archiving, and so on. Among these challenges, one that is sometimes overlooked is that of simply keeping track of all the data that need to be managed. In some cases, no measures at all are put in place to track the data, meaning that researchers must rely on their memory to make sense of the files they generate in the course of their research. In others, directory and file naming conventions may be used, according to a researcher's own scheme or one set out by the research group or department. Still other researchers may keep written records of which data arose from which processes. These techniques each present a different trade-off between investment and return in terms of a researcher's effort to document and understand the data, respectively. They also provide third parties - curators, consumers - with different amounts of contextual information with which to understand the data, though this is in turn affected by the quality of the documentation of the technique in use. The ERIM Project is devising an alternative technique for keeping track of data, with the aim of being: intuitive for researchers when recording progress, and for both researchers and third parties when trying to understand the data records; applicable to a wide variety of data types and disciplines (though developed in the context of engineering research); compatible with existing local practices; amenable to automation, at both the writing and the reading stages. This technique, Research Activity Information Development (RAID) modelling, provides a formalism for describing how data records - and conceivably individual data - relate to one another. The RAID models may be represented as diagrams or as XML. Underlying RAID modelling is an ontology for data, their states and the processes that relate them.

Citation

Ball, A., Darlington, M. and Howard, T., 2010. Modelling the Development of Research Data. At: 6th International Digital Curation Conference, 6-8 December 2010, Chicago, USA

PEGBOARD – Open Access, Reuse and Preservation of Palaeoclimate Data

Gregory Tourte — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Tourte, G., Tonkin, E., Valdes, P. and Ball, A., 2010. PEGBOARD - Open Access, Reuse and Preservation of Palaeoclimate Data. At: 6th International Digital Curation Conference, 6-8 December 2010, Chicago.

Twitter archiving using Twapper Keeper: technical and policy challenges

Brian Kelly — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

Twitter is widely used in a range of different contexts, ranging from informal social communications and marketing purposes through to supporting various professional activities in teaching and learning and research. The growth in Twitter use has led to a recognition of the need to ensure that Twitter posts ('tweets') can be accessed and reused by a variety of third party applications. This paper describes development work to the Twapper Keeper Twitter archiving service to support use of Twitter in education and research. The reasons for funding developments to an existing commercial service are described and the approaches for addressing the sustainability of such developments are provided. The paper reviews the challenges this work has addressed including the technical challenges in processing large volumes of traffic and the policy issues related, in particular, to ownership and copyright. The paper concludes by describing the experiences gained in using the service to archive tweets posted during the WWW 2010 conference and summarising plans for further use of the service.

Citation

Kelly, B., Hawksey, M., O'Brien, J., Guy, M. and Rowe, M., 2010. Twitter archiving using Twapper Keeper: technical and policy challenges. At: 7th International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES 2010), 19-24 September 2010, Vienna, Austria