Table of contents: issue58

Supporting eResearch: The Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Ann Borda reports on the Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI).

The Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) [1] was the first State-funded initiative of its kind in Australia.

Preserving Local Archival Heritage for Ongoing Accessibility

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Frances Boyle, Alexandra Eveleigh and Heather Needham describe the recent digital preservation initiatives in the local authority archives sector.

Digital preservation is an area which is pervasive and challenging for many sectors – it impinges on the landscape from high-level business and e-government to an individual's personal digital memories. One sector where the challenges of preservation and long-term access to resources are well rehearsed is within the archives sector. There has been innovative research within the archives community including the Paradigm [1] and the DARP [2] projects.

The MrCute Repository: The Next Phase

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Helen Brady describes the MrCute repository project and its potential impact on the digital learning object-sharing community.

Assessing FRBR in Dublin Core Application Profiles

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Talat Chaudhri makes a detailed assessment of the FRBR structure of the Dublin Core Application Profiles funded by JISC.

Efforts to create standard metadata records for resources in digital repositories have hitherto relied for the most part on the simple standard schema published by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) [1], the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, more commonly known as 'simple Dublin Core' [2].

The European Film Gateway

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Georg Eckes and Monika Segbert describe a Best Practice Network funded under the eContentplus Programme of the European Commission, which is building a portal for access to film archival resources in Europe.

The European Film Gateway (EFG) [1] is one in a series of projects funded by the European Commission, under the eContentplus Programme, with the aim of contributing to the development and further enhancement of Europeana - the European digital library, museum and archive [2]. Officially launched on 20 November 2008, the prototype Europeana service provides access to about four million digital objects from archives, audio-visual archives, museums and libraries across Europe.

An Awfully Big Adventure: Strathclyde's Digital Library Plan

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Derek Law describes how the University of Strathclyde is choosing to give priority to e-content and services instead of a new building.

By Scottish standards, Strathclyde is a new university, being a mere two hundred years old. It is a large university with 20,000 students, some forty departments covering most disciplines other than medicine and a huge programme of continuing professional development (CPD). Set up as 'a place of useful learning' it has always specialised in the applied disciplines – business, engineering, professional training (teachers, lawyers and social workers) and has set out to be quite different from its better-known competitors.

Time to Change Our Thinking: Dismantling the Silo Model of Digital Scholarship

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen G. Nichols argues that humanists need to replace the silo model of digital scholarship with collaborative ventures based on interoperability and critical comparison of content.

There is no longer anything exotic about digital humanities projects. Almost every humanities faculty has at least one. But like humanities disciplines themselves, digital projects too often exist in lonely splendour, each in its own sub-disciplinary silo. Classicists have their project(s), Middle English scholars post Chaucer and Langland manuscripts, while French medievalists have sites for major genres or authors from the troubadours to Christine de Pizan, and beyond. The situation is not appreciably different for digital humanities projects dealing with modern topics.