The British lsles Network of Expert Centres: A collaborative approach to the digital arts and humanities

Abstract

The UK's Network of Expert Centres: A collaborative approach to the digital arts and humanities. A Network of Expert Centres has been recently been established with a broad mission to facilitate exchange of expertise and outreach across the community of practice engaged in all aspects of digital arts and humanities research and scholarship, including practice-led research; and to promote and facilitate engagement with digital methodologies within the broader research community. Areas of interest and expertise of members include data creation, curation, preservation, management (including rights and legal issues), access and dissemination, and methodologies of data use and re-use. Its membership is open to all such Centres in Great Britain and Ireland. Since the demise of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the AHRC ICT Methods Network, there has been no centralized supporting infrastructure and co-oordination of activity in this area. While the Network is by no means a substitute for these services, it will provide a much-needed focus and community resource for all aspects of the digital arts and humanities, including digital tools, projects and methods, as well as data management and sustainability. The Network will also provide greater visibility for publicly funded research projects in this area. The Network's mission is to advocate, promote and raise awareness and understanding of the use of ICT in research and scholarship in arts and humanities. It will take an active role in developing the scholarly communication agenda in relation to all aspects of digital publications, and outputs. Publications and outputs developed by members will be disseminated via the community resource, arts-humanities.net, which will support the development and exchange of expertise, knowledge, standards and good practice. The Network will also identify and represent the needs of the research community in this key strategic area, and conduct dialogue with relevant stakeholders including funders, libraries, and those engaged in teaching and research in related disciplines. This article sets out the background to the establishment of the Network, its structure and plans for future development.