Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the UK Data Archive. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Introduction to the History Data Service Cressida Chappell (Head of the History Data Service) Hamish James (Collections Manager) Mark Merry (Information and Acquisitions Officer)

HR935 - © History Data Service Who are we? National service funded by UK tertiary education sector –Joint Information Systems Committee –Arts and Humanities Research Board Founded in 1993 Based in the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service Team of five full-time and three part-time historians and IT specialists

HR935 - © History Data Service What do we do? The History Data Service collects, preserves, and promotes the use of digital resources, which result from or support historical research, learning and teaching

HR935 - © History Data Service What do we do? Provide advice and training about creating, describing, using and preserving historical digital resources Collect and preserve historical digital resources Provide access to a wide-ranging collection of historical digital resources including resources held by other organizations Develop online data and metadata delivery systems to enhance access to this collection Establish thematic special collections, and enrich and enhance selected data collections Promote standards and best practice in the creation, description, use and preservation of historical digital resources

HR935 - © History Data Service What is in the collection? Over 500 data collections transcribed, scanned or compiled from original sources Covering a time period from the 7th century through to the 20th century Primary focus is on UK with a significant body of cross- national and non-UK data collections Topics covered include: 19th and 20th century statistics, manuscript census records, state finance data, demographic data, mortality data, community histories, electoral history, and economic indicators Particularly strong in 19th and 20th century economic and social history

HR935 - © History Data Service How can you find out more? Website: Browse Catalogue: Search Catalogue: Phone: Fax: Visit: Room 3.501, Data Archive Building, Square 2 Post: History Data Service, The Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester, C04 3SQ

Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the UK Data Archive. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Designing a flexible digital resource

HR935 - © History Data Service Elements of a Digital Resource The environment of a digital resource often receives the most attention, but it is the users and digital objects that are most important –Hardware and software selection should be based on the needs of the users and the types of digital objects to be use Users Knowledge Experience Culture Environment Hardware Software (OS) (Network) Digital Objects Binary Data Relationships

HR935 - © History Data Service What is Digitisation? Digitisation: Any means of capturing the information content of a non-digital source in binary coded form The digitisation process involves separating the information content of the source from the medium which carries that information The process of digitisation creates a representation of the original source, it does not create a duplicate of the original source Information may be enhanced or damaged, discarded or added during the digitisation process Digitisation forces choices about which aspects of the source will be captured in the digital representation of the source Information content can be anything about a source. Consider a page in a book; the information content includes: the text on the page the size and shape of the characters on the page the layout of text on the page the chemical composition of the paper the number of the page

HR935 - © History Data Service Source - Digitisation - Resource The ‘input channels’ of digitisation (keyboard, scanner etc.) are narrow and can only capture a small proportion of the source’s information content identify aspects of source to digitise chose digitisation method chose digital format

HR935 - © History Data Service Digitisation: A Balancing Act Successful digitisation involves several trade-offs: –Amount and detail vs time and cost of digitisation –Complexity of the digital resource vs ease of use and understanding –Flexibility of the digital resource vs suitability for a specific use –Feasibility of digitisation with current technology vs future possibilities for digitisation Choices of what to digitise and how to digitise a source should be guided by a firm understanding of the source and the intended purpose of the digital resource –Do not exceed the limits of available support (financial, technical, equipment, labour) –Always try to preserve the information content of the source –Keep information that tracks the origin and history of the digital resource with the digital resource

HR935 - © History Data Service Flexible Digital Resources A flexible digital resource is one that can support many different uses –Preservation - an accurate representation of the source material. –Research - codes, indexes, categorisation. –Access - many different users in different settings. Who will use the resource? How will they use it? –Are there discipline specific methods of describing, categorising, and coding information that should be used? –Can the resource be searched at appropriate levels of detail? The digital resource should be well documented The digital resource should adhere to standards and avoid reliance on unusual features of software or hardware

Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the UK Data Archive. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Confessions of an erstwhile historian

HR935 - © History Data Service