ResearchData.arts.ac.uk The Rococo Project – A case study

Process Pre Project there is usually a technical plan 1. Summary of digital outputs and digital technologies 2. Technical methodology 3. Technical Support and Relevant experience 4. Preservation, Sustainability and use Summary of Technical Outputs The project will produce significant digital material which will include Digitisation of physical resources, individual digital creations by artists and software programmers in the form of artist books, and documentary films and interviews to be posted to the project website. In addition a quantity of research data will be produced through the behavioural and sensory analysis testing. Primary digital outputs are listed in the table below:

The Rococo Project Considerations for data preparation (curation) File formats (should be open source as much as possible for wider access and preservation issues) File sizes (decisions need to be made as to quality of digital files and compromises on file sizes and storage of data) Organisation (needs to be logical and cohesive, contextual) Labelling of individual files Legal considerations: IP Copyright Data Protection Release forms

Researchdata.arts.ac.uk The repository

Data Curation Lifecycle Courtesy of the DCC:

Rococo: possibilities for data re-use Data was used in a series of publications by the original research group in the early 1990s – possibility for re- examining original research questions Data was re-used by a member of the group in a paper on a different topic: Garner, Steve (2001). Comparing graphic actions between remote and proximal design teams. Design Studies, 22(4), pp. 365–376. Data could be used for completely separate fields of research

Arts and design research data re-use Research data can be used within and outside of the discipline in which it was created Methodology and techniques of data gathering Technology used in data gathering Incidentally captured information, specific to time, place and creators of data, e.g. for Rococo: Costume design Regional Accents Biographical information

Metadata What is metadata? Data about data Description, Tagging Repository has both free-text and controlled (dropdown style) metadata fields Information about the collection and about each file

Why is metadata for research data important Determines how researchers can find, access and understand the data. What is the data (content, format, etc.) How can your data be used (rights, permissions, etc.) Importance of good metadata enshrined in RCUK Data principles: “ To enable research data to be discoverable and effectively re-used by others, sufficient metadata should be recorded and made openly available to enable other researchers to understand the research and re-use potential of the data. ” (