Category: #jdcc09

If you missed the JISC Digital Content Conference, which took place on 30 June-1 July, or simply would like to go back to some of the presentations and issues discussed, you can now access and download all video, audio and most of the speakers’ presentations from the conference web pages. For a summary of the […]

Stuart Lee took as his theme “Content is king, but we are in a republic”. After raising several laughs with his Star Trek ‘library of the future’ (where apparently there will be no enforced retirement age for librarians), he went on to call for a move towards community digitisation.

This session saw Sarah Porter put JISC’s work in context (encompassing everything from bourbon biscuits to global infrastructure). Quoting Nick Poole, she told us it was “time to stop thinking and get on and do”.

The last parallel session in the User Engagement strand looked at the topic of business and community engagement, and enhancing access/removing barriers to institutional resources. The speakers encouraged us to look beyond the library walls and embrace the challenges of community engagement, pointing out the multiple benefits and exploring some practical case studies of community […]

Session 2 of the User Engagement strand looked at what makes a well-used resource, and how you go about measuring the impact your resource is having on its users using qualitative and quantitative metrics. Claire Davies from Curtis and Cartwright focused on the benefits of audience research, and Eric Meyer from their Oxford Internet Institute […]

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are learning materials that are specifically designed to be shared, with learners and teachers in mind. The ways in which JISC is helping to make it easier to create and share OERs and how the Open University is leading the way in the use of OERs was the focus of this […]

This is a pivotal moment for film and sound in education. Digital Britain was the last gasp of an ancien regime. We need Robespierres not Bourbons to do this future mapping.  For the students of the future, multimedia will be their way of working. We will not distract them from Facebook unless we can offer […]

This last session in the ‘Looking into the future’ strand was a mix of three very different approaches to delivering and accessing digital content. David Flanders’ talk was a glimpse into the world of efficient technology design and implementation. Matthew White talked about his experience in marketing, and Shelley Hales and Nic Earle spoke of […]

In a global academic culture of sharing resources and expertise, collaboration is an essential part of many higher education projects. Each of the 3 speakers had vastly different experiences, but there were a few common threads that ran through all the talks: The importance of clear and frequent communication A need for mutual respect and […]

In a session in which approximately 70% of delegates were librarians (according to a quick show of hands) we discussed the role and nature of libraries in the future, and watched a fascinating video produced by JISC (available to view below). Key points raised in the session: We need to rethink our attitudes towards what […]

Three speakers outlined their programs to help those running digital preservation projects and raised some thorny questions relating to the potential problems that can arise from public private partnerships. They were William Kilbride from the Digital Preservation Coalition,  Sarah Higgins from the Digital Curation Centre and Richard Davies from the  British Library who has been […]

This session focused on ways in which data can be mined and used more effectively. Innovations discussed included annotation of content, free-tagging, geo-parsing, and the need to focus on content and taking technical debates into the realm of content provision where necessary.

This was a session based around questions of how universities develop strategies for creating and sharing digital resources drawing on the experience of three experts in the field. They were:     Christine Fowler, Head of Electronic Library Services, University of Southampton; Dr Jessica Gardner, Head of Special Collections, University of Exeter;  Simon Bains, Head of Digital […]

This discussion focused on issues of intellectual property law, managing rights and licensing. Tom Morgan of the National Portrait Gallery began by talking about his experience of best practice within the heritage sector; Liam Earney of JISC Collections spoke about CASPER’s involvement with the RePRODUCE programme, and universities’ perceptions and problems with the idea of […]

Nick Poole is the CEO of Collections Trust, and has been involved in many issues to do with digitisation, including advising on digital strategy. He began by setting context, beginning with the manifesto Building Britain’s Future and various political issues – a new European Commission; a weak pound against the euro; a recessionary economy; a […]

According to Robert Miller (Director of Books at the Internet Archive), the entire web can be stored in a 4m x 3m x 3m shipping container. Photographic evidence of this phenomenon was just one small part of the wide-ranging and entertaining second plenary session, which looked at what makes a good library, the Internet Archive, […]

The first talk in the Managing Content strand investigated the real costs of digitisation projects and the hidden costs they often contain, as well as effective ways for publishers and private bodies (generally publishers) to work together to create digital resources.    Moderated by Grant Young, a Digitisation and Digital Preservation Specialist at Cambridge University Library, […]

What is the impact of user generated content on research and scholarship? All three speakers made it clear that the impact can be massive – but only when the user generated content is sourced and employed intelligently, imaginatively and respectfully. Key points made in the session: ‘Many hands make light work’ Users are collaborators Prepare […]

Interactivity was the name of the game in more ways than one in the first User Engagement session. Around 30 people joined Alastair Dunning and Brian Kelly to discuss interfaces to digital content, and how cultural institutions can make use of web 2.0. But it wasn’t all one-way – this interactive session also saw the […]

It’s not enough to create exciting digital resources, says Kevin Burden, you have to be proactive in engaging the community. That was the starting point for a session which split the audience by suggesting a radical approach to engaging users: it is less important to highlight the content of a resource  than how it is […]