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images In the news Projects 2006-2009 Publicity and promotion theatre

New online resources launched: polar images and theatre in the East End

Two new online collections, funded by the JISC Digitisation programme, launched yesterday giving global access to thousand of images ranging from polar expeditions to theatre and entertainment in the East End of London. Freeze Frame: Historic Polar Images features an archive of 20,000 images depicting the history of polar exploration, inlcuding the adventures of famous […]

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e-learning Projects 2006-2009 Users

What can teachers and learners do with a digital “sea of stories”?

In addition to digitising a huge variety of material (text, sound, images, moving images…) tracing about 500 years of British and international history, culture, life and society, the great majority of digital collections funded under the JISC Digitisation programme has also developed learning resources and tools to help teachers and students make the most of […]

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Google Projects 2006-2009 Search Engine Optimisation Web2.0

Digitisation and Search Engine Optimisation

Improving your online presence is an essential component of any digitsation project; without visitors to your site there is little point having the material digitised and available online. Much of the web’s curent usability is dependent upon the effectiveness and effeciency of web crawlers, most prominent among these is, of course, the Google bot.  The […]

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events Projects 2006-2009

Conference Announcement – ‘New access to past debates: 19th century pamphlets’

Below are details of a forthcoming conference being held by the 19th Century Pamphlets project.  If you are interested in attending then contact details and further information can be found below: ‘New access to past debates: 19th century pamphlets’ The 19th Century Pamphlets Online project is holding a one-day conference at the University of Liverpool on […]

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Projects 2006-2009 You Tube

Digitisation on YouTube

The recently launched JISC channel on You Tube, JISCmedia, showcases short videos on the digital collections that will be going live between now and Spring 2009 funded under the JISC Digitisation Programme. Here’s an example from the Cabinet papers 1915-1978 project, which has digitised millions of pages of government debates on key events of the […]

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Projects 2006-2009

New archival collections available from JISC Collections

JISC Collections is making two new archival collections freely available to universities, colleges and research councils: The British Periodicals Collections I and II:  Traces the development and growth of the periodical press in Britain from its origins in the seventeenth century through to the Victorian “age of periodicals” and beyond.  The collections comprise six million keyword-searchable […]

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Audio-Visual events Projects 2006-2009 unlockingaudio

Unlocking Audio 2: Connecting With Listeners

On 16-17 March 2009, The British Library will be hosting the conference Unlocking Audio 2: Connecting With Listeners. The conference is a key event exploring the use of sound recordings online, focussing on ways that researchers and other audiences expect to discover, browse, audition and analyse archival audio resources. It will be of interest to […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009

Of war, cartoons, eggs, and more…

Cartoons are a very effective medium not only to comment on the social, political and historical events of our times but also for their power to stay in people’s hearts forever, thus recalling a particular event. One of the many contributors to the Great War Archive, part of the First World War Poetry Digital Archive, […]

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Funding In the news Jisc digitisation programmes Podcasts Projects 2006-2009

Issac Newton Podcasts and other new digitisation projects

JISC has just selected 25 diverse projects at UK universities that are going to receive £1.8m of funding in the ‘Enrich Digital Resources’ programme. The support has been allocated to projects designed to benefit both researchers and learners, to improve existing digital content and to digitise new materials for sustainable access in the future. The […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Podcasts Projects 2006-2009 Usability Users

Early usage of the John Johnson Collection

The second release of the JISC-funded John Johnson Collection: An Archive of Printed Ephemera, a collaboration between the Bodleian Library and ProQuest, is now available at http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.co.uk and http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.com. The project reported that “usage Statistics for the John Johnson Collection resource during the first two months since the launch (March 2008) have been extremely encouraging […]

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flickr flickr images images Jisc digitisation programmes london Projects 2006-2009 theatre

Using Flickr for digital resources

The East London Theatre Archive is creating an invaluable database of performing arts resources, from playbills and programmes to press cuttings and photographs. It will consist of around 15,000 digital objects, taken from East London theatres. As an extra part of their work, they have commissioned photography of some of the theatres themselves, such as […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Podcasts Projects 2006-2009 Users Web2.0

Communities and online collections

The Great War Archive web site, part of the JISC-funded First World War Poetry Digital Archive project, is a powerful example of how communities can be galvanised in the creation of a unique and poignant online resource for the benefit of the wider public. An article on the Times Higher Education Supplement “From no man’s […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009 Users Web2.0

Is academia ready for Web 2.0?

As part of its development, the Pre-Raphaelite Resource digitisation project recently commissioned an audience research study to consult users about whether the inclusion of Web 2.0 features on a resource of this type would be useful or important to the education community. The report indicated that: “there is some readiness among the education community for […]

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e-learning Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009 Users

“Did Bob’s Pills cure gout?”

If we make it, they might come… but it is a fact that any newly launched digital collection has to compete for attention with a huge amount of material already available on the web. Resource creators, therefore, have the challenging task of devising ways in which to interest and engage potential users. Projects within the […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009

The Murder of Jean Alexander (Kilmarnock, 1807)

One of the great things about digitising multiple collections is it allows you to build connections between different resources. Here’s a straightforward example The John Johnson Collection of Electronic Ephemera has a news-sheet (dated 14 Nov 1807) recounting the murder of two women in the town of Kilmarnock, on the west coast of Scotland. It […]

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Collaboration Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009

Public-private partnership delivers thousands of images for free

Thanks to a public-private partnership between the Bodleian Library and ProQuest, thousands of images from one of the world’s most important collections of printed ephemera are being made freely available to all UK universities, further education institutions, schools and public libraries. The John Johnson Collection: An Archive of Printed Ephemera, part of the JISC Phase […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2003-2007 Projects 2006-2009

Open up as many channels as possible for resource discovery

There’s a lot of digital content out there, and so the battle to get your particular project noticed and used is a tough one. One particular project that has dealt with this is the Nineteenth-Century Pamphlets project, a multi-partner project led by the University of Southampton. The resource will not just have its own website […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Podcasts Projects 2006-2009

Podcast: How digitisation can bring a nation’s heritage to the desktops of all

One of the projects in JISC’s digitisation programme, Welsh Journals Online, led by the National Library of Wales, will be adding to a growing body of online materials dedicated to Welsh culture, history and language. In this podcast, director of the project Arwel Jones talks about how digitisation can promote wider efforts to make a […]

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Jisc digitisation programmes Projects 2006-2009

Contribute your digital memories of WW1

As part of the JISC funded First World War Poetry Digital Archive project, the University of Oxford has launched a web site to allow members of the public to submit digital photographs or transcripts of items they personally hold which are related to the First World War. The ‘Great War Archive’ site will run for […]

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Audio-Visual e-learning Jisc digitisation programmes programme management Projects 2003-2007 Projects 2006-2009

Using Sound in Education – Sound Archives User Panel

The Archive Sound Recording Project is developing its user panel, and holding a related event on 11th March 2008. Details below The British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings (www.bl.uk/sounds) is a JISC funded project to make selected material from the Sound Archive available online to Higher and Further Education institutions. The project will be hosting a […]