Digital collections

As Jisc’s current content programme is reaching its conclusion, it has become increasingly apparent to me that, if we are to innovate we have to take risks, we have to experiment and test new ideas and we have to make mistakes. It is a preposterous idea that we can create a new environment for digital […]

The Jisc Content programme is nearing its completion. At the final programme meeting we held early in July we asked projects to reflect back on the last 18 months of work and in particular on “unexpected” events such as problems, successes, unforeseen occurrences… both positive and negative. FRIENDS By far the majority of comments revolved […]

Jisc and Wikimedia UK are collaborating on a project to bring the academic world and Wikipedia closer together. This will create opportunities for researchers, educators, and the general public to contribute to the world’s freely available knowledge. We are very pleased to be working with Dr Martin Poulter of the University of Bristol who is […]

Here are some more highlights of the new digital collections which have been produced as part of the Jisc Content programme 2011-13. – Old Maps Online Old Maps allows the user to search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. – Manuscripts Online Manuscripts Online enables you to search […]

Here are highlights on some of the new digital collections which have been produced as part of the Jisc Content programme 2011-13. These collections are particularly aimed at teachers and learners as a way of engaging students with digitised archival resources which would otherwise be hard for them to access. All collections are licenced under […]

For some time now it has been evident that the academic community are becoming more involved in the improvement of information on Wikipedia and see it as a means of disseminating open scholarly information. For example take a look at this oii project. Jisc has,over the last decade, worked closely with many institutions to develop […]

The BT Archive is held, with limited public access, in central London and is by any standard a collection of national and international importance, recognised by UNESCO. This large and remarkable collection details the history of Britain’s leading role in the development of telecommunications and the impact of this technology on society. With Jisc funding, […]

Two reports have recently been published as the outcome of surveys on special collections within research libraries in the UK and the US. Here are some highlights from the findings. OCLC and RLUK’s Survey of Special Collections and Archives in the UK and Ireland grapples with many of the issues inherent in the management of […]

The development of image matching functionality for the Bodleian Library’s Integrated Broadside Ballad Archive is one of those innovations which arise during a Jisc Programme. Often we do not make too much of these innovations. Perhaps we think that they are par for the course; a natural consequence of being involved in innovative programmes of […]

Today Jisc and Ithaka S+R are launching “Sustaining Our Digital Future: Institutional Strategies for Digital Content”, a new report aimed at helping digital projects to thrive. This report, which provides a close look at three institutions (UCL, Imperial War Museums and the National Library of Wales) in the United Kingdom confirms: • How fragmented the […]

Guest post from John Hindmarch, a PHD candidate at UCL’s Department of Engineering, reporting on 3D Scanning: Three-dimensional Artefacts from the Past, for the Future, held in Cambridge on 10 and 11 December 2012. Every time I attend a conference – or any meeting of those involved with cultural heritage and scanning, I’m always impressed […]

Guest post from Sarah Younan, a PHD candidate at Cardiff School of Art and Design, reporting on 3D Scanning: Three-dimensional Artefacts from the Past, for the Future, held in Cambridge on 10 and 11 December 2012 3D SCANNING FROM THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE (image courtesy of Sarah Younan) This symposium brought together attendants and […]

Guest post, from Seana Farrington a PHD candidate at University College Cork, reporting on 3D Scanning: Three-dimensional Artefacts from the Past, for the Future, held in Cambridge on 10 adn 11 December 2012 Representing Reformation: 3D Scanning and Documentation Conference: Day 1 This two day conference convened by Phillip Lindley (University of Leicester) was primarily […]

This is the first in a series of  posts by PHD candidates, which describe in some detail the proceedings of this a recent conference focused on the benefits and issues of 3D scanning in its multifarious forms.  David Errickson is a first year PhD student from Teesside University who attended with support from Jisc. David’s post […]

We are very pleased that three projects from the Content Programme have recently launched their web resources though they are still working to complete them. They all provide fantastic material for online Science teaching. The Open Science Laboratory is an Open University initiative to provide innovative Science resources. JISC has supported the development of two […]

On 9 November 2012, the projects within the programme gathered together in Bristol with another JISC programme, Digging into Data, to learn more about approaches to sustainability. This has been a topic close to our hearts for some time now. We are very concerned to ensure that resources are kept available over the long-term. As […]