The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) was a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

national service aiding the discovery, creation and preservation of digital resources in and for research, teaching and learning in the

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

. It was established in 1996 and ceased operation in 2008 (although the website and related digital collections are still accessible). Organised via a Managing Executive at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and five AHDS Centres, hosted by various UK Higher Education Institutions, the AHDS was funded until the end of March 2008 by the

Joint Information Systems Committee Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector. History T ...

and the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts an ...

(AHRC). However, in March 2007 the AHRC decided to cease funding for the AHDS beyond March 2008. As a result, the AHDS is now advising AHRC applicants to ensure their projects include a budget for the costs of preservation and sustainability (whether with the AHDS or another service). Following the demise of AHDS, and the cessation of the Methods Network, the Centre for e-Research (CeRch) was established at

in 2008. The Centre's aims are to facilitate interdisciplinary, institutional, national and international collaboration. The five subject-based AHDS Centres are: * AHDS Archaeology —

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

* AHDS History —

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

* AHDS Literature, Languages and Linguistics —

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

AHDS Performing Arts The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) was a United Kingdom national service aiding the discovery, creation and preservation of digital resources in and for research, teaching and learning in the arts and humanities. It was established in 1996 ...

—

HATII The Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) was a research and teaching institute at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. It was established in 1997 with Professor Seamus Ross as Founding Director until 2009. HATII led ...

at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

* AHDS Visual Arts —

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Ins ...

(Farnham campus) Specific areas of work that the Arts and Humanities Data Service covers include: *

digital preservation In library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal endeavor to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods an ...

— including a series o
preservation handbooks
detailing specific preservation issues with various digital file formats and information on it

*Advice on

digitization DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a Digital data, digital (i ...

— including a series o
case studies
of existing digitization projects
information papers
on specific issues in digitization, and longe
Guides to Good Practice
dealing with digitization topics in particular arts and humanities disciplines *Online collections created by universities and museums in the UK. These include:
An online catalogue
with details of collections held within the archive
Designing Shakespeare
— 40 years of

Shakespearian William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

performance in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Stratford
The Stormont Papers
- Parliamentary debates from Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteCeRch website
1996 establishments in the United Kingdom Arts in the United Kingdom Humanities organizations Jisc 2008 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Digital humanities projects