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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. 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 university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

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 organisation that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education and research, as well as the public sector. Its head office is based in Bristol with o ...

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 a ...

(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 The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

*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, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

*AHDS Literature, Languages and Linguistics —

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

*AHDS Performing Arts —

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 The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

AHDS Visual Arts VADS (formerly an initialism for Visual Arts Data Service) is a service of the Library at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in the UK that provides digital images and other visual arts resources free and copyright cleared for use in UK ...

—

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

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

digital preservation In library science, library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal process to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable in the long term. It involves planning, resource allocation, and appli ...

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

*Advice on

digitization Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format.Collins Dictionary. (n.d.). Definition of 'digitize'. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ ...

— 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 performance in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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