Opening up the Humanities

Linda Wilks and Elton Barker

Faculty of Arts

Overview• Introduction to the Arts Faculty’s Digital Humanities

project• Highlight of some of the current research projects within

the Faculty which are using digital technologies to disseminate output beyond academia

• A look at how the Arts Faculty opens up its content by providing material for OU open access initiatives

• Focus on two websites which provide innovative content while straddling the boundaries of the OU

• Discussion of some of the issues relating to digital humanities

Background to the Digital Humanities project

• Where we are: the OU’s Faculty of Arts• Who we are: Linda Wilks, John Wolffe, Lorna Hardwick,

Elton Barker, Tim Chappell• What we do: critically evaluate the role of technology in:

– humanities research agendas– humanities research processes– humanities research outputs

Digital Humanities: within the faculty

• Evaluation of Arts projects with digital outputs• Promotion and evaluation of the potential for the role of

social media in humanities research• A Digital Humanities blog to encourage reflection and

discussion (intranet only) http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/dighum/

Digital Humanities: beyond the faculty • Drawing on external views and experiences through the

seminar programme http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/digital-humanities/events.shtml

• Link ups, such as with Project Bamboo http://www.projectbamboo.org/

• Dissemination of findings/reports such as: – a JISC-funded study of early career researchers – a study of scholarly networking at the OU

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/digital-humanities/investigations.shtml

Unlocking research outputsSeveral of the OU Arts Faculty projects provide open access to research outputs.

For example:• The Reading Experience Database (RED) at:

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/RED/index.html • The Classical Receptions project at:

http://www2.open.ac.uk/ClassicalStudies/GreekPlays/Projectsite/welcom.html

• The Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Imaging Archive (HESTIA) at: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/hestia/index.html

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/RED/index.html

http://www2.open.ac.uk/ClassicalStudies/GreekPlays/Projectsite/welcom.html

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/hestia/index.html

Spreading the wordThe Arts Faculty contributes to the OU’s various open access to research and learning materials initiatives.

For example:• Multi-media outputs

– on iTunesU at: www.open.ac.uk/itunes/ – on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOpenUniversity

Spreading the word: iTunesU

• The Arts faculty contributes to the OU’s presence on various social media, for example:– itunesU http://www.open.ac.uk/itunes/

Spreading the word: YouTube

• ‘One picture is worth a thousand words’ – Professor Gill Perry takes us round the National Portrait Gallery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qArhzUeHfY

Spreading the word: Open Research Online

• Free, publicly accessible repository of the Open University's peer-reviewed research outputs

• Over 1,000 Arts documents • http://oro.open.ac.uk/

Spreading the word: pushing the boundaries

Specialised websites have been developed by members of Arts faculty, such as:– Philosophy Bites: podcasts of top philosophers

interviewed on bite-sized topics http://philosophybites.com/past_programmes.html

– Classics Confidential: interviews and news relating to research and study of the classics at: http://www.classicsconfidential.co.uk/Classics_Confidential/Home.html

Classics Confidential

http://www.classicsconfidential.co.uk/Classics_Confidential/Home.html

Classics Confidential

http://www.classicsconfidential.co.uk/Classics_Confidential/Home.html

Classics Confidential

http://www.classicsconfidential.co.uk/Classics_Confidential/Home.html

Key issues

• Financial constraints vs. sustainability and reuse• Rights (particularly IP) vs. openness• The essence of research vs. technological advances• Barriers vs. access

Linda Wilks / Elton BarkerFaculty of ArtsThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AAhttp://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/digital-humanities/index.shtml