Arts and Humanities Data Service
The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) is a UK national service aiding the discovery, creation and preservation of digital resources in and for research, teaching and learning in the arts and humanities.
Organised via a Managing Executive at King's College London and five AHDS Centres, hosted by various UK Higher Education Institutions, the AHDS is currently funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the [[Arts and Humanities Research Council]]. However, the AHDS is now advising AHRC applicants that the Arts and Humanities Research Council will be withdrawing all funding from the AHDS after March 2008, and consequently funded projects should include costs for preservation and sustainability (whether with the AHDS or another service).
The five subject-based AHDS Centres are
- AHDS Archaeology - University of York
- AHDS History - University of Essex
- AHDS Literature, Languages and Linguistics - Oxford University
- AHDS Performing Arts - University of Glasgow
- AHDS Visual Arts - University College for the Creative Arts (Farnham campus)
Specific areas of work that the Arts and Humanities Data Service covers include
- Digital Preservation - Including a series of preservation handbooks detailing specific preservation issues with various digital file formats and information on its digital repository
- Advice on digitisation - Including a series of case studies of existing digitisation projects, information papers on specific issues in digitiation, and longer Guides to Good Practice dealing with digitsation 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 Shakesperian performance in London and Stratford