This page lists information and training which may be of use to projects undertaking the creation of digital resources in the area of performing arts. To add a link to this page, please contact Daisy Abbott at AHDS Performing Arts.

AHDS Performing Arts resources | AHDS Performing Arts case studies | AHDS-related projects | Digital resources for the performing arts | Training providers and online training guides | HATII projects

• AHDS Performing Arts online collections are free to browse and most of the resources available are free to download.
• AHDS Performing Arts research outputs include a scoping study, Getting to Know Our Audience, published in August 2006, which details the current state of digital resource creation and use in the HE performing arts sector. The full report is available free online. This report made a significant impact upon its release and has fed into new research such as the September 2006 RePAH study, Research Portals in the Arts and Humanities, and the 2007 ICT Methods Network paper Digital Tools for Performance.
• In July 2007, AHDS Performing Arts held a three-day summer school at the National e-Science Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. A full report of the event is available here, including video clips of presentations, and speakers' materials. A wiki was established to maintain a space for discussion after the event.
• AHDS Performing Arts, along with Hannah Little, presented a panel at Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts 2007 ('DRHA07') entitled Representing Performance. A summary is available here and a report of the event (containing the panel's presentation texts) is available here.

For a full list of case studies of AHDS collections, please visit our case studies page.

• The AHRC ICT Methods Network exists to promote, support and develop the use of advanced ICT methods in arts and humanities research and to support the cross- disciplinary network of practitioners from institutions around the UK. It also aims to develop a programme of activities and publications on advanced ICT tools and methods and to ensure the broadest participation of the community by means of an open call for proposals for Methods Network activities. You can find out more at http://www.methodsnetwork.ac.uk.
• The ICT Guides website is designed to help arts and humanities researchers find out more about the use of Information and Communications Technology in their work by showing them the ICT-based methods used by arts and humanities researchers; research projects that have used ICT; information about research centres that use ICT in the arts and humanities; the computational tools that researchers use; training resources that can teach them more about using ICT and case studies that focus upon specific uses of ICT in arts and humanities research. Visit ICT Guides at http://ahds.ac.uk/ictguides/index.jsp.
• PALATINE (Performing Arts Learning and Teaching Innovation Network) is the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music, and one of the 24 Subject Centres of the Subject Network of the Higher Education Academy. PALATINE run conferences, seminars and workshops covering all aspects of learning and teaching in the performing arts. The PALATINE website holds details of a range of events, funding opportunities, ideas, information, reports and resources and is available at http://www.palatine.ac.uk/.

• The Arts on Film archive is hosted by the University of Westminster, and offers on-line access to a large range of films on art produced in the United Kingdom since the 1950s. It's a unique record of British and international post-war art, as well as of documentary film-making in the UK. It's available at http://artsonfilm.wmin.ac.uk.
• Backstage is a useful portal for researchers of the theatre and other performing arts, holding a directory of institutions, collection level descriptions and several thousand selected item level records. Visit http://www.backstage.ac.uk/ for more information.
• The British Library's Archival Sound Recordings website gives UK Higher and Further Education staff and students free access to over 12,000 recordings, or 3,900 hours of material. The project is available at http://sounds.bl.uk/.
• The East London Theatre Archive is currently under development and will offer an invaluable database of performing arts resources, from playbills and programmes to press cuttings and photographs. By creating around 15,000 digital objects, taken from East London theatres, the project will preserve unique endangered collections and make them accessible to an academic audience. Check the JISC website at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/programme_digitisation/theatre.aspx for up-to-date information.
• Intute offers a free online guide to material for education and research, all material evaluated and selected by a network of subject specialists. It allows access to both subject-specific and cross-subject resources, all of which have been evaluated for their quality and relevance. Intute is available at http://www.intute.ac.uk/.
• The International Conference on the Arts in Society exists to create an intellectual frame of reference for the arts and arts practices, and to create an interdisciplinary conversation on the role of the arts in society. It is intended as a place for critical engagement, examination, and experimentation of ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world, on stage, in museums and galleries, on the streets, and in communities. Visit their website at http://arts-conference.com/.

• BUFVC Courses and Events: Courses, workshops, and conferences from the British Universities Film and Video Council.
• Film Education: Digital Video Training.
• Multimedia Training Kit: The Multimedia Training Kit is a series of modular training materials for use in workshops developed by ItrainOnline partners and others. The materials share a common easy-to-use format, and are freely available for non-commercial use.
• Space Media Training: While offering a constantly expanding and diversifying programme of still and moving image training, the SPACE Media Arts department has also positioned itself at the forefront of mobile and experimental technologies, being the first digital training facility in London to offer hands-on tuition in wireless and locative media.
• Technical Advisory Service for Images: TASI runs a successful programme of training workshops aimed at those involved in image digitisation projects, those who wish to capture images and those who wish to use digital images in learning and teaching.
• Adobe Video and Audio Primers: Free PDF guides on several aspects of digital media creation and compression.
• Audio Preservation: Bibliography of resources related to audio preservation. Includes links to Electronic Storage Media, Video Preservation, and Motion Picture Film Preservation.
• Building Digital Audio Visual Collections for Research & Teaching: a collaborative approach (PDF file): Since 1995 the La Trobe University Library has been building upon the infrastructure and experience provided by a National Priority (Reserve) Fund Grant for the Library Image Database Project. Quite independently Dr. Richard Cosgrove, La Trobe University Department of Archaeology, gained a 1996 C.A.U.T. grant to develop a text and CD-ROM for teaching skills in faunal analysis. This paper discusses the intentions and outcomes of these projects and how advances have been achieved as a collaborative approach has developed into a working model for building multimedia Web resources for research and learning.
• Digital Toolbox: A wide range of guides and workshops from the Collaborative Digitization Program (based in the US).The cdp community, through working groups, actively monitors national trends in digitisation and has developed key strategies to help digitisation projects of all scopes and sizes.
• The Digital Library Handbook: The Digital Library Handbook, a compliation of advice, procedures, and links, provides structure and guidance for DL needs, including information on image, audio, video, and 3D imaging.
• Digital Preservation of Sound and Moving Images: This is a reading course on the digital preservation of sound and moving image audio-visual material from the MA in the Digital Humanities, Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London. An excellent bibliography is listed on this page.
• Also, the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) was established in 1969 to function as a medium for international co-operation between archives that preserve recorded sound and audiovisual documents. IASA follows closely the progress of technology and the association’s members can call upon a pool of expertise for help and advice on digitisation and with problems arising from the use of computer storage systems for heritage collections.

AHDS Performing Arts is based in the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute at the University of Glasgow. Other projects based there are:

• Planets: The Planets project brings together European National Libraries and Archives, leading research institutions, and technology companies to address the challenge of preserving access to digital cultural and scientific knowledge. The Planets project website is at http://www.planets-project.eu/.
• Digital Preservation Europe (DPE): building on the earlier successful work of ERPANET, facilitates pooling of the complementary expertise that exists across the academic research, cultural, public administration and industry sectors in Europe. The DPE website is at http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/.
• Digital Curation Centre (DCC): The DCC provides a national focus for research into the preservation and management of digital data and promotes expertise and good practice, nationally and internationally, for the management of all research outputs in digital format. Visit DCC at http://www.dcc.ac.uk/.
• Network of Excellence on Digital Libraries (DELOS): The DELOS network conducts a programme of activities to integrate and coordinate the ongoing research activities of major European teams working in Digital Libraries with the goal of developing the next generation of Digital Library technologies. The DELOS website can be found at http://www.dpc.delos.info/.
• ERPANET: ERPANET provides a virtual clearinghouse and knowledge-base on state-of-the-art developments in digital preservation. It brings together memory organisations, ICT industry, research institutions, government organisations (including local), entertainment and creative industries, and commercial sectors (for example pharmaceuticals, petro-chemical, and financial). Visit ERPANET online at http://www.erpanet.org/.