Executive SummaryThis guide to creating, documenting and preserving digital resources derived from historical documents, is intended as a reference work for individuals and organisations involved with, or planning, the computerisation of historical source documents. It aims to recommend good practice and standards that are generic and relevant to a range of data creation situations, from student projects through to large-scale research projects. The guide focuses on the creation of tabular data which can be used in databases, spreadsheets or statistics packages. Many of the guidelines are, however, applicable to other more textual methodologies. The guide includes a glossary and a bibliography of recommended reading, and offers guidance about: - Effectively designing and managing a data creation project.
- Transferring historical source documents into digital form and designing a database.
- Choosing appropriate data formats and ensuring that a digital resource can be preserved without significant information loss.
- Documenting a data creation project.
It has been commissioned by the History Data Service as part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service publication series Guides to Good Practice in the Creation and Use of Digital Resources. The series aims to provide guidance about applying recognised good practice and standards to the creation and use of digital resources in the arts and humanities. This guide is also available in print from Oxbow Books (ISBN 1-900188-91-0). Please contact Oxbow Books for more details, email: oxbow@oxbowbooks.com, telephone: +44 (0) 1865 241249, fax: ++44 (0) 1865 794449. | 