This document summarizes challenges and efforts around managing research data in the arts and humanities. It discusses how "data" is not clearly defined in these domains as it is in STEM fields. Universities like UAL and GSA are working to educate researchers on identifying, organizing, and sharing their diverse research outputs and formats. This includes developing data repositories, training, and communities of practice to establish best practices and support researchers in meeting new data management policies and obligations. While there are fewer external funder requirements compared to STEM, these universities are using collaborative approaches to engage arts and humanities researchers in responsible research data management.

1. “I’m not a scientist, I don’t
have any research data”:
Managing arts and humanities
data
Nicola Siminson and Julie Ramage, GSA
Jeremy Barraud, UAL
Wednesday 30th
November 2016

2. Ramage, Julie and Hards, Lorna
(2016) Becoming Awesomestow -
profiling investments in cultural
assets and creative quarters in
British towns and their impact on
regeneration. Nesta, London.
http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/4289/
Ramage, Julie and Hards, Lorna
(2015) Becoming Awesomestow -
profiling investments in cultural
assets and creative quarters in
British towns and their impact on
regeneration. The Glasgow School
of Art - Reid Building, 11-26 April
2015 [Show/Exhibition]
http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/3698/

3. So what are the challenges?
“… I am not sure what constitutes research
data… What is data? I mean, I talk to you about
my data as a researcher, but for the institution,
what does it consider data? Would it be
conference proceedings, would a performance
be data even if it was not recorded, sometimes I
don’t record my performances…”

4. One definition
"Anything which is used or created to generate new
knowledge and interpretations. ‘Anything’ may be
objective or subjective; physical or emotional; persistent
or ephemeral; personal or public; explicit or tacit; and is
consciously or unconsciously referenced by the
researcher at some point during the course of their
research. Research data may or may not lead to a
research output, which regardless of method of
presentation, is a planned public statement of new
knowledge or interpretation."
Garrett, 2012:
https://kaptur.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/what-is-visual-arts-research-data-r

5. Data management challenge
• Research data in the arts is not so easily defined as in STEM
subjects
• Researchers need to learn to identify and define what is data
in their processes
• Researchers are not used to packaging and sharing data
• Management of highly diverse content and formats
• New and developing field – no real best practice in place

7. Policy aims
• To ensure that staff involved in the research process are
aware of their data-related responsibilities
• To ensure that the University meets its obligations with regard
to research data management, as defined by research
funders
• To make explicit the University’s institutional commitment to
good research data management practice
• The policy is supported by a set of procedures and
institutional awareness raising and training activities

8. What we’re doing at UAL
• UAL Data repository
• Training
• Data management planning
• Community of Practice

9. UAL Data Repository
• Holds UAL research data for all research projects where
there is a need to store and share the supporting research
• Research Council-funded projects with a Data Management
Plan
• Tested with existing, tricky data
• http://researchdata.arts.ac.uk/

12. ROCOCO project
• File formats - as open source as much as possible for wider
access and preservation issues
• File sizes – maintaining quality of digital files against file sizes
• Organisation - needs to be logical and cohesive, contextual
• Labelling of individual files
• Legal considerations: IP, copyright, Data Protection, release
forms

13. Data management planning
• Established workflow as part of Data Management Policy
• Workflow covers, pre-award, post-award and post-project
stages
• Bespoke support for each application

14. Community of Practice
• Introduction to data management
• Case studies
• Visiting institution: Glasgow School of Art
• Metadata discovery
• File formats

15. Future developments
• Further repository enhancements to fit the needs of the
researchers
• New methods of marking and visualising the data
• Developing best practice in the curation of data
• Educating practice-based researchers on the need to
organise and share their data

16. What we are (and
have been) doing at the GSA
• GSA RDM Policy – and roadmap document
• Training and comm.s
• sessions for staff – and research students
• one-to-one conversations
• blog posts
• RDM pages on GSA’s VLE
• GSA RDM Stakeholder Group
• participation in projects (KAPTUR; VADS4R)

17. How do you get Art & Design
researchers to engage with RDM, if
there are few external drivers / sticks
(e.g. very little RCUK funding)?

18. Sharing experiences and
ideas for engaging with arts
and humanities
researchers?

19. Useful information
• GSA RDM Policy: http://www.gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/key-
information/institutional-policies/
• KAPTUR: http://www.vads.ac.uk/kaptur and
https://kaptur.wordpress.com/about/
• VADS4R: http://www.vads4r.vads.ac.uk/
• RADAR: http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/
• RADAR blog: https://gsaradar.wordpress.com/
• Contact details:
• n.siminson@gsa.ac.uk
• j.ramage@gsa.ac.uk
• j.t.barraud@arts.ac.uk