Authored by Jo Savill, ARDC.
Four new projects have kicked off to expand the ARDC Community Data Lab for researchers working with digitised cultural and historical collections.
The ARDC is pleased to announce the commencement of 4 new projects in the ARDC Community Data Lab, a key initiative of the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons, which provides national-scale infrastructure for researchers working with humanities, arts, social sciences (HASS), and Indigenous data.
The Community Data Lab is designed to address the challenges of working with digitised cultural and historical collections. It offers a suite of tools, datasets, and guides that empower researchers to explore, analyse, and publish data from Australia’s HASS and Indigenous collections held in galleries, libraries, archives, museums, research and other research and cultural institutions.
“These new projects represent a significant step forward in building national-scale infrastructure that truly reflects the needs of our research communities,” said Jenny Fewster, Director of the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons at ARDC.
“By working together through co-design, we’re creating tools and platforms that will help accelerate research using Australia’s rich cultural and historical data to tell meaningful stories of Australian people, culture and society and deepen our understanding of who we are.”
The projects in Phase 2 of the Community Data Lab are:
- Reusable and Accessible Public Interest Documents (RAPID)
Making public interest document collections—such as Federal Hansard and public inquiries—more accessible and reusable for researchers and the public. Led by The University of Queensland in partnership with the ARDC, QUT and QCIF Ltd. - Curated Collections
A platform, built on established digital humanities software, to enable easy publishing, importing, and exporting of digital content, migration of legacy collections, and long-term archiving. Led by the Sydney Informatics Hub (SIH) at the University of Sydney in partnership with the ARDC and Systemik Solutions. - Research Software Engineering Capacity Enhancement Project (RSE-CEP)
A project to develop recommended patterns and practices in HASS software engineering, improving the capability of research software engineers and enabling greater technical collaboration. Led by the HASS Digital Research Hub at the Australian National University in partnership with the ARDC. - Enhanced Analytics
Tools to support the use and analysis of RO-Crate data and digitised documents and collections, addressing gaps in usability and reusability of digital resources in HASS research. Led by the Melbourne Data Analytics Platform at The University of Melbourne in partnership with the ARDC.
These projects were shaped through extensive community consultation and co-design workshops held earlier this year, involving over 160 participants. They will deliver open access, generalisable tools and resources including software, workflows, researcher guides, and curated data collections.
Accelerating Data-Driven HASS Research
The ARDC Community Data Lab is a foundational component of the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons. It supports a collaborative ecosystem for innovation in HASS research by developing tools, datasets and digital research skills whilst promoting the FAIR data principles and the CARE principles for Indigenous data governance.
By fostering co-design and community involvement, the CDL ensures that the infrastructure being developed is not only technically robust but also aligned with the real-world needs of researchers working with data from galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions.
As these projects get underway, the ARDC will continue to engage with the research community to ensure the tools and services meet evolving needs. Updates will be shared as the projects progress.
To learn more about the Community Data Lab and access existing tools and guides, visit the ARDC Community Data Lab.
The ARDC is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.
