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The
ARTS
Scheme: Future Development
The
need for online research tutorials
The recent proliferation of online resources has profound
implications for the future of research skills in higher
education. Access to electronic catalogues has made
information more accessible, and important articles
are now disseminated around the world at the touch of
a button. Although the benefits are many and varied,
there are pitfalls associated with the new technology.
One of the biggest problems is that of data quality
- students should never assume a website or article
is accurate just because it is online; there are fantastic
websites that contain appalling factual errors.
Furthermore,
Internet research can give a false impression of what
is actually available. Many archives have placed their
catalogues online with a key word search facility. It
is tempting to assume that if a search fails to produce
a match, then there aren't any documents worth viewing.
This is rarely the case - for example, The National Archives catalogue
(PROCAT) only searches document descriptions rather
than actual document content, so unless the word appears
in the document title, they will be no match. If allowed
to continue, the 'quick hit' approach to research will
result in the erosion of basic research skills, such
as the ability to link sources, or to place them in
their correct context.
Therefore
the long-term aim of the ARTS
scheme is to provide a series of online document tutorials
that introduce students to source material whilst providing
a contextual and interpretive framework. These will
tackle popular areas of research across a variety of
chronological periods, and link images of documents
with transcriptions and, where relevant, translations.
Proposed
research topics
Work has begun on a medieval and early modern gallery
(pre-1688), primarily based on records at The National Archives. The
gallery will cover broad themes - for example government
institutions, finance, religion, manorial administration
- and provide a background to the topic; a summary of
useful documents; the context of each type of document
(where and why they were created, how they were used);
an image of a typical document; a transcription / translation;
and links to other related sources.
Other
galleries will eventually include sources for gender
studies; sources for social, political and economic
history (post 1688); sources for military history; and
sources for non-British history.
Project
timescale
The project has an open-ended timescale, as at present
it has no funding. It is hoped to launch the medieval
/ early modern gallery in time for the 2002/3 academic
year, with other galleries going online thereafter.
Depending on the success (or otherwise) of these galleries,
other topics not necessarily confined to sources at
The National Archives can be undertaken. If you have any suggestions,
or would be in a position to offer financial support
for the project, please contact
us or email arts.scheme@virgin.net
Cost
In an ideal world, this resource would be made freely
available online. However, without financial backing
it will be necessary to recoup the costs incurred in
obtaining digital images and designing the resource.
A licensing system will therefore be introduced. For
a small fee, universities will be able to 'buy' access
for their students; and 'personalised' tutorials and
packages can be designed for specific courses.
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