Nearly every research project will use technology in some respect – even if it’s simply for storing research materials. Listed below are some specific areas the Research Support team can help with.
Storage
Everyone needs somewhere safe to store their data. We can help you weigh the pros and cons of local storage, University-provided options (such as RFS, SharePoint Online, or OneDrive), or other solutions.
Research File Service (RFS)
The Research Support team helps to manage the Research File Service (RFS). This provides a reliable, resilient, and scalable University-approved central storage facility for active research data.
Research data management
Members of the Research Support team work together with colleagues from the Bodleian Libraries, Research Services, and the academic divisions to form Research Data Oxford, the University’s central source of advice and guidance on research data management.
Research Data Oxford aims to help researchers with all aspects of data management, including data management plans, day-to-day data management during the active phase of a project, and longer term issues such as preservation and sharing. Visit the website, or email researchdata@ox.ac.uk for personalised support.
Digital humanities
We are happy to work with researchers interested in the field of digital humanities: the use of digital tools and methodologies to the study of humanities subjects. We have a long history of involvement in activities such as reviewing papers and funding proposals, organising conferences and workshops, developing standards and guidelines, and participating as digital specialists in research projects.
Databases
If you need a database for your research, the Research Support team can advise about possible options. We can also help with modelling and structuring your data: we can provide guidance on designing database schemas and on preparing data for storage in relational databases.
Digitisation
If your research material is in physical form (e.g. books, handwritten records, or photographs), we can advise about appropriate digitisation techniques, and on methods of working with the digitised versions.
Transcription
Audio recordings of interviews will usually contain personal data. We can advise on compliant software to automate speech to text. As well as creating traditional textual records of interviews, transcripts can serve as a searchable index of video and audio recordings. This makes locating passages of text much easier, especially for free-form discussions which don’t follow a typical question-answer format.
Websites for research projects
The University’s website platform Mosaic offers a user-friendly toolkit for building sites, plus hosting and support.
The Research Support team provides an additional point of contact for researchers who are interested in using the Mosaic service. We are happy to talk through your project’s requirements, to offer a demo of the Mosaic platform, and to provide some help getting started with building your website. The Research Showcase website, maintained by the Research Support team, demonstrates some of the Mosaic features commonly used by research projects. If it turns out the Mosaic platform cannot meet all your requirements for a website, the Research Support team may also be able to advise about alternative options.
DigiSafe: Digital Preservation service
DigiSafe provides secure archiving for digital material which needs to be preserved, potentially for a decade or more. Departments and colleges that wish to use the service pay an annual fee, and then have access to their own dedicated space.
The DigiSafe service is managed by the Research Support team.