Based in Bodleian Health Care Libraries

Staff round 2019

For more information, please contact innovations@it.ox.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

This project will focus on developing a service for producing data visualisations for researchers based on bibliographic and publication data. This means taking data about research publications (citation counts, author affiliations etc.) and then using this information to create charts, diagrams or pictures to graphically represent this. Data visualisation is increasingly used to communicate research findings, however the techniques could also be used to tell the story of research. This would help engage the wider community, illustrating the impact of University of Oxford research to society. This public engagement could be in the form of demonstrating productivity for funders and the public, producing interactive images for use online, or static images for press releases, presentations etc.  In addition to engagement, visualisations could also be used by researchers to identify the links between Oxford and other institutions, identifying potential for collaboration. They could also examine how research areas are developing, and use this to demonstrate the impact of their research. There are a number of tools used for data visualisation, but these have mostly focused on research data. This project will take existing software and develop new ways of using it in relation to bibliographic data sets. We intend to develop a sustainable visualisation service to the research and wider University community, initially with Bodleian Health Care Libraries working with the Medical Sciences Division. We will then train other departments within the Bodleian in these techniques/tools which they can then roll out as appropriate to their users taking into account their subject specialist knowledge.