Understand Digital Project
Supporting in Digital Scholarship has been gathering steam at the Libraries in these years. This outline gives you some information and value on contributing the field of Digital Scholarship.
Difference From Typical Project
Many of you might have experiences on conducting typical research projects in undergraduate or even postgraduate times and noticed that different stages of research cycle. Actually, a digital project workflow is similar to typical projects but applying digital data, methods, tools enable the chance to ask new research question and extend user engagement for your output. Here are some expected outcomes, technologies you can apply, and presentation of project output.
Enlarge your Outcomes
Undertaking digital elements can broaden your research outcome aspects and demonstrates its unique value.
- The use of digital technology can help processing large volume of digitized images or texts and finds it connects among materials, for instance, Digital History, Digital Public History.
- It develops interdisciplinary research topics as well and it is commonly found that lots of subjects had been adopted the use of digital evidence and method, for example Black Digital Humanities, DH Post colonialism.
- It also integrates some subjects, research data and reproduce an interdisciplinary approach to cultural history, such as Computational Linguistics, Computational History.
- Some new disciplinaries or organization has been launched, like Global Digital Humanities, Latinx Digital Humanities.
- Within the HKU community, adopting digital elements can enhance teaching and learning as well, more discussions on Digital Pedagogy.
How to Apply
a. Data
Raw materials of your project are the first starting point of considering the application of digital techniques or tools. Based on the stakeholders, complexity and technicality need to define the appropriate tools to conduct the research project. More importantly, these kinds of computational methods help to analyze sources itself rather than to be done manually.
b. Methodology
Increasingly, the digital project has helped to break down barriers of communication and collaboration among subjects and research object limitations. There are many entry points for you to get start with your project by using digital technology. Several points for your project to put digital mythology into practice as follows:
| Technique | Project example |
| Text Analysis- discover the new association of previously unknown information from amorphous forms of text | |
| Spatial Analysis- illustrate patterns of object behavior and its spatial expression in terms of mathematics and geometry analysis | |
| Data Visualization |
c. Presentation of Project Output
| Output | Description |
|---|---|
| DB / Dataset | A collection of data corresponds to one or more database tables, such as numeric data, spatial and mapping data, other data that can use web-based API to download |
| Infographic chart | A chart, diagram or illustration that applies graphic elements to present information |
| Tools (a web)/ software | Making use of advanced transformation of dataset process as a web tools or digital data |
| Exhibition | Kinds of presentation which is hosted online |
Basic Digital Project Lifecycle
The following picture does show the lifecycle of incorporating emerging digital tools and processes in the project.
1. Plan
2. Produce
3. Publish
4. Preserve
1. Kick started with planning
Do you have any interests or ideas on project? The first key step is conceptualizing ideas, content, research outcome on the digital project and then figure out an appropriate tool or platform, specific tools or engaging with specific Digital Scholarship processes. It will come across metadata, data workflow, project management, preservation workflows, timelines, or other considerations. For more details, please explore Start to Plan.
2. Go ahead to develop the project
Every stage of work and application taken are based on the project plan, including IT infrastructure, site building, metadata processing etc. It is scoped by the project’s need and outcome. This stage requires different stakeholders to work together on data collection and advanced analysis.
3. Go publishing
The production of the project is completed and ready to integrate with diverse audience across multiple channels and ways under copyright, mainly for digital publishing process.
4. Preserve the project
Full support for research project outcome making accessible archive resources and the transformation of knowledge. To put it in another way, digitization for rare and primary historical resources and share among the world rather than district is the aim of preserve the projects.