[Asis-l] Petition against the AHRC decision to stop funding AHDS

Joy Davidson british.editor at erpanet.org
Thu May 31 10:36:00 EDT 2007


***Apologies for cross-posting***

On 11 May 2007, Professor Phillip Esler, Chief Executive of the AHRC, wrote
to University Vice-Chancellors informing them of the Council's decision to
withdraw funding from the AHDS after eleven years. The AHDS has pioneered
and encouraged awareness and use among Britain's university researchers in
the arts and humanities of best practice in preserving digital data created
by research projects funded by public money. It has also ensured that this
data remains publicly available for future researchers. It is by no means
evident that a suitable replacement infrastructure will be established and
the AHRC appears to have taken no adequate steps to ensure the continued
preservation of this data. The AHDS has also played a prominent role in
raising awareness of new technologies and innovative practices among UK
researchers. We believe that the withdrawal of funding for this body is a
retrograde step which will undermine attempts to create in Britain a
knowledge economy based on latest technologies. We ask the Prime Minister to
urge the AHRC to reconsider this decision.

A petition has been put online against the AHRC decision to stop funding
the AHDS.  

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/AHDSfunding/

Please feel free to pass the link round to any other interested parties.

Best regards,
Sarah Jones
Collections Development Officer
Email: S.Jones at hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk  
Tel: 0141 330 3549  
Mail: HATII, 11 University Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QJ
Explore AHDS Performing Arts at: http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/  







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