As more and more scholars grow interested in the world of digital research, this tremendously useful wiki will be one that they will tell their colleagues about. Created by Lisa Spiro, the director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University, this collaborative wiki collects information about tools and resources that can help scholars conduct research more efficiently or creatively. Visitors can browse through topical headings that include “Authoring”, “Blogging”, and “Data Mining”, among others. Within each heading, visitors can read short descriptions about each resource.
Under the “Types of Tools” section visitors can search for specific tools that can help them collect data, edit images, make a dynamic map, and so on.
Additionally, visitors can sign up to join the wiki here and also learn more about Spiro and her other projects

source: Scout report

When the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) VRE programme began in 2004, the aim was to develop an ‘off-the-shelf’ VRE that a group of collaborating researchers could integrate into their normal research cycle no matter what their discipline. The focus was on developing technologies and testing their effectiveness across disciplines. Since those early days, the emphasis has shifted away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ towards the definition and development of a common VRE framework that researchers can populate with applications, services and resources appropriate to their needs to create their own bespoke VREs.

The key aims of the present programme are:

* To enhance research practices through the development and deployment of VREs
* To involve and engage the research community in building and deploying VREs
* To start exploiting and extending VREs in higher education
* To continue raising awareness of the benefits of VREs amongst researchers

Publication date: 15 September 2008

Publication Type(s): Briefing papers

JISC theme(s): e-Research1

September 2008

With an overwhelming amount of knowledge recorded in texts, it has become imperative to use automated techniques that can identify, extract, manage, integrate and exploit this knowledge for research and education, efficiently and systematically. Text mining exploits these techniques. The National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM) offers text mining services to UK researchers that enable semantic searching of text – that is, searches based on the meanings of words, phrases or terms in different contexts – thus improving access to information and increasing the efficiency of new research methodologies and techniques based on advanced information and communication technologies (e-science and e-research).