Err, what do I do with this? Exploring infrastructure requirements for visual arts researchers

A keynote presentation delivered at the Research Data Management Forum (RDMF10), University of Oxford, 3-4 September 2013. In recent times the principal focus for research data management protagonists has been upon scientific data, due perhaps to a combination of conspicuous Government or funder declarations with a bias towards the sciences and the very public consciousness of examples of 'big data', notably the output from CERN's Large Hadron Collider. That is not to say that developments in the management of arts and humanities data have been absent, merely occluded. RDMF10 aims to take some steps towards rectifying this situation, examining what it is about arts and humanities data that may require a different kind of handling to that given to other disciplines, how the needs for support, advocacy, training and infrastructure are being supplied and, consequently, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the current arrangements for data curation and sharing. The broad aims of the event were: to examine aspects of arts and humanities data that may require a different kind of handling to that given to other disciplines; to discuss how needs for support, advocacy, training and infrastructure are being described and met; and consequently, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current arrangements for arts and humanities data curation and sharing, and brainstorm ways forward