New Project: Oxford Artistic and Practice Based Research Platform (OAR)

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

By Anita Paz, Jessyca Hutchens, Naomi Vogt and Nina Wakeford

Our project will create a new online publishing platform for practice based researchers at Oxford University and beyond. The aim of the Oxford Artistic and Practice Based Research Platform (OAR) is to link up and provide an online space for academics engaged in this form of research. Practice-based research can be broadly understood as knowledge arising from practice (such as artistic processes and field work), and is often demonstrated through a dynamic or creative approach to using and combining media, including, images, music, design, film, performance. Currently, most of the avenues for publishing this research are focused on art practice. Our platform will showcase the great range of innovative approaches being employed across the disciplines, treating practice based research as an epistemological category, and bringing researchers together.

Our web platform will have two key components: an online issue delivered on the website twice a year, showcasing exemplary works that demonstrate or critically interrogate practice-based research; and a more open and generative research space, where content will be uploaded regularly, and which will allow us to showcase works across different media, evolving works and works-in-progress, and create an avenue for timely feedback and response. The publication of the issues will provide content to inspire response and dialogue in the more open, experimental section. We will launch the platform later this year with an Issue O, themed around the idea of ‘Response’, and follow this with the publication of Issue 1, around the theme ‘Sites of Research.’ We are currently seeking potential contributors, collaborators, and people to join our research network.

Updates about our progress will be posted regularly on our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1698611737090148/

You can follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/OAR_Platform

We are hosting an information session (with refreshments) for interested researchers on May 10 2016, at Wadham College, LSK A, 5 – 6:30pm. Join the event page below: https://www.facebook.com/events/201498310212875/

UPDATE: The OAR platform is now available: http://www.oarplatform.com/

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Oxford Alternative Prospectus – completed project

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz
AlternativeProspectus

Flyer advertising the new website

The Oxford Alternative Prospectus is an IT Innovation project run by student Greg Auger. It was successfully completed in February 2016 when the online Prospectus was launched.

The Oxford Alternative Prospectus

The Alternative Prospectus offers potential applicants information from the perspective of current students, complementing the official prospectus. It has been around as a printed publication for over thirty years. It offers a wealth of information and perspectives about the University, Student Life, Courses, and Colleges, all supplied by current students.

The Project

The IT Innovation project has created a digital, web-based version of the Alternative Prospectus, making the information easier to find and use. Being freed from the limitations of the printed page, allows for more students to be given a voice, and more detailed information than it has been possible to offer in previous print versions.

The project was run by Greg Auger, who worked with Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) and hundreds of students who provided information for the prospectus. The result can be seen at http://apply.ousu.org/. This website will be run and maintained by OUSU.

Tips from the project manager for future projects

  • For a website (or other communication project), it is not only content that matters. Design is critical too. If your skills are primarily technical, it would be worth recruiting someone with experience in design.
  • Be aware that when you are collaborating with others, whether they have small or large parts to play, you need to ask well in advance (and agree timescales with them).

Credits

The Alternative Prospectus couldn’t exist without the hundreds of students who contributed to it. Particular credit must go to Jess Sinyor (editor) and Natalie Harney (designer), both for their work on the print version, and their help applying this to the website. The staff at OUSU were fabulous, in particular Katy Law (Digital Communications Coordinator) and Amelia Foster (CEO). But my greatest thanks must go to Cat Jones (OUSU Vice-President for Access and Academic Affairs) for her encouragement, guidance and collaboration with stakeholders throughout the University.

Posted in Completed projects, Projects | 1 Comment

February update

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz
Calendar

February calendar. From http://tinyurl.com/gquqext. Creative Commons

This year February has not only been longer than usual (leap year) but has also seen a lot of IT Innovation activity. A new round of Challenges was launched on the 10th and within a couple of hours the first two ideas were uploaded. Ideas keep trickling in as do comments and votes and we are expecting a surge as the deadline for submissions approaches (12th March).

At the same time as the new challenges were launched, the previous round reached its final stage – the Pitch Event. At the event, the IT Innovation Panel were treated to presentations of the project proposals that stem from the shortlisted ideas in the Autumn round. Of the 21 shortlisted ideas, 14 took up the invitation to submit a project proposal  and then pitched their ideas to the assembled Panel members. The Panel faced some difficult decisions but agreed to offer funding to 10 of the projects. Work is now underway to put formal funding agreements in place and make the necessary arrangements needed for the projects, such as setting up accounts and transferring the funds. As the projects get started, we will introduce them on this blog.

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Pitch events

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

As the new Spring round of IT Innovation Challenges is launched, work on the previous round has just reached a crucial stage; the Pitch Events. At the events, shortlisted ideas get to present their project proposals to the Innovation Panel who then decide on the funding allocation. This time, two events were held; one for staff and one one for student proposals. The Panel was treated to a range of great presentations and had a wealth of interesting projects to consider. The decisions are now being circulated to applicants. As soon as the successful projects have formally accepted their offers, we will be announing the new projects.stages

To re-cap, each round of IT Innovation Challenges goes through the same stages. Ideas are first submitted and discussed (Ideas stage). They are reviewed (Review stage) and a shortlist of idea creators are selected to create a project proposal. The final part of the Project Proposal stage is the Pitch Events. At the event, idea creators, who have first submitted a written project proposal,  get to ‘pitch’ their idea to the IT Innovation Panel. They are asked to give a 5-minute presentation where they briefly address three points: What is the project about, what benefits will it bring, and what could they do if they had to reduce their budget. The Panel then has the opportunity to talk to the creators ask questions about their projects. Decisions about what projects will be offered funding are made very shortly after the pitch event, and applicants are normally notified within a few days. The process has been designed to be quick and simple, and both Panel and applicants have expressed tehir appreciation of this.

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Briefing session

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

On February 16, we held a short briefing session about the IT Innovation scheme and the current challenges. Stuart Lee, Deputy CIO and initiator of the scheme, talked about why the scheme was introduced gave some examples of successful projects from previous rounds. He also explained the process for suggesting ideas and talked about what happens after that. Some 20 people had registerd their interest in the session, and had the chance to ask questions and discuss their ideas with the IT Innovation cchairsrew.

If you missed the session this time, you may be interested in the recordings (made in the autum but covering the same amin points):

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Spring into IT Innovation

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz
Spring challenges CC BY-SA YBP

Spring challenges CC BY-SA YBP

A new round of  IT Innovation Challenges has been launched. It welcomes ideas from University staff for digital projects that:

Ideas in other areas can also be submitted (the ‘Open’ category).

This challenge will close at midnight on 12 March for submissions but remain open a further week for discussion and final edits of ideas. Some ideas will then be selected by the IT Innovation Panel to go to the next stage.

For more information about IT Innovation Challenges, the current challenge, how to share ideas and more, please visit the IT Innovation Challenges site.

For queries or questions, contact innovation@it.ox.ac.uk.

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Sign in with Single Sign-on

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

Users of the Oxfordwebauth2 Ideas platform can now log in to share ideas and contribute to discussions using the Oxford Single Sign-on details (SSO). This has been made possible through collaboration between Wazuko, creators of the platform we use, and a team at IT Services. Access through SSO has been an aim ever since the platform was launched, and we are very pleased that it has now been implemented. We hope that this will make the platform even easier to access, encouraging more users to contribute to the exchange of ideas. Those who have used the platform before should find that their profiles and any ideas they have created are still available, so the only difference is that there is no need to remember a separate username and password to log in.

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Showcase event – flash talks

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

DSC_0060IT Innovation Challenges held its first showcase event on November 26, 2015. The event offered an opportunity for members of the University to learn more about the scheme and meet the people involved. In addition to talking to representatives of the scheme and discussing project ideas with them, participants could explore a number of project displays where most of the 25 funded projects presented their work. Ten of the projects also gave brief ‘flash talks’ where they introduced their projects. The talks were recorded and are available through the links here (Oxford users only – requires sign-in).

  • Introduction (audio only) – Stuart Lee
  • Between Text and Object Digital transformation of teaching through objects – Kathryn Eccles
  • Collaborate App (GO1) Enabling realtime collaboration for students and faculty – Andrew Barnes
  • First Response Providing timely, accessible, and confidential information for survivors of sexual violence – Eden Tanner
  • Frameworks The Oxford mobile skills tracker – John Miles
  • GoGirl Training young women from non-traditional educational backgrounds in creative computing and programming – Anne Geniets
  • Hidden Museum Revealing collections content in context – Ted Koterwas
  • Join In Light-touch introductions to popular digital technologies – Emma Procter-Legg
  • Research Software Developers Digital Network A community for those who develop the software fundamental to research – Jonathan Cooper
  • ResearchRecipes / Scitocols Powerful collaboration tools and version control for protocols – Maximilian Hoerantner
  • ReSounding Bringing the University’s musical instrument collections to life – Ted Koterwas
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January progress

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

The IT Innovation Challenges launched a new call for ideas in Micahelmas Term 2015. The call invited staff to submit ideas for projects that would:

  • assist in undergraduate admissions and access activities
    and/or
  • make research easier for researchers
    and/or
  • provide solutions for international collaboration in research

As before, students were encouraged to share their ideas for digital projects that can improve student life in general, and for this round a special call was made for projects that can assist with undergraduate admissions and access.

A total of 32 staff ideas and 18 student ideas were submitted by the deadline. These were viewed over 5,000 times, and comments, suggestions and votes were added by hundreds of contributors. The submitted ideas were reviewed by the Innovation Panel, and a subset of idea creators were invited to submit a project proposal where they describe how their ideas can be turned into a project.

The intention is to make the project proposal stage as straight-forward as possible. The proposals need to be carefully thought out, with a realistic budget and work plan, but the forms that are used are as simple as possible, focussing on the important questions what (what is your project about?), why (why is the project needed?), and how (how will you do it?)

In response to a suggestion from previous applicants, ideas creators that were invited to submit a project proposal were also offered an opportunity to meet with representatives of the scheme to talk about their proposal. In these informal meetings, applicants could ask about process and procedures, discuss aspects of their project, get advice on how to fill in the project proposal document, and raise any questions or concerns they had.

In addition to submitting a project proposal, idea creators are asked to present their project idea to the Panel at a ‘pitching event’ in February. The Panel will then select a number of projects to be given funding from the Innovation Challenges. We will be able to announce the successful initiatives as soon as they have accepted the funding offer.

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Dec 25. IT Innovation Advent Calendar

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Ylva Berglund Prytz

IT Innovation Challenges supports small start-up digital projects that will bring a benefit to the University. In its first year, the scheme has funded 25 projects. These are featured in our 2015 IT Innovation Advent Calendar.

Hidden Museum. A project based in Museum of Natural History and Museum of the History of Science.
For more information about the project, please follow the link in the image or contact innovation@it.ox.ac.uk.HiddenMuseum

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