Creative Arts Co-Design Workshops

About the Event

Important: the co-design workshop has 2 parts, and we hope you can participate in both sessions – you will need to register for each separately. 

The sessions will be recorded if you are unable to join, and there will be opportunities to contribute to shaping the program outside the workshops.

The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) invites the research community to join 2 workshops to co-design a new national research infrastructure project that will support researchers of the creative arts in Australia.

The new program is part of the ARDC’s HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons, which is establishing long-term, enduring national digital research infrastructure to support researchers to harness research data to enhance Australian social and cultural wellbeing, and help understand and preserve our culture, history and heritage.

Last year, the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons was awarded $25 million from the Australian Government’s 2023 National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Funding Round, which is in addition to the the $8.9 million received from NCRIS to establish the HASS and Indigenous RDC, which was launched in 2021.

The new funding from the Australian Government will be invested through the ARDC’s co-design and co-investment approach to building digital research infrastructure. 

In this workshop, we seek input from the HASS and Indigenous research community to co-design the programs and projects that will meet the digital infrastructure needs of researchers now and in the future.

The HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons is committed to enabling capable people, effective institutions, innovative technology, relevant data and collaborative governance with the aim of elevating research capability in the HASS and Indigenous research sectors.

About the creative arts research infrastructure program

The program for creative arts researchers aims to enhance the foundation for preserving and studying the aesthetic and economic contributions that the arts make to Australian culture. It will provide a greater opportunity to more easily research across artforms, and outline a clearer sense of the factors that have shaped trends and fault-lines in Australian arts practice. 

The program builds on existing work with a long track record in prior infrastructure investment. 

It will contribute to a national approach to Australian arts-based collections and facilitate a greater degree of documentation and cross-referencing to significantly improve research capabilities for academics, arts industries, government, and the general public.

This new program does not intend to start from scratch. One area of focus is likely to look at opportunities to enhance the interoperability between AustLit and AusStage, the two largest, most sophisticated, mature, and best-known datasets in the Australian cultural context.  

The ARDC’s co-design process for developing national research infrastructure

We seek to develop infrastructure that creates the greatest impact for research and researchers by co-designing that infrastructure with the people who will benefit from it. Co-design will involve a wide range of stakeholders with different experience and expertise. Our aim is to include all the perspectives necessary to allow a consideration of specific researcher needs, balanced by relative needs and priorities, and what is practically possible to address.

We will be holding 2 open co-design workshops to better understand the current challenges around data-driven creative arts research. We will discuss the investment opportunity that ARDC has identified, with the aim of learning: 

• what outcomes and developments would be of most benefit 
• what will be both valuable and feasible
• how our investments can align with other activity in the sector. 

Workshop participants are expected to actively participate in discussions. We encourage participants to attend both workshops if possible. A summary of the discussions will be made available after each workshop. 

The process we will follow is described in the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Co-Design Framework, and is based on established methods such as the TACSI Co-Design Framework. Development of our co-investment activities will follow these steps: 

1. Problem Identification
2. Project Shaping
3. Project Planning
4. Endorsement. 

The Problem Identification and Project Shaping phases will be conducted through open co-design workshops. We will seek community feedback on the draft project plan, and the final plan will be reviewed by the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Advisory Panel prior to endorsement.

The planned work will be delivered as a contracted co-investment activity. The ARDC will enter into a single 4-year contract with the lead organisation, who will sub-contract external partner organisations on the project team as required.

Who will be speaking?

• Jenny Fewster, Director, HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons, ARDC
• Professor Joanne Tompkins, Professor of Theatre Studies and Emeritus Professor, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland
• Associate Professor Maggie Nolan, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland, Director, AustLit
• Professor Chris Hay, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University

Who should attend?

• HASS and Indigenous research community, including academics, researchers and citizen scientists, particularly those involved in data-driven research
• senior decision makers at research, GLAM and Indigenous institutions, industry and NGOs
• those who collect and manage data for use by research
• research infrastructure providers and digital skills trainers

What participants will gain from the session? 

• Learn about the program and partnership opportunities
• Contribute your use cases and experience to shape the development of infrastructure for creative arts research

Join more ARDC co-design workshops

This program is one of a series of co-design workshops we’re running in February 2024 for the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons.

Please also consider registering for:

• Media(ted) data
• Improving Indigenous Research Capability
• Language Data Commons of Australia.

Further ARDC resources

• HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons
• Resources for HASS and Indigenous research

Will the session be recorded?

Yes, the session will be recorded, provided to all registrants and published online.

Have questions?

Email [email protected]

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Please note that this event may be recorded and published by the ARDC. This may include your contributions during the session. ARDC respects the privacy of individuals. Information collected is in accordance with the ARDC Privacy Policy.

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