CRAfT (Create Research Archives for Tomorrow) grants are for UAlberta faculty who want to gather, digitize, enrich, document and deposit an innovative archive that will support research.
The grant includes:
- Up to $5,000 in cash for support of the project,
- Up to $5,000 in in-kind support from the Library, and
- Up to $5,000 in in-kind computing support from ARC for projects based in the Faculty of Arts.
These grants can be used to digitize, describe, enrich and/or archive the records of an important local organization, or to prepare samples for artists, or to develop a web archive around a contemporary issue. What matters is the research potential of the materials and whether they can be shared. What open archives would support your research or that of others in your field?
Guidelines and Criteria
These grants are to help researchers create digital archives following best practices that will support innovative research. We will select the successful grant or grants based on the following criteria:
- Is the project led out of and appropriate to the social sciences, humanities or arts?
- Is the team appropriate for the project? Does the team understand best practices in digitization and research data management? Can the team take advantage of the resulting archive for further research?
- Are the materials of long-term research priority? Is the scope reasonable, given the grant? Can this be done with the resources available?
- What research would this seed? Why is this important?
- Are the rights to the materials clear? Can the resulting digital archive be shared under a Creative Commons license?
- Does the team have an appropriate research management plan that includes plans for documenting the archive so it can be used by others?
Proposals
Proposals should be maximum 5 pages using Times New Roman or Calibri 12 point fonts, single spacing and 1" margins. We ask that you include the following:
- Title of project
- Name and departmental affiliation of the Principal Investigator
- Names and affiliation of team members, if any. Team members can be from university, community, government and/or business (as applicable). ***Please note that you do not need to list Library or ARC staff as team members.***
- Short description that can be made public. Describe your project in lay terms that is accessible and shareable with a general audience. Focus on the 'So what?', why is this project important? (approximately 150 words)
- Longer discussion of the proposed archive that specifies the materials to be digitized and deposited. Explain the research value of the proposed archive, and the outcomes and/or anticipated next steps. Discuss the rights associated with the materials and whether the final archive can be shared openly.
- Activities and timeline
- Research data management plan with a focus on data accessibility and stewardship. ***Please note that the RDM plan is not considered part of the 5-page proposal and should be included as an attachment. We recommend using the Portage DMP Assistant to generate an RDM plan.***
- Project needs: please list any programming, digital preservation support and special infrastructure needs your project may require from the following list:
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- Programming (e.g. websites, databases, data collection tools, data processing etc.)
- Access to research studio/lab
- Metadata standards and management (e.g. archival description, Dublin Core)
- Project management support for digital preservation (e.g. collection and deposit of project artifacts into the UAL archives)
- Access to digitization equipment or services
- Use of digital repository infrastructure and tools
- Other (please specify)
- Brief budget with one or two line explanation of items. ***In your budget, please separate line items into two groups: 1) cash (to be covered by the $5,000 cash portion of the grant) and 2) in-kind (those that would form part of the in-kind contribution requested from ARC/Library).***
Applications are due December 1st, 2017 and can be submitted via email to kias@ualberta.ca. Please complete and attach RSO's "Request New Application" form with your proposal (make sure to check with your Research Facilitator about RSO's internal deadline).
We expect to communicate results by December 23rd, 2017. Please feel free to contact us for further information.