Jisc Digifest 2016: BB-8 and Open Access Infrastructure in the Same Conference!

Digital Science recently attended and exhibited at Jisc Digifest 2016, an exciting and innovative conference exploring the value of digital technologies in UK Higher Education and Further Education. The conference was a great chance for us to see what other innovative projects are happening across the research space, as well an opportunity to share thoughts and engage with our community.

Our booth was located right next to the “Digi Lab” where lots of cutting-edge hardware was available to try out, including interactive robots (where BB-8 made an appearance), virtual reality headsets and 3D printers!

There were lots of interesting topics being discussed across the conference, from services that support Open Access, to the impact of cloud computing, to research data management workflows – almost too many to choose from!

Euan Adie (@Stew), founder of Altmetric, gave an interesting presentation in the session on the power of data mining for research, specifically for research assessment and credit. Euan gave a concise and insightful overview of the field of altmetrics and explained some of the key concepts and distinctions to keep in mind in order to avoid misunderstanding and confusion.

On the Jisc website you can now listen to a podcast of highlights, access all the slides and presentations, watch interviews and read blog write-ups. Video recordings of sessions should be shared soon.

Here’s to looking forward to #digifest17!

P.S. If you want to see a video of us at #digifest15 – check out our blog post from last year!