The Human Communication Science Virtual Lab (HCS vLab): A repository microclimate in a rapidly evolving research-ecosystem

Abstract

The HCS vLab represents a new kind of data driven research collaboration environment built around a repository of human communication data, from research collections in a broad range of fields. The repository contains text, audio and video data as well as annotations which describe the data, with a discovery search/browse interface. The main function of the lab is to provide a platform data via a rich programming interface (API), and via a workflow engine which allows a large cross-disciplinary research community to run combinations of tools on the data. The presentation will cover vLab’s genesis as an Australian Government funded project led by the University of Western Sydney. We will provide a walk-through of the functionality of the lab including showing how familiar repository functionality such as search-and-browse is linked to the creation of stable, citable collections known as “item lists”, and how item lists can be processed and analysed in various ways and how this fits in to the research lifecycle including how data and publications will be linked and cited, and explore the relationship between the lab and other scholarly infrastructure such as institutional repositories.