KDCS provides research and consulting services. Specialising in the information and digital domain our services are used by cultural, heritage and information professionals along with corporate clients.
This venture is led by its Director, Simon Tanner, and is based within the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (CCH) at King's College London.
The service mission of KDCS is to provide expertise and consultancy for the creation and management of digital resources for cultural organizations within the UK and internationally. Services are aimed primarily at non-profit cultural organisations, such as libraries, museums and archives. KDCS operates as a not-for-profit service.
The following is a short exemplar list of current and recent activity (by no means comprehensive) for your information:
Digitising the Dead Sea Scrolls - KDCS is advising the Israeli Antiquities Authority on the colour, infra-red, and multi-spectral imaging of the Dead Sea Scrolls. KDCS is also advising on the Web delivery mechanism.
National Library of Scotland - KDCS is delivering strategic advice on its development of a Trusted Digital Repository.
US Art Museum study - charging models & policy for digital resources. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation made a grant to KDCS for a study of USA art museum policy and practice regarding the market for digital resources.
Corpus Christi College and Stanford University - consultancy to the Parker on the Web project aiming to digitally deliver ~180,000 pages of Anglo-Saxon manuscript from the Parker Library.
National Library of Ireland. KDCS is on a consultancy retainer to assist with the Library's digitisation programme development.
Text Capture study for the Oxford University Digital Library Service.
The National Library of Wales - a feasibility study for the complete digitisation of the Librar's print collection.
Digital Futures Academy - KDCS delivers this 5-day intensive training course on creating and delivering digital resources.
Simon has a Library and Information Science background. Before joining King's, he was Senior Consultant at HEDS - the Higher Education Digitisation Service - and had a key role in its successful development as a JISC Service. He has also held IT, management and library roles for Loughborough University, Rolls-Royce and Associates and IBM (UK) Laboratories. Simon has been a consultant to the Courtauld Institute of Art, the British Library, Oxford University, the National Library of Ireland, the Royal Academy of Arts, Birmingham Public Libraries, the Metadata Engine Project, the House of Commons and to Denmark's National Electronic Research Library amongst others. He has also carried out research projects for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on charging models for digital cultural heritage in Europe and the USA.
Simon is the co-author of the book 'Digital Futures: Strategies for the Information Age' with Dr Marilyn Deegan (reviewed in D-Lib Magazine and a sample chapter is at Facet Publishing). He co-edits the Digital Futures Series of books and is a theme editor for the Journal of Digital Information on the Economic Factors of Managing Digital Content and Establishing Digital Libraries.