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Abstract

An extended abstract is available for this presentation.

This paper will illustrate how eResearch is being enthusiastically embraced by literary scholars in Australia through a number of services being developed and deployed through the AustLit portal. In particular this paper will describe the evolving knowledge base that is being built through the collaborative and active participation of the communities that AustLit serves. We will also describe the innovative technologies being developed which will radically transform the way that Australian literary history is understood, analysed and discussed. More specifically the paper will describe enhancements to AustLit being developed through a National eResearch Architecture Taskforce (NeAT)-funded project that include:

• integration of external related repositories through a federated search interface; 
• advanced querying and browsing services that combine full-text searches with empirical analysis; 
• annotation and online discussion services for sub-communities; 
• OAI-ORE-based compound object authoring services for capturing, publishing and sharing related records and digital objects.

About the speakers

Anna Gerber is the Senior Software Engineer for Aus-e-Lit (http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~eresearch/projects/aus-e-lit/), a NeAT-funded project that aims to provide collaborative annotation services, federated searching, graphical empirical reporting and compound-object authoring and publishing services for teachers, researchers and scholars of Australian Literature. Aus-e-Lit is a collaboration between the ITEE eResearch group at the University of Queensland, and AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource.collaborative annotation services, federated searching, graphical empirical reporting and compound-object authoring and publishing services for teachers, researchers and scholars of Australian Literature. Aus-e-Lit is a collaboration between the ITEE eResearch group at the University of Queensland, and AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource.

Kerry Kilner is a Faculty of Arts Research Fellow at The University of Queensland and Director of AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (www.austlit.edu.au), a webbased research and information resource comprehensively mapping Australia’s literary landscape. She is also the project director, with Professor Jane Hunter, of Aus-e-Lit (http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~eresearch/projects/aus-e-lit/), the NCRIS-funded project developing integration and annotation tools and services for Australian literature researchers. The project aims to take advantage of Web 2.0 and 3.0 advances to extend AustLit’s usefulness and ability to meet the needs of contemporary researchers. Kerry’s research interests are in the way authority works in collaboratively authored internet resources such as Wikipedia and how they are influencing the traditional arbiters of authority.