Research IT

Research IT Club - Visualization and Digital Image Viewing

Come along to the Research IT club on the 13th of Feb to hear more about our brand new Visualization And Data Analysis Laboratory – vDAL and the launch of a new university wide service – Digital Image Viewer. There will also be updates on the latest news from Research IT infrastructure and Applications and Software.

The abstracts for the event at 3pm on the 13th of Feb in Rm 4.4 Roscoe are below and we ask all attendees to register for the event.

Updates from the Research IT teams

  • Research Lifecycle Project (RLP)
  • Research Infrastructure
  • Research Software Engineering

vDAL - Visualization And Data Analysis Laboratory

Louise Lever and Joshua Woodcock, Research IT

vDAL is a bookable space where researchers can access VR, MR, mobile devices and high-end graphics workstations for testing, prototype development and collaboration with Research Software Engineers. Equipment includes the HTC Vive headset, Google Pixel and Daydream VR, Google Cardboard, zSpace AR Workstation and a high-end dual GPU workstation with touch and 4K displays. There will be an introduction to the equipment available and some examples of how researchers can benefit from its use.

Digitising the University’s cultural assets.

Bryan Archer, Project Manager, Digital Image Viewer, IT Services

The University has made a major investment in the research infrastructure for digital humanities and digital cultural heritage, with a new image viewer to be developed and built in collaboration with experts from Cambridge University Library’s Digital Library team. University of Manchester Library’s Special Collections will be the first user of the system though all cultural institutions, in fact the whole of the University, will be able to benefit in the future.

The new image viewer will allow enhanced viewing and manipulation of ultra-high quality images, with a parallel display of text, audio, and even video content. With its functionality permitting the presentation of extensive research content alongside the images, the new viewer will allow academics to curate digital editions of important items from existing collections, digitise new research and bring all of this to a wider audience.