// Latest Posts

Better OCR of Research Papers and Newspaper Articles

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) describes a technique whereby computers can read printed text. OCR of newspapers, magazines and research papers has always been challenging due to the unconventional and unusual formatting of the material. Text boxes, images and tables are often overlaid and are difficult (for a computer) to distinguish. Conventional, out-of-the-box OCR software is …

CITRUS – Smarter Power

Changing Times How we are using energy is changing. Not only how the energy is generated, but where and when it is used. These changes mean that we are now pushing the limits of how we expected to use our traditional gas-fired power stations, both in terms of the longevity of these sites, the operation …

Conducting research interviews securely online

Interviewing online has several advantages. These include the ability to conduct interviews from anywhere, easily link to automated transcription, and take advantage of document sharing. In this blog, we offer guidance for ensuring compliance with ethical and research-data-management obligations when interviewing online. Microsoft Teams – simple and secure Staff and students at the University have …

Seal Failure Database

Seals for Aerospace Applications Project Title: Improving Aero-engine Sealing Technologies by Increasing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Intervals  Seal Failure in Aerospace Applications – Creating a Global Open Source Database for Failed Seals Incident Repots  Seals are important in aerospace applications because they restrict leakage of oil and prevent debris from entering systems. The failure of such components …

Robinhood and the revenge of the reviewer

Last week saw the share price of the US retailer GameStop rise from US$65 to US$325. This extraordinary jump was fuelled by private investors who have rallied behind the shorted stock, thus pitching themselves against corporate hedge funds.  The narrative of the ‘little man’ battling Wall Street financiers chimed nicely with the name of the …

Response to the Government’s National Data Strategy consultation

The UK Government recently invited contributions to its National Data Strategy consultation. Respondents were asked to address nineteen questions about the value of data to the UK economy and society, free access to data, data standards, security protocols, the sharing of data with international partners, and more. As the Government states on its website: The …

Launch of the University of Nottingham Automated Transcription Service

Are you a University of Nottingham researcher who records speech as part of your research? Do you transcribe this yourself or pass on the audio for others to transcribe? Digital Research and Information Services are pleased to announce the launch of the University of Nottingham Automated Transcription Service, a new capability built with funding from …

Making a podcast

Podcasts are a great way to engage a large and diverse audience. In this blog, we discuss what you need to plan, record, edit, and publish a podcast.   STEP ONE: Planning Before you do anything, you’ll want to think about the following elements. They will help you manage your podcast and shape it into …

Learn how to train a Simpsons character classifier at home using Ludwig

Researchers may be wondering what tools are available for them to work on their datasets from home. In this blog, we highlight an open-source toolkit that allows researchers to implement machine learning architectures and deep learning models on their home computers with little to no coding. In this blog post you will learn about the …

Going Greener Digitally with Enzymes 

Nature is the Best Chemist Nature is the best synthetic chemist, capable of manufacturing chemicals in an energy-efficient manner and with biodegradable by-products. Millions of years of evolution have explored and optimized reaction pathways, and we would be foolish not to exploit that chemistry. Critical to this efficiency are enzymes – biological catalysts – that are not consumed by …