Dear All,

While I usually doubt the efficacy of such petitions, some of the British
citizens or residents among you may be interested in the following petition:

======

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/AHDSfunding/

On 11 May 2007, Professor Phillip Esler, Chief Executive of the AHRC, wrote
to University Vice-Chancellors informing them of the Council's decision to
withdraw funding from the AHDS after eleven years. The AHDS has pioneered
and encouraged awareness and use among Britain's university researchers in
the arts and humanities of best practice in preserving digital data created
by research projects funded by public money. It has also ensured that this
data remains publically available for future researchers. It is by no means
evident that a suitable replacement infrastructure will be established and
the AHRC appears to have taken no adequate steps to ensure the continued
preservation of this data. The AHDS has also played a prominent role in
raising awareness of new technologies and innovative practices among UK
researchers. We believe that the withdrawal of funding for this body is a
retrograde step which will undermine attempts to create in Britain a
knowledge economy based on latest technologies. We ask the Prime Minister
to urge the AHRC to reconsider this decision.

======


(feel free to circulate)
-James

-- 
Dr James Cummings, Oxford Text Archive, University of Oxford
James dot Cummings at oucs dot ox dot ac dot uk