JISC

Background

As the recent Hargreaves' report observes, in this increasingly competitive age, text mining of digital media has the potential for considerable innovation and related economic benefit. The potential for innovation, in the academic sphere at least, lies in the ability to capitalise on new patterns discovered between disparate sources. While JISC and the National Centre for Text Mining (NaCTeM)  have done much to encourage the development and exploitation of text mining tools within the UK academic community, there is a significant political/economic challenge to its use.  As the UK copyright and IPR laws currently stand, text mining is illegal in many cases. This is because the source documents or data must be electronically copied before parsing and information extraction can take place. If the copyright holder cannot be traced or copying is forbidden by contract then text mining cannot be undertaken even for non-commercial purposes - research is no exception.  If text mining and text analytics is to be used in UK FHE for competitive advantage (as Hargreaves advocates) the economic value and benefits, of text mining and text analytics in UK FHE needs to be firmly established.  Only with robust evidence will it be possible to make the case for change to senior decision makers and the funding infrastructure and policy communities.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this study is therefore to conduct an analysis of the value (particularly in economic terms) and benefits of text mining and text analytics in UK FE and HE.

We will realise this aim through the following objectives:

• O1: To collect evidence from those who have used text mining and text analytics technologies and good practice, covering: the approaches taken; the technical, economic, legal and policy conditions that were necessary for success or failure, and; the benefits accruing to UK HE and/or FE, and thereby to the UK economy and society.
• O2: To assess and present this evidence in relation to: (i) the targeted development and exploitation of technologies and good practice in text mining and text analytics; and (ii) the adoption of particular positions with respect to the technical, economic, legal and policy contexts that are relevant to them, where the evidence suggests that those positions are likely to be conditions for the benefits identified in O1.

Approach

The study will be set in the context of the Hargreaves report's observations and recommendations relating to text mining and text analytics. The complexity of the issues involved mean that we will adopt a multi-method approach, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This consists of 5 stages - baselining, desk research and consultation, detailed case studies, analysis of value, benefits and risks, exploring exploitation (barriers, solutions and resources) and reporting on findings.