University of Huddersfield: Exploiting Library Impact Data

Executive summary from the full report: Activity data - delivering benefits from the data deluge by David Kay and Mark van Harmelen

'Activity data' is the record of human actions in the online or physical world that can be captured by computer. The analysis of such data leading to 'actionable insights' is broadly known as 'analytics' and is part of the bigger picture of corporate business intelligence. In global settings (such as Facebook), this data can become extremely large over time – hence the nickname of 'big data' – and is therefore associated with storage and management approaches such as 'data warehousing'.

This executive overview offers higher education decision-makers an introduction to the potential of activity data – what it is, how it can contribute to mission-critical objectives – and proposes how institutions may respond to the associated opportunities and challenges. These themes and recommendations are explored in further detail in the supporting advisory paper, which draws on six institutional cases studies as well as evidence and outputs from a range of Jisc-supported projects in activity data and business intelligence.