DARIAH - Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities

DARIAH is pleased to report the publication of the second in a series of national digital humanities infrastructure reports. Covering the Republic of Ireland,  the study aims to identify the development of a digital humanities infrastructure and to map all the relevant recommendations, strategies and initiatives put forward to enable the development of future policies.

The study identifies the key policy makers and planning processes and accounts for achievement and under-achievement to date. Further, it addresses the challenges to the future development of a digital humanities infrastructure in Ireland.

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Further studies of Greece and the United Kingdom to be published later in the year.

Announcing the publication of DARIAH Newsletter, issue 3!

In this issue:

• Sign of the Times: Thoughts from the Director of DARIAH
• DARIAH Publishes First of Series of Major Studies of National Digital Infrastructure Development
• Digital Humanities 2009 Conference - Report on Research Infrastructures Panel
• DARIAH - ACE - ARENA2 Workshop 1
• Interview with Professor Gerhard Lauer
• Focus on DARIAH partners:
  • The Arnamagnæan Institute, University of Copenhagen
  • The Academy of Athens

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DARIAH is pleased to announce the publication of an in-depth study of the digital infrastructure for arts and humanities in Slovenia. This important analysis of an emergent infrastructure focuses on the development process itself; identifying individual initiatives, strategies, collaborations, and accomplishments, as well as the obstacles encountered.  Painstakingly researched with a series of in-depth interviews with researchers, infrastructure providers, and government representatives, the report maps all relevant recommendations, strategies, initiatives and key figures supporting and enabling the development of current and future policies in this area. The paper also includes a comparative component – considering developments in Slovenia within a European Union and wider international context.

This study, along with several forthcoming national reports, is of interest to all those working towards the development of enhanced opportunities for collaborative and independent research in the arts and humanities. In particular, the focus on the construction and deployment of digital research infrastructures will provide examples and be a helpful guide to those working toward the building of an infrastructure within similar contexts.

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A study of Ireland will be available within the next few weeks, with further studies of Greece and the United Kingdom to be published later in the year.

At Digital Humanities 2009, held from the 22nd to the 25th of June at the University of Maryland, representatives of several major infrastructure projects came together on a panel entitled ‘Supporting the Digital Humanities: putting the jigsaw together’. The projects were represented by Seth Denbo (DARIAH), Neil Fraistat (CenterNet), Chad Kainz (Bamboo), and Steven Krauwer (CLARIN); Martin Wynne, who is the official liaison between DARIAH and CLARIN chaired the panel. All of these projects are in the planning stages, so it was very useful to compare and contrast strategy and policy, and valuable have the opportunity to present the plans to the digital humanities community.

Three crucial points came out of the papers and discussion. First, it was widely agreed that infrastructure must support the way researchers work and therefore should be built with the input and ongoing involvement of the community. Second, because of the need to respond to the community, infrastructure initiatives should build on and enhance existing resources, rather than attempting to start from scratch. Finally, all of the speakers emphasized that infrastructure is not just about technology, it is about people and communities, information, knowledge, epistemic practices, content, data, etc. The panel led to some very useful discussion (including input via Twitter) about the importance of  large-scale infrastructure projects. Overall it was a valuable opportunity to exhange ideas and discuss plans.

Shortly after the panel Seth Denbo, who had represented DARIAH, was interviewed briefly by one of the organizers about what he felt was the most interesting aspect of the conference. His reponse, which emphasized the need for a coordinated infrastructure can been seen here, along side other Digital Humanities 2009 Speed Interviews.

A live blog of the Digital Humanities 2009 conference is available on arts-humanities.net.