This month DARIAH’s General Assembly approved the latest version of the consortium’s Strategic Action Plan (or “STRAPL”, as it is referred to).
Better support, improved communications and a “marketplace”
The STRAPL is a living document that serves as a blueprint for DARIAH to become optimally operational by 2019. It will guide the activities of the DARIAH constituent bodies and officers to provide clear value for the national members and the collaborative efforts they are and have been engaged in, forming networks, Working Groups and projects to further the DARIAH mission, to enhance and support digitally-enabled research across the Humanities and Arts.
There are essentially three main areas of focus in the STRAPL: improving internal and external communications, better supporting researchers across DARIAH’s user communities, and the creation of a “marketplace”, which will provide contextualised access to DARIAH-produced tools, services and resources.
First outcomes
A first outcome of these efforts is the relaunch of the Digital Humanities Course Registry, an open online inventory of DH modules, courses and programmes in Europe. It aims at helping students, researchers, lecturers and institutions (from DARIAH and beyond) to find, promote and connect to teaching and training activities related to Digital Humanities. Another example is a modernised version of the DARIAH website, which will eventually also host the new DARIAH Marketplace.
Developing the STRAPL
The development of the STRAPL was a community effort, launched by DARIAH’s Strategic Management Team (SMT) in January 2017. “The STRAPL then passed through every level of the organisation until we were sure this really did represent our priorities and those of our stakeholders,” explains Jennifer Edmond from DARIAH’s Board of Directors. “We spent almost a year honing the document, and find it is an effective touchstone for strategic decision making and alignment of efforts across a large and diverse organisation,” says Edmond.
Links
Download DARIAH’s Strategic Action Plan
DH Course Registry: https://registries.clarin-dariah.eu/courses/
