An Open Science Voice for the Humanities – a Humanities Voice for Open Science
What is the activity?
Providing an Open Science voice for the Humanities - a Humanities voice for Open Science: fostering and implementing pathways to the open research culture as they specifically pertain to the arts and humanities research communities across and beyond the DARIAH network.
What kind of impact does it have?
DARIAH’s Open Science activities explore and foster domain-specific pathways to the open research culture. This includes promoting innovation through new networks and collaborations, supporting uptake of new research and publication practices through reflection, creation and diffusion of high-quality new knowledge, skills and technologies as well as building infrastructural enablers of open research practices. The impact of these activities primarily manifest itself in changes in research culture; in changes in the EU research policy and it also enables the DARIAH member countries to collectively attract funding through European partnerships to address the gaps in the Open Science landscape together.
Who benefits?
DARIAH communities, humanities scholars, research support staff, science policy makers, Cultural Heritage professionals.
Rationale for and Overview of the Activity
The digital transformation of research opened up radically new potentials in innovation and dissemination in all scientific areas. Open Science is becoming the new normal modus operandi in them, also as increasingly central conditions of research funding [4]. Still, in many cases, the dominant impact of STEM disciplines on the Open Science paradigm makes it uneasy for Arts and Humanities scholars to translate these values to their everyday research realities. Therefore, it is crucially important to establish a dedicated discourse and community practices around the open research culture as it makes sense in the arts and humanities disciplines. DARIAH is in a unique position to push forward to an open ecosystem that is organically growing out from real community practices and needs. Our organisation supports the deeper and broader adoption of open research practices with Open Science through the following activities/focus areas:
Description of the Impact
1. Policy Impact:
In the past couple of years, DARIAH has become a globally recognised representative of arts In the past couple of years, DARIAH has become a globally recognised representative of arts and humanities in the European science policy landscape and is member of key European policy bodies such as the Open Science Policy Platform [9] or the EOSC Training and Skills Working Group [10]. DARIAH’s contributions have been recognised, endorsed, or taken up by high-level organisations like OSPP, OPERAS, EASSH, or ALLEA [11], [12].
“The reason we selected DARIAH-EU to be on board was exactly because of the need of your voice in the OSPP. [...]I believe that all the big science challenges we have this century are multi disciplinary and thus need the Arts and humanities too. Finally, by having you there, we gave a strong signal that OS is as much a challenge as an opportunity for your peers than it is for any other scientific discipline.”
Jean-Claude Burgelman (Head of Unit Open Data Policies and Science Cloud DG RTD between 2017- 2020; former chair of the Open Science Policy Platform)
Together with other actors, DARIAH is a strong advocate of the better inclusion of academic books with the Open Access policy and publication landscape. Among others, we contributed to the Open Access mandate for long forms of scholarship in the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement [4] and are especially glad to see policy change in this respect, such as a dedicated Horizon Europe call to support the development of aligned policies for Open Access books and monographs [35].
Further, DARIAH’s call for diversifying business models of Open Access publication in response to Plan S [6] has contributed to a significant policy change as the Coalition S is now exploring collaborative, non-commercial publishing models for Open Access that allow deviation from the pay-to-publish models [7]. DARIAH’s statement also found strong resonance among arts and humanities scholars [8].
2. Cultural Impact
Since 2018, DARIAH has been actively supporting its communities in making their scholarly practices more open via training, workshops [14], infrastructural support, DARIAH’s Open Access policy [15] and dedicated Open Science services such as the DARIAH Open blog, the OpenMethods platform or the Open Science helpdesk [16].
2.1. In the light of numbers: the impact of DARIAH’s advocacy can be the scale and quality in which different communities engage [30] with the resources and services and the depth of such engagements. impact and reach is evidenced by viewing figures, web hits, user statistics etc. Statistics include 18,211 unique visitors of DARIAH Open in its first year (January to December 2019) from around the globe. The keynote lecture about Open Science of the DARIAH Annual Event 2018 had been viewed more than 1,300 times [17]. The preprint version of the book chapter ‘The risk of losing thick description: Data management challenges Arts and Humanities face in the evolving FAIR data ecosystem’ had been downloaded more than 200 times within the first three months of its publication and made its way to [18].
2.2. Establishing or strengthening collaboration with research institutions through Open Science: DARIAH’s advocacy materials had been taken up and translated by academic communities who had yet no ties to DARIAH, both in Europe and in the US [19]. By providing Open Science trainings to arts and humanities students and scholars in local, institutional settings, DARIAH strengthened its ties, among others, with the Austrian Center of Digital Humanities, and established connections with the University of Barcelona, the Centre Marc Bloch, the Freie Universität Berlin, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, the University of Tartu, the University of Neuchatel, The Heidelberg University [20]. For many of these research communities, especially for those who are less established in digital computational methods, the topic of open research culture serves as a first entry point to DARIAH.
DARIAH’s face to face events dedicated to Open Science attract a diverse and international audience and usually run full house. The demand for domain-specific Open Science advocacy is also reflected in the choice of the DESIR Cooperating partners. For the DESIR winter school, the 20 participants who received travel grants from DARIAH had been selected from more than 70 applications from all over Europe [22]. These events were milestones in terms of recording as well as they served as opportunities to pilot the newly launched event capture functionality on DARIAH-Campus [21] enabling a broader audience to access and reuse the resources of the training events.
“I liked the enthusiasm of the lecturers and their readiness to answer the questions of the participants. They tried their best to adapt their materials to our knowledge and background. I felt that the school had a very positive impact on all of us. I am definitely motivated to work further on my research and Phd studies. The organisers were very helpful and insightful too.”
Participants’ evaluation of the DESIR Winter School
2.3. Active communities around OpenScience in DARIAH: One of the key take-aways of the DESIR Research Data Management events was that there is a strong need for building a European knowledge hub for researchers, cultural heritage professionals and the new data support professionals in the arts and humanities to reduce the gaps between the nascent European and national FAIR and open data mandates and the research realities in the arts and humanities. As a response to this need, in April 2020 DARIAH launched the Research Data Management Working Group. By September, the Working Group had 37 members [23].
Another, more established community around open research practices in DARIAH forms the Editorial Team of the OpenMethods platform. They select, curate and review Open Access content about Digital Humanities tools and methods to increase the visibility and trust towards open solutions and gain peer recognition to them. The team is constantly growing, in September 2020 it includes 30 members who together speak (and curate content) in 14 languages [24].
3. Attracting Funding through European Partnerships to Address the Gaps in the Open Science Landscape
Thematic research infrastructures are critical for the future of Open Science as they build the infrastructural prerequisites of it and make sure that the emerging ecosystem is truly inclusive with all disciplines and geographical regions. Since 2017, DARIAH has been contributing to European projects with an explicit focus on Open Science.
Through these projects, we build bridges between local and domain-specific communities of practice and the emerging European Open Scholarship ecosystem. For instance, through our participation in the OpenAIRE project, we connected thematic data services from the national levels that are important for the Arts and Humanities communities to the European data commons. [33], [34]. Having well-established information management and discovery systems in place that are inclusive with all disciplines is an absolute prerequisite of showcasing the value and richness of arts and humanities scholarship and gaining recognition to the variety of digital scholarly objects that are important for scholarly communities but might deviate from the well-established units of research assessment (such as papers in journals or book chapters).
4. Future perspectives
Pushing forward an open research agenda remains a key policy and research innovation priority in the European Commission [27] . There is a centrally recognised, growing need for disciplinary communities to translate the global open research and FAIR data mandates into their own needs and find their own domain-and discipline-specific solutions [28]. DARIAH keeps improving the research conditions in this new modus operandi. Two new transnational partnerships (REPO, INKE) aimed at the creation of Open Science training resources will allow us to address COVID and post-COVID challenges as part of international collaborations.
DARIAH will continue being responsive to the fast-changing policy landscape and bringing it closer to arts and humanities scholars’ desks. In the coming period, our focus areas will support the meaningful realisation of FAIR data in the arts and humanities disciplines, including close collaborations between the Cultural Heritage sector[29].
Evidence of the Impact
[6] Tóth-Czifra, Erzsébet, Romary, Laurent, & Edmond, Jennifer. (2018, October 25). Towards a Plan(HS)S: DARIAH's position on PlanS. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3364398
[7] Coalition S Diamond Open Access Call for Study https://www.coalition-s.org/wp-content/uploads/Diamond_OA_call_for_study.pdf and the resulting report https://www.coalition-s.org/diamond-unearthed-shining-light-on-community-driven-open-access-publishing/
[8] Jennifer, Edmond et al. DARIAH Annual report 2018. P. 21. https://www.dariah.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DARIAH_Annual_Report_2018.pdf
[9] https://ec.europa.eu/research/openscience/index.cfm?pg=open-science-policy-platform ; https://www.earto.eu/eu-open-science-policy-platform-final-report/
[10] https://www.eoscsecretariat.eu/working-groups/skills-training-working-group
[11] A Plan S for Academic Books EASSH-OPERAS Roundtable report: http://www.eassh.eu/sites/default/files/fichiers/news/easshoperasshortreportfnl.pdf
[12] Harrower, Natalie et al. 2020. Sustainable and FAIR Data Sharing in the Humanities: Recommendations of the ALLEA Working Group E-Humanities. DOI: 10.7486/DRI.tq582c863 P. 15, 16, 22, 23.
[14] See e.g. the DARIAH-FOSTER Whole-day workshop ‘How to make the most of your publications in the humanities?’https://dariahopen.hypotheses.org/334 or the Europeana-DARIAH workshop at the DARIAH Annual Event 2019: Cultural Heritage Reuse Cases: Facilitatingthe Exchange of Perspectives betweenHeritage Professionals and Researchers. https://dariah-ae-2019.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/AE2019_BookOfAbstracts_1.pdf (p.35).
[15] Laurent Romary, Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra. Open Access guidelines for the arts and humanities: Recommendations by the DARIAH European research infrastructure consortium. 2019. ⟨halshs-02106332⟩
[16] The DARIAH Open blog. https://dariahopen.hypotheses.org/ , the OpenMethods platform: https://openmethods.dariah.eu/, the Open Science Helpdesk: https://www.dariah.eu/helpdesk/51/ .
[17] Jon Tennant: "Open Science is just good science" (DARIAH Annual Event 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEEcwRUgQu8&t=219s .
[18] Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra. The risk of losing thick description: Data management challenges Arts and Humanities face in the evolving FAIR data ecosystem. 2019. ⟨halshs-02115505⟩
[19] See for instance: https://researchdata.wisc.edu/news/best-practices-for-data-management-in-the-arts-and-humanities/ ; https://accesoabiertouniovi.wordpress.com/2019/03/26/dariah-crea-un-kit-de-herramientas-para-fomentar-el-acceso-abierto-en-las-artes-y-las-humanidades/ ; http://uvadoc.blogs.uva.es/2020/09/02/plataformas-de-autoarchivo/ ; https://scholcomm.palni.org/open-access-toolkit-dariahs-practical-recommendations-to-promote-open-access-within-the-arts-and-humanities-dariah-open/
[20] Open Science day at ACDH: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/acdh/events/event-series/acdh-tool-gallery-52/; Open Science conference at the University of Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/openscienceandthehumanities/2018/04/13/loners-pathfinders-or-explorers-emerging-community-practices-and-communities-of-practice-in-open-humanities/ ; Webinar series at the Centre Marc Bloch Berlin: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RxtaqTMpUJuY6ST37Xs2YpwL5GDfzoLntLZmmuv-caU/edit?usp=sharing , https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S4OE56BtoR2haVT8lQIJ-HstclQSGDqlKtgZ9_ybnuE/edit?usp=sharing ; Collaboration with the Freie Universität’s Open Science Working Group: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/9n88u7W0IVtKSOUK-Y4H ; DESIR workshop in Neuchatel: https://www.dariah.eu/2019/07/15/dariah-ch-workshop-2-sharing-the-experience-workflows-for-the-digital-humanities/ .
[21] Sharing the Experience: Workflows for the Digital Humanities: https://campus.dariah.eu/resource/dariah-ch-workshop2019 and Shaping new approaches to data management in arts and humanities https://campus.dariah.eu/resource/ws2019.
[22] See Jennifer Edmond et al. DARIAH Annuaé report 2019. https://www.dariah.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DARIAH-annual-report-2019_v2.pdf p. 15.
[24] https://openmethods.dariah.eu/who-we-are/
[30] See for instance our advocacy materials cited in scholarly publications, e.g. Cornelia reiher and Cosima Wagner, 2020: How to conduct reliable and fair research: Good research practice. In: Nora Cottmann and Cornelia Reiher eds.: Studying Japan: Handbook of Research Designs, Fieldwork and Methods. P. 440, 439, 440, 454; https://books.google.de/books?id=ayUWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA454&dq=t%C3%B3th-czifra&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjeye3NgcfvAhXZu6QKHciCB3IQ6AEwAnoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Other examples include republishing DARIAH Open Science materials by Digital Humanities institutions, such as the UNIL-EPFL DH Center: http://dhcenter-unil-epfl.com/en/2020/04/22/open-science-and-dh-tools-for-researchers-in-a-pandemic/ or partner institutions such as the Archives Portal Europe: https://archivesportaleurope.blog/2020/04/02/handy-open-science-and-dh-tools-for-distance-learning/ ; translating posts to languages other than English: or https://uvadoc.blogs.uva.es/2020/09/02/plataformas-de-autoarchivo/ ; endorsing and recognising them in high level expert reports such as: Harrower, Natalie, Maryl, Maciej, Biro, Timea, Immenhauser, Beat, & ALLEA Working Group E-Humanities. Sustainable and FAIR Data Sharing in the Humanities: Recommendations of the ALLEA Working Group E-Humanities, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], Digital Repository of Ireland [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.tq582c863 or most recently, including our materials to a keynote talk delivered by Natalie Harrower at the MUNIN 2020 conference: https://doi.org/10.7557/5.5673.
[31] Claudia Engelhardt, Claudio Leone, Nicolas Larrousse, Delphine Montoliu, Yoann Moranville, et al.. Open Humanities Methods Review Journal. [Research Report] DARIAH; TGIR Huma-Num (UMS 3598); Göttingen State and University Library. 2017. ⟨hal-01685852⟩
[32] Filipe Guimarães da Silva, Maria Do Rosário Jorge, Inês Castaño, João Fernandes, Marco Raciti. D7.5 Summer/Winter School. [Other] DARIAH ERIC; NOVA - Universidade Nova de Lisboa. 2019. ⟨hal-02453354⟩
[33] Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra. DARIAH Community Gateway: Reducing the fragmentation of publication landscape in the Humanities. [Working paper], 2020. https://www.openaire.eu/dariah-use-case-reducing-the-fragmentation-of-publication-landscape-in-the-humanities
[34] Lukas Weimer: Das TextGrid Repository nun verfügbar in OpenAIRE Explore. https://dhd-blog.org/?p=14915 [Blog post], 2021.
[35] See p. 58. of the Horizon Europe - Work Programme 2021-2022 Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area https://www.tiko-pro.eu/Portals/3/EU_draft_programme/widening_spc-draft-wp-2021_2022_2020-10-16.pdf
Other references
[4] Burgelman Jean-Claude, Pascu Corina, Szkuta Katarzyna, Von Schomberg Rene, Karalopoulos Athanasios, Repanas Konstantinos, Schouppe Michel. 2019. Open Science, Open Data, and Open Scholarship: European Policies to Make Science Fit for the Twenty-First Century. In: Frontiers in Big Data. 43 (2). 10.3389/fdata.2019.00043
See also in the context of the coming Horizon Europe framework: Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra, "Open Science in the Horizon Europe funding programme: what to expect?," in DARIAH Open, 17/12/2020, https://dariahopen.hypotheses.org/968.
[27] https://www.eosc-portal.eu/news/ec-president-ursula-von-der-leyen-talks-eosc-davos
[28] Deniz Beyan, Oya, Chue Hong, Neil, Cozzini, Stefano, Hoffman-Sommer, Marta, Hooft, Rob, Lembinen, Liisi, … Teperek, Marta. (2020, June 23). Seven Recommendations for Implementation of FAIR Practice. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3904140
[29]Toma Tasovac, Sally Chambers, Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra. Cultural Heritage Data from a Humanities Research Perspective: A DARIAH Position Paper. 2020. ⟨hal-02961317⟩
Contributors
Lead Author: Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra
Sharing credit
Impact as a research infrastructure is seldom, if ever, delivered in isolation. We therefore want to recognise that this work would not have been possible without our partners and collaborators, named above, as well as the specific individuals and national teams involved in the projects.
Cite as
Tóth-Czifra, Erzsébet. (2021). DARIAH Impact case study series: An Open Science voice for the Humanities - a Humanities voice for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5863209
