Digital Methods and Practices Observatory (DiMPO)

The DARIAH Digital Methods and Practices Observatory WG (DiMPO) aims to develop and provide an evidence-based, up-to-date, and pragmatically useful account of the emerging information practices, needs and attitudes of arts and humanities researchers in the evolving European digital scholarly environment, for the benefit of the digital humanities research community. It seeks to achieve this objective through the inception of a longitudinal mixed methods research and monitoring programme on the information practices and scholarly methods employed in digitally-enabled arts and humanities work across Europe, and through the digital dissemination, validation and enrichment of research outcomes by the scholarly community. It takes forward the results and collective expertise of DARIAH VCC2 Task 2 – Understanding and expanding scholarly practice, it leverages prior research on scholarly information behaviour, computational methods taxonomies and scholarly activity modeling, and builds on the development of the first version of the NeDIMAH Methods Ontology (NeMO, http://nemo.dcu.gr) . Its primary affiliation is with DARIAH VCC2 – Research and Education.

DiMPO objectives are served by an integrated workplan consisting of distinct yet interrelated activities, or projects. In the period 2015-17, DiMPO WG members:

• Finished the data collection and analysis of the first run of a trans-European, longitudinal Scholarly Practices Survey, which attracted more than 2,300 valid responses from 14 European countries; published a Highights report and co-authored a multi-chapter report covering the scope and objectives, methods used, aggregated, comparative, and country-based interpretation of statistically-significant results from the survey; and are working towards updating the survey questionnaire and procedure, in preparation for a second run of the Survey next year;
• Developed an initial protocol (based on a combination of observational, documentation-based and qualitative/group interviewing methods) and conducted a case study of a digitally-enabled humanities research project, in preparation for potential launch of a trans-European multiple case studies inquiry;
• Concluded the development and published the first version of the NeDIMAH Methods Ontology (NeMO), paving the way for the development of a knowledge base on digital methods in the arts and humanities.