Routledge International Handbook of Research Methods in Digital Humanities by Kristen Schuster Stuart Dunn

Author:Kristen Schuster, Stuart Dunn [Kristen Schuster, Stuart Dunn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138363021
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 51159238
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

15.2.2.1 Research infrastructures for research communities

Research infrastructures (RIs) offer a means in which research communities can come together. According to the European Commission, RIs are facilities, resources and services used by the science community to conduct research and foster innovation4. They may include major scientific equipment (or sets of instruments); skilled personnel engaged in services, competence development and outreach; knowledge-based resources such as collections, archives or scientific data; and e-infrastructures, such as data and computing systems and communication networks5. Research infrastructures can be single-sited (a single resource at a single location), distributed (a network of distributed resources), or virtual (the service is provided electronically). Based on this nature and scope, the ways research communities interact with research infrastructures is potentially rich.

Mapping this interaction to the activities communities of practice develop, based on Wenger (Wenger, 1998), research infrastructures function as the space for problem-solving and requesting information, either by accessing knowledge and resources, or by communicating with the community. The nature of RIs as networks of people, knowledge and expertise enables seeking experience, discussing developments and growing confidence scientifically as members of a recognised and established infrastructure. Finally, a significant part of activities undertaken in RIs has to do with strategic thinking, understanding and representing a research community. Members of such networks are therefore exposed to coordination and strategy activities, mapping knowledge and identifying gaps of a research field.

Within the Humanities and Social Sciences, and in a European context, examples of RIs include DARIAH (Digital Research Infrastructure for Arts and Humanities), CLARIN (Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure), and CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) to name a few. We briefly discuss the role of RIs for research communities as part of this chapter.

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