Humanities researchers and digital technologies: Building infrastructures for a new age

"Europe's leading scientists have pledged to embrace and expand the role of technology in the Humanities. In a Science Policy Briefing released today by the European Science Foundation (ESF), they argue that without Research Infrastructures (RIs) such as archives, libraries, academies, museums and galleries, significant strands of Humanities research would not be possible. By drawing on a number of case studies, the report demonstrates that digital RIs offer Humanities scholars new and productive ways to explore old questions and develop new ones. According to Professor Claudine Moulin, lead scientist and Chair of the ESF Science Policy Briefing editorial group: "Making our cultural heritage accessible in digital form, and interlinking it sensitively with other resources, opens a new frontier for Humanities research for addressing grand challenges in the Humanities themselves, and at the interface with other research domains." The report argues that while there are many sophisticated RIs in other domains of science that can inform and further Humanities research, ultimately, it is also necessary for Humanities scholars to build and have access to 'fit for purpose' Humanities RIs, given the nature of their data sets, research methods and working practices....The report's focus in on developing a common strategy on RIs in the Humanities at a European level; it identifies seven key areas of priorities and future research directions....Strategic directions: facilitating research beyond mono-disciplinary interests and cross-fertilisation between the Humanities and other sciences; integration of isolated project-based data and resources to facilitate interpretation; identification and promotion of good practices for interoperability, usability and collection curation within, and across, national boundaries; focus on open access policy; sustainability...."