Digital Humanities Collaboratoy Four Objectives

1. Digital Humanities CollaboratoyFour Objectives OBJECTIVE 1: To foster communication and collaboration between people interested in Digital Humanities Why is this important? Communication is essential for enabling collaborations; because DH is interdisciplinary, it requires a deliberate communications strategy that transcends conventional disciplinary communication channels DH has typically been a collaborative endeavor: a single individual typically does not have the entire range of skills (nor the time) needed for implementing a DH product DH work can be resource-intensive and access to resources limited; this can be addressed through pooling or sharing or exchanging skills, competencies, and expertise, developing, adapting or extending tools and technologies that can be used in multiple ways and sharing development/dissemination platforms

2. Digital Humanities CollaboratoyFour Objectives OBJECTIVE 2: To engage with current issues and developments in Digital Humanities; to actively participate in exploring, interrogating, experimenting and extending DH technologies, practices, and paradigms Why is this important? As with any other academic discipline, it is essential to keep abreast of changes in DH. Given the pace of change in computing technologies, it is perhaps even more important that DH practitioners keep informed and understand new developments so as to prevent their work from becoming outmoded or obsolete Doing DH is not just about the digital dissemination of traditional humanities research: the technologies and tools that are used to disseminate this content must also be the object of scholarly inquiry; increasingly, this type of inquiry is considered as an essential component of doing DH The majority of DH funding opportunities are targeted at projects that incorporate scholarly inquiry into and promote innovation in DH technologies

3. Digital Humanities CollaboratoyFour Objectives OBJECTIVE 3: To train students, faculty and researchers in DH practices, through participation in DH project development, workshops in using tools and technologies for research and teaching, and research groups exploring innovative approaches to DH Why is this important? The University and funding bodies want students to be engaged in the research activities they host/fund; attracting and training students in research activities is seen as an essential component of student development The mass of DH practitioners at the University could be increased by cultivating members of the academic community who are interested in DH but who lack opportunities to develop DH skills; DH practitioners also need regular opportunities to update their skill set The division between the scholar and the technician is being broken down in the new generation of DH practitioners; technical knowledge and scholarly engagement with DH technologies will be expected of digital humanists The active exploration of innovation in DH has the potential to create unanticipated partnerships and projects that can generate funding and prestige for the participants and contribute to the reputation of the University

4. Digital Humanities CollaboratoyFour Objectives OBJECTIVE 4: To develop an institutional infrastructure for the development, publication, and maintenance of DH work Why is this important? The activities outlined in the first three objectives would be greatly facilitated by an infrastructure that had institutional support One of the most crucial needs for DH projects is the establishment of a stable repository for the maintenance and preservation of this scholarship. Institutional support in this regard is especially important since there is very little external funding available for ongoing maintenance, upgrades and preservation of DH projects The Library is seen as the obvious unit for the preservation of DH projects, but Library mandates regarding preservation and maintenance may conflict with a project’s need to grow and change; this conflict needs to be addressed