Crowds for Clouds: Recent Trends in Humanities Research Infrastructures

TL;DR

The paper discusses how digital transformation has enabled humanities to develop transnational research infrastructures that manage and utilize large-scale data for innovative cultural and social research.

Contribution

It provides an overview of recent trends in humanities research infrastructures driven by digital transformation and data integration.

Findings

Growth of transnational humanities research infrastructures

Increased use of big data in cultural studies

Enhanced collaboration across borders

Abstract

Humanities have convincingly argued that they need transnational research opportunities and through the digital transformation of their disciplines also have the means to proceed with it on an up to now unknown scale. The digital transformation of research and its resources means that many of the artifacts, documents, materials, etc. that interest humanities research can now be combined in new and innovative ways. Due to the digital transformations, (big) data and information have become central to the study of culture and society. Humanities research infrastructures manage, organise and distribute this kind of information and many more data objects as they becomes relevant for social and cultural research.