An Institutional Framework for the Digital
Humanities: an Alternative to the DH Centre
7 September 2012
1
Introduction – Some Initial Questions
• Is a DH Centre a goal for every institution? Should it be?
• Who are we supporting in supporting “digital humanities”?
• How do we reach researchers in need of support?
Problems of Scale – The Example of Oxford
The Digital.Humanities@Oxford Initiative
Digital.Humanities@Oxford: Goals and Problems
Goals:
• Better networking, current information about projects and people in DH
• Developing workshops, seminars, and training
• Creating webpages with information about support, training, and best practice
Problems:
• Size and decentralization of the university, and the dispersed nature of DH at
Oxford
• DPhil students’ needs can differ from other researchers’ needs
• Many people working with DH methodologies are not active in DH discussions
• Everybody’s busy!
Where Digital Humanities Happens at Oxford
Humanities Division
Social Sciences Division
• Classics Faculty
• Archaeology
• English Faculty
Bodleian Libraries
• History Faculty
Ashmolean Museum
• History of Art
Pitt Rivers Museum
• Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics
Faculty
Museum of the History of Science
• Medieval and Modern Languages
Faculty
Oxford e-Research Centre
• Music Faculty
• Oriental Studies Faculty
• Philosophy Faculty
• Ruskin School of Art
• Theology Faculty
• Voltaire Foundation
Oxford University IT Services
Oxford Internet Institute
… and several more
Initial Steps for a Digital Humanities Network
Find your allies
Get a flag
A website – maybe
The Process is the Product
The process of identifying support, creating documentation, and
identifying services builds infrastructure.
Gathering requirements, speaking with researchers, and holding
workshops builds infrastructure.
Requirements Gathering
• Face to face meetings with IT Officers
– Time and budget to do project work
– Sustaining old projects past end of funded life
• Face to face meetings with Research Facilitators
– Single point of contact for digital questions
– Case studies of possibilities for digital projects
– Workshop and guidance on AHRC Technical Appendix
• The inertia factor
Lunchtime Briefings
Four two-hour sessions, with 15-minute project talks and an hour for
discussion, covering: Digital Editions, Large Datasets, Sound, and
Images
• Problems: Acoustics, lunch, short timing of talks, focus of talks,
showcase format doesn’t do technical teaching, audience had differing
levels of interest and technical ability
• Benefits: An introduction to possibilities and the range of digital
humanities activity, exposure for collaborators, raised profile for digital
humanities within Oxford
One big benefit: audience surveys.
Steps toward Dispersed Sustainability
How can we get Oxford’s resources in a more sustainable state, given
the dispersion of the university and the wide array of different support
services?
• Single point of contact for digital project questions
• Information on support and training available on the website
• Create resources emphasizing which people to talk to at each stage of
the project—particularly IT Officers in Faculties
Limits of the Virtual Network
Time
Scale
Positive Features of the Virtual Network
• All levels of expertise
• Broadly multi-disciplinary
• Reaches people through many channels
• Digital and physical engagement
The Takeaway
Plan a
workshop
See who
turns up