Digital Humanities – DigitalKoans

“Developing Practices for FAIR and Linked Data in Heritage Science”

Heritage Science has a lot to gain from the Open Science movement but faces major challenges due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, as a vast array of technological and scientific methods can be applied to any imaginable material. Historical and cultural contexts are as significant as the methods and material properties, which is something the scientific templates for research data management rarely take into account. While the FAIR data principles are a good foundation, they do not offer enough practical help to researchers facing increasing demands from funders and collaborators. In order to identify the issues and needs that arise “on the ground floor”, the staff at the Heritage Laboratory at the Swedish National Heritage Board took part in a series of workshops with case studies. The results were used to develop guides for good data practices and a list of recommended online vocabularies for standardised descriptions, necessary for findable and interoperable data. However, the project also identified areas where there is a lack of useful vocabularies and the consequences this could have for discoverability of heritage studies on materials from areas of the world that have historically been marginalised by Western culture. If Heritage Science as a global field of study is to reach its full potential this must be addressed.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01598-x

Paywall: “Digital Humanities in Us Academic Libraries: Case Studies”

This case study highlighted key areas of academic library DH practices including Space, Technology, Staff, Instruction and Collaboration. Practices in these areas were compared against each other and literature to comment on the current state of DH library practices and offer some recommendations for select areas.

https://doi.org/10.1108/DTS-03-2024-0040

“Datafication and Cultural Heritage Collections Data Infrastructures: Critical Perspectives on Documentation, Cataloguing and Data-sharing in Cultural Heritage Institutions”

The role of cultural heritage collections within the research ecosystem is rapidly changing. From often-passive primary source or reference point for humanities research, cultural heritage collections are now becoming integral part of large-scale interdisciplinary inquiries using computational-driven methods and tools. This new status for cultural heritage collections, in the ‘collections-as-data’ era, would not be possible without foundational work that was and is still going on ‘behind the scenes’ in cultural heritage institutions through cataloguing, documentation and curation of cultural heritage records. This article assesses the landscape for cultural heritage collections data infrastructure in the UK through an empirical and critical perspective, presenting insights on the infrastructure that cultural heritage organisations use to record and manage their collections, exploring the range of systems being used, the levels of complexity or ease at which collections data can be accessed, and the shape of interactions between software suppliers, cultural heritage organisations, and third-party partners. The paper goes on to include a critical analysis of the findings based on the sector’s approach to ‘3s’, that is standards, skill sets and scale, and how that applies to different cultural heritage organisations throughout the data lifecycle, from data creation, stewardship to sharing and re-using.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.277

“Research Data Management and Crowdsourcing Personal Histories”

Drawing on experiences of the University of Oxford’s Sustainable Digital Scholarship (SDS) service and the World War Two crowdsourcing project ‘Their Finest Hour’, this paper explores how institutional digital repositories (such as the SDS platform) can be successfully leveraged to publish and sustainably host crowdsourced (‘warm-data’) collections beyond their funding period.

The paper examines the challenges in applying FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to a collection containing first-hand testimonies and digitised objects of significant sentimental value, addressing both practical and ethical considerations, including the management of copyright, handling of sensitive material, use of AI tools and adherence to good research data management practices, with limited resources.

Reflecting on the importance of a caring approach to data stewardship, the paper examines how the ethos of the Their Finest Hour project, and its commitment to honouring contributors and their families, led organically to an alignment with CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles, originally developed for Indigenous data governance. It also explores the potential for the wider application of CARE principles for crowdsourced collections such as the Their Finest Hour Online Archive, while acknowledging and respecting the origins of this framework.

Lastly, it offers some practical ‘lessons learned’ to help GLAM and Higher Education professionals working with crowdsourced collections and personal histories to navigate some of the research data management challenges that they may encounter, while also highlighting the importance of understanding FAIR and CARE principles and how they can be applied to these types of data collections.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.265

“Copyright and Licencing for Cultural Heritage Collections as Data”

Cultural Heritage (CH) institutions have been exploring innovative ways to publish digital collections to facilitate reuse, through initiatives like Collections as data and the International GLAM Labs Community. When making a digital collection available for computational use, it is crucial to have reusable and machine-readable open licences and copyright terms. While existing studies address copyright for digital collections, this study focuses specifically on the unique requirements of collections as data. This research highlights both the legal and technical aspects of copyright concerning collections as data. It discusses permissible uses of copyrighted collections, emphasising the need for interoperable, machine-readable licences and open licences. By reviewing current literature and examples, this study presents best practices and examples to help CH institutions better navigate copyright and licencing issues, ultimately enhancing their ability to convert their content into collections as data for computational research.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.263

“Research Data Management and Crowdsourcing Personal Histories”

Drawing on experiences of the University of Oxford’s Sustainable Digital Scholarship (SDS) service and the World War Two crowdsourcing project ‘Their Finest Hour’, this paper explores how institutional digital repositories (such as the SDS platform) can be successfully leveraged to publish and sustainably host crowdsourced (‘warm-data’) collections beyond their funding period.

The paper examines the challenges in applying FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to a collection containing first-hand testimonies and digitised objects of significant sentimental value, addressing both practical and ethical considerations, including the management of copyright, handling of sensitive material, use of AI tools and adherence to good research data management practices, with limited resources.

Reflecting on the importance of a caring approach to data stewardship, the paper examines how the ethos of the Their Finest Hour project, and its commitment to honouring contributors and their families, led organically to an alignment with CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles, originally developed for Indigenous data governance. It also explores the potential for the wider application of CARE principles for crowdsourced collections such as the Their Finest Hour Online Archive, while acknowledging and respecting the origins of this framework.

Lastly, it offers some practical ‘lessons learned’ to help GLAM and Higher Education professionals working with crowdsourced collections and personal histories to navigate some of the research data management challenges that they may encounter, while also highlighting the importance of understanding FAIR and CARE principles and how they can be applied to these types of data collections.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.265

Paywall: "Preserving Digital Humanities Projects Using Principles of Digital Longevity"

This chapter reports on a large, global survey undertaken by the Endings Project and introduces the “Endings compliance” toolbox, guiding librarians and archivists in assisting DH scholars to frame their work for cost-effective preservation. The chapter argues that collaboration among technologists, scholars, librarians, and archivists throughout the project lifecycle is essential to address longevity challenges in DH work, particularly for preserving complex web applications. Clear indicators of project completion are necessary, along with contingency plans for potential disruptions. Libraries and archives can avoid the pitfalls of complex software stacks through such collaboration, and by adhering to known preservation principles.

https://tinyurl.com/rta7scyd

"Capturing Captions: Using AI to Identify and Analyse Image Captions in a Large Dataset of Historical Book Illustrations"

This article outlines how AI methods can be used to identify image captions in a large dataset of digitised historical book illustrations. This dataset includes over a million images from 68,000 books published between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, covering works of literature, history, geography, and philosophy. The article has two primary objectives. First, it suggests the added value of captions in making digitized illustrations more searchable by picture content in online archives. To further this objective, we describe the methods we have used to identify captions, which can effectively be re-purposed and applied in different contexts. Second, we suggest how this research leads to new understandings of the semantics and significance of the captions of historical book illustrations. The findings discussed here mark a critical intervention in the fields of digital humanities, book history, and illustration studies.

https://tinyurl.com/bdvjespp

"Research Data Management in the Humanities: Challenges and Opportunities in the Canadian Context"

In recent years, research funders across the world have implemented mandates for research data management (RDM) that introduce new obligations for researchers seeking funding. Although data work is not new in the humanities, digital research infrastructures, best practices, and the development of highly qualified personnel to support humanist researchers are all still nascent. Responding to these changes, this article offers four contributions to how humanists can consider the role of "data" in their research and succeed in its management. First, we define RDM and data management plans (DMP) and raise some exigent questions regarding their development and maintenance. Second, acknowledging the unsettled status of "data" in the humanities, we offer some conceptual explanations of what data are, and gesture to some ways in which humanists are already (and have always been) engaged in data work. Third, we argue that data work requires conscious design—attention to how data are produced—and that thinking of data work as involving design (e.g., experimental and interpretive work) can help humanists engage more fruitfully in RDM. Fourth, we argue that RDM (and data work, generally) is labour that requires compensation in the form of funding, support, and tools, as well as accreditation and recognition that incentivizes researchers to make RDM an integral part of their research. Finally, we offer a set of concrete recommendations to support humanist RDM in the Canadian context.

https://doi.org/10.16995/dscn.9956

"The Collective Use and Evaluation of Generative AI Tools in Digital Humanities Research: Survey-Based Results"

By investigating DH scholars’ use of GenAI tools in their research, this survey study makes several contributions. First, our findings demonstrate GenAI’s important role in enriching DH research, detailing specific, effective instances of its application that may inform DH scholars planning to apply GenAI tools in their future research. Secondly, the incorporation of GenAI in DH research raises important ethical and social concerns. Our study illuminates the potential risks, such as disputes over authorship, the emergence of biases, and the need for greater transparency and accountability in AI-involved DH research.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.12458

Research Data Management for Arts and Humanities: Intergrating Voices of the Community

Chapter one gives an overview of the European and national policy environment which has given rise to research data management and sharing mandates, as well as the institutional support structures around them. In chapter two, which is dedicated to implementation and everyday practice, the authors of this publication share how their institutions have developed capacities to accommodate data support professions, and also share their own career paths leading to such roles. After the first two chapters have set the stage and recounted the authors’ reflections on these new roles, the rest of the publication highlights and discusses some of the key domain-specificities of research data management in the Arts and Humanities. Chapter 3.1 reflects on the implications of the lack of consensus around the notion of data within the Arts and Humanities domain through a case study of digital critical editions. Chapter 3.2 addresses the challenges around the, essentially, multilingual character of arts and humanities data, with special focus on multilingual vocabularies and thesauri. Chapter 3.3 provides support for research scenarios where open data sharing is either impossible or is difficult due to legal and ethical limitations, and navigates the complexities of intellectual property and the application of regulatory frameworks, including restrictions on text and data mining, and authentication and authorisation in an open world. Clearly, the discourse on data sharing cannot be complete without discussing the current limitations within research assessment and rewards criteria, nor highlighting initiatives which aim to incentivise and reward data sharing in the working/professional contexts of the Working Group’s members. A discussion on rewards can be found in Chapter 3.4. Chapter 3.5 addresses one of the most widely shared data management challenges within the domain and brings together use cases concerning successful collaborations between cultural heritage institutions and arts and humanities research teams. Finally, Chapter 3.6 showcases good practices in long-term archiving

https://tinyurl.com/ycxbrh33

"Digital Humanities: Mission Accomplished? An Analysis of Scholarly Literature"

The field of digital humanities (DH) has evolved throughout the parallel evolution of computers, software and networking techniques, as well as the different attitudes of interested scholars. Since the earliest historical phases of this research field, scholars have been debating whether it can be considered as a new academic discipline and whether it is revolutionary in nature. About 20 years ago, the early denotation of ‘humanities computing’ evolved to the present label of DH, and deep changes occurred in digital information technologies, as well as in their humanities applications. Meanwhile, dedicated academic curricula were launched, thus adding an argument in favor of the debated disciplinarity of DH. This paper gives an account of the relevant scholarly debate, distinguishing between the early period and the most recent years; it then tries to frame this process in a model of scientific revolution.

https://doi.org/10.1177/20966083241234379

Paywall: "Managing Scholarly Outputs in a Proprietary Platform: Exploring the Implications of Esri Story Maps for Spatial Digital Humanities Preservation"

For the past decade, Esri’s Story Maps platform has offered a way to combine maps, text, images, and other multimedia with relatively little technical overhead for the end user. This has had substantial influence on spatial digital humanities. . . The challenge of preserving this work looms large, however, as the retirement date for the "classic" version of the platform approaches. . . [T]his paper reflects on the difficulty of managing scholarly outputs in a system not primarily designed for that purpose and of representing web-based work within the library record. More broadly it asks, what does it mean for spatial digital humanities that so much scholarship is hosted and organized within one proprietary platform?

ArcGIS StoryMaps

https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2024.2335381

"FAIRness of Research Data in the European Humanities Landscape "

This paper explores the landscape of research data in the humanities in the European context, delving into their diversity and the challenges of defining and sharing them. It investigates three aspects: the types of data in the humanities, their representation in repositories, and their alignment with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). By reviewing datasets in repositories, this research determines the dominant data types, their openness, licensing, and compliance with the FAIR principles. This research provides important insight into the heterogeneous nature of humanities data, their representation in the repository, and their alignment with FAIR principles, highlighting the need for improved accessibility and reusability to improve the overall quality and utility of humanities research data.

https://doi.org/10.3390/publications12010006

"Thinking Outside the Black Box: Insights from a Digital Exhibition in the Humanities"

One of the main goals of Open Science is to make research more reproducible. There is no consensus, however, on what exactly "reproducibility" is, as opposed for example to "replicability", and how it applies to different research fields. After a short review of the literature on reproducibility/replicability with a focus on the humanities, we describe how the creation of the digital twin of the temporary exhibition "The Other Renaissance" has been documented throughout, with different methods, but with constant attention to research transparency, openness and accountability. A careful documentation of the study design, data collection and analysis techniques helps reflect and make all possible influencing factors explicit, and is a fundamental tool for reliability and rigour and for opening the "black box" of research.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12000

Open Scholarship in the Humanities

The book begins with the history of digital developments and their influence on the founding of international policies toward open scholarship. The concept of making research more freely available to the broader community, in practice, will require changes across every part of the system: government agencies, funders, university administrators, publishers, libraries, researchers and IT developers. To this end, the book sheds light on the urgent need for partnership and collaboration between diverse stakeholders to address multi-level barriers to both the policy and practical implementation of open scholarship. It also highlights the specific challenges confronted by the humanities which often makes their presentation in accessible open formats more costly and complex. Finally, the authors illustrate some promising international examples and ways forward for their implementation. The book ends by asking the reader to view their role as a researcher, university administrator, or member of government or philanthropic funding body, through new lenses. It highlights how, in our digital era, the frontiers through which knowledge is being advanced and shared can reshape the landscape for academic research to have the greatest impact for society.

http://tinyurl.com/2453s6du

"HERITRACE: Tracing Evolution and Bridging Data for Streamlined Curatorial Work in the GLAM Domain"

HERITRACE is a semantic data management system tailored for the GLAM sector. It is engineered to streamline data curation for non-technical users while also offering an efficient administrative interface for technical staff. The paper compares HERITRACE with other established platforms such as OmekaS, Semantic MediaWiki, Research Space, and CLEF, emphasizing its advantages in user friendliness, provenance management, change tracking, customization capabilities, and data integration. The system leverages SHACL for data modeling and employs the OpenCitations Data Model (OCDM) for provenance and change tracking, ensuring a harmonious blend of advanced technical features and user accessibility. Future developments include the integration of a robust authentication system and the expansion of data compatibility via the RDF Mapping Language (RML), enhancing HERITRACE’s utility in digital heritage management.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.00477

Paywall: Forthcoming — Digital Humanities and Laboratories Perspectives on Knowledge, Infrastructure and Culture

Digital Humanities and Laboratories explores laboratories dedicated to the study of digital humanities (DH) in a global context and contributes to the expanding body of knowledge about situated DH knowledge production.

Including contributions from a diverse, international range of scholars and practitioners, this volume examines the ways laboratories of all kinds contribute to digital research and pedagogy.. . . As a whole, the book consolidates the discussion on the role of the laboratory in DH and brings digital humanists into the interdisciplinary debate concerning the notion of a laboratory as a critical site in the generation of experimental knowledge. Positioning the discussion in relation to ongoing debates in DH, the volume argues that laboratory studies are in an excellent position to capitalize on the theories and knowledge developed in the DH field and open up new research inquiries.

https://tinyurl.com/yedy4x78

"NEH Announces New Research Initiative: Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence"

NEH’s Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative will support numerous AI-related humanities projects through the following funding opportunities:

Universities or independent research organizations considering establishing a research center that focuses on humanistic AI research should consider NEH’s newest grant program, Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence. This funding opportunity offers up to $750,000 to support the creation of humanities research centers focusing on the ethical, legal, or societal implications of artificial intelligence.

Individual scholars or scholarly teams based at an institution (e.g., colleges and universities) may consider Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities. Independent scholars or those affiliated with an institution may apply to Fellowships, Awards for Faculty at HBCUs, HSIs, and TCUs, Summer Stipends, or Public Scholars.

Collaborative teams interested in planning for an international AI research project or hosting a scholarly convening about AI should consider Collaborative Research.

Institutions interested in hosting professional development programs on the latest research related to humanistic AI should consider Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities.

https://tinyurl.com/c5sb7x26

| Artificial Intelligence and Libraries Bibliography |
Research Data Curation and Management Works | | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

Paywall: "What We Did Then and What We Do Now: A Crisis of Digital Scholarship Champions at Binghamton University"

The digital scholarship department in Binghamton University’s libraries was created in 2018 as part of a larger effort to bring digital humanities (DH) efforts to Binghamton. The initiative was largely spearheaded by one person who became one of the biggest digital scholarship (DS) champions on campus. They, along with the new DS librarian, founded a Digital Humanities Research Institute igniting the creation of smaller working groups and initiatives across campus. Our article discusses the role of DS champions on Binghamton’s campus, including the types of advantages they were able to leverage, their interests and goals for a DS community, and what happens when they leave.

https://doi.org/10.3366/ijhac.2023.0307

"Data Reuse among Digital Humanities Scholars: A Qualitative Study of Practices, Challenges and Opportunities"

The study investigates the challenges and opportunities in reusing research data among digital humanities (DH) scholars. Its findings may serve as a case study for how disciplinary practices influence the ways in which scholars reuse data. . . .

The study found that lack of time and resources, inconsistent data practices, technical training gaps, labour intensity and difficulties in finding data were the most challenging. Participants revealed a number of enabling factors in data reuse as well, and chief among them were collaboration and autodidacticism as a feature of DH. The results indicate a gap between data reusers and data sharers — low rates of sharing reduce the amount of findable and accessible data available for reuse. Both data reusers and data sharers must begin to see themselves as embedded into the research data lifecycle within the research infrastructure.

https://tinyurl.com/4hy77dsz

"An Approach to Assess the Quality of Jupyter Projects Published by GLAM Institutions"

Jupyter Notebooks have become a powerful tool to foster use of these collections by digital humanities researchers. Based on previous approaches for quality assessment, which have been adapted for cultural heritage collections, this paper proposes a methodology for assessing the quality of projects based on Jupyter Notebooks published by relevant GLAM institutions. A list of projects based on Jupyter Notebooks using cultural heritage data has been evaluated. Common features and best practices have been identified. A detailed analysis, that can be useful for organizations interested in creating their own Jupyter Notebooks projects, has been provided. Open issues requiring further work and additional avenues for exploration are outlined.

https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24835

Knowledge Exchange Report: "Alternative Publishing Platforms. What Have We Learnt?"

From our sample, no pattern emerged of any discipline appearing to be more innovative than any others, and indeed most alternative platforms seemed to be open to use by all fields.

Most platforms within this survey were replacing the function of existing publishers in publishing research articles, books and conference proceedings. There was some innovation around peer review. Considering both of these aspects, only a small group of fewer than 10 of the 45 platforms should probably be described as truly exploring "alternative ways" of doing things.

Only 11 of the platforms said that they solely concentrated on the methodological quality of the work, 2 solely on the impact of the work. Most said it was up to the editors to decide on criteria for assessment — the platforms themselves were agnostic. This is an area where further work might help elucidate the philosophies of different platforms when it comes to research assessment.

https://tinyurl.com/59eknvy6

"An Investigation in the Interdisciplinary Nature of Digital Humanities: A Bibliometric Analysis"

The current study is an endeavor to understand the linkage of the digital humanities with other disciplines in the universe of knowledge so that researchers from multiple subject backgrounds can carry out research on digital humanities in a more vivid manner. . . . The results infer that the highest number of authors active in research activities in the digital humanities belong to computer science followed by art and humanities and library and information science disciplines. The journals preferred for publication of research on digital humanities are also analysed, and it is found that the highest number of journals are from the literature discipline, followed by art & humanities, computer science, history, and library and information science. The publication productivity of journals is also studied, and it is found that "Digital Scholarship in the Humanities" is the most productive journal and that it belongs to the humanities discipline. In the list of the top ten most productive journals, five belong to the discipline of Library and information science. The study of citation and bibliographic coupling displays that the journals "Journal of Documentation" and "Digital Scholarship in the Humanities" are the most cited journals.

https://tinyurl.com/2p9s3wbr

"Finding the Right Platform: A Crosswalk of Academy-Owned and Open-Source Digital Publishing Platforms"

A key responsibility for many library publishers is to collaborate with authors to determine the best mechanisms for sharing and publishing research. Librarians are often asked to assist with a wide range of research outputs and publication types, including eBooks, digital humanities (DH) projects, scholarly journals, archival and thematic collections, and community projects. These projects can exist on a variety of platforms both for profit and academy owned. Additionally, over the past decade, more and more academy owned platforms have been created to support both library publishing programs. Library publishers who wish to emphasize open access and open-source publishing can feel overwhelmed by the proliferation of available academy-owned or -affiliated publishing platforms. For many of these platforms, documentation exists but can be difficult to locate and interpret. While experienced users can usually find and evaluate the available resources for a particular platform, this kind of documentation is often less useful to authors and librarians who are just starting a new publishing project and want to determine if a given platform will work for them. Because of the challenges involved in identifying and evaluating the various platforms, we created this comparative crosswalk to help library publishers (and potentially authors) determine which platforms are right for their services and authors’ needs.

https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:59231/