Soft Skills in Hard Places: the changing face of DH training in European research infrastructures

Abstract

[Extract from the Introduction] Research Infrastructures are becoming an increasingly distinct presence in the landscape of the digital humanities, creating unique research ecosystems that interact with, but remain distinct from, the traditional university-based ones. It is a research sector still very much in the process of defining itself, however, in particular in the arts and humanities, not only in terms of how exactly infrastructures support research but also in terms of how a word with such “hard” connotations (conjuring up images of roads and bridges) can encompass the many “soft” resources and skills, from data to know-how, that we now recognise as a part of infrastructural provision for research in Europe. This tension is already present in how research infrastructure is defined, with some camps preferring to fall back on long lists of elements infrastructure may or may not comprise, such as data, services and tools, while others remain more theoretical, placing them in the role of “mediating” (Badenoch and Flickers, 2010) or “below the level of the work” (Edwards et al, 2007: 17). Regardless of how we conceptualise it, however, infrastructure is undeniable as a rising presence, with a growing impact on how research is conceptualised and carried out, how research results are communicated and shared, and how the potential scale of a humanities project can be conceptualised.