Collaboration at its Best: How Dozens of Digital Humanists Helped a Learned Society Create Three Online Academic Resources in Four Years

Abstract

Between 2008 and 2012, the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) launched three online academic resources that provide new models for peer review and academic publishing. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, SAH developed SAHARA (http://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sahara; launched 2009), a shared image archive for teaching and research; JSAH Online (http://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/jsah; launched 2010), a multimedia scholarly journal; and SAH Archipedia (http://sah-archipedia.org/; launched 2012), an online encyclopedia of the global built environment. This article discusses the collaborations—with librarians, scholars, publishers, technology providers, and funders—necessary to create and sustain these new digital humanities resources. The authors also share lessons learned for all who plan to create digital academic resources.