Introduction: a critique of digital practices and research infrastructures

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book introduces perspectives on a number of initiatives that have developed resources, tools, services and methods for digital research engagement with cultural heritage content. It argues that Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities-European Union (DARIAH-EU) focus[es] on Research Infrastructures rather than library and archive integration projects such as Europeana, because Research Infrastructures share the ultimate aim to action research. The book aims to extend critique to the role and effectiveness of Research Infrastructure in practice. The intimate interdependence between the affordances of Research Infrastructures and the scholarly methods and practices they enable is confirmed by work in the broader domain of practice studies, and in the more focused area of infrastructure studies. A benefit of digital Research Infrastructures is that they can become the hub for nurturing an interdisciplinary community of researchers working on focused and discrete research themes or topics.