“More Hands” Means “More Ideas”: Collaboration in the Humanities

Lynne Siemens

doi:10.3390/h4030353

Abstract

Like those in the Sciences and Social Sciences, humanities researchers are turning to collaborations to explore increasingly complex questions and implement new forms of methodologies. Granting agencies are supporting this trend with specific programs focused on highly collaborative research. While researchers and other associated team members welcome these collaborations as a way to undertake projects that would not be otherwise possible, work needs to be done to prepare individuals for team research. This becomes especially important for those in the Humanities who have been trained in single author work patterns and rewarded for those. Given this, what does collaboration look like in Humanities research? This paper will explore the experience of a large scale Humanities collaboration to understand the nature of collaboration, benefits and challenges and conclude with best practices for individuals and teams considering collaborative research.

Highlights

Along with those in the Sciences and Social Sciences, humanities researchers are turning to collaborations to explore increasingly complex and large-scale questions [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The findings focus on the benefits and challenges with collaboration and associated strategies
The individual team members find that the work is a welcome change from their often-solitary research as they are part of a larger community of practice that is grounded within the humanities as a whole

Summary

Introduction

Along with those in the Sciences and Social Sciences, humanities researchers are turning to collaborations to explore increasingly complex and large-scale questions [1,2,3,4,5,6]. While researchers and other team members welcome these collaborations as a way to undertake projects that would not be possible otherwise [2,3], it is not clear that all are accustomed to or trained for this type of work [9,10,11,12]. This paper will explore these questions by examining a large-scale humanities-oriented research project focused on electronic books [13] to understand the nature of collaboration, its benefits and challenges. The paper will unfold as follows: first, the context for collaboration will be explored with a focus on the challenges of undertaking such work in the humanities.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion