DARIAH is a pan-European infrastructure for arts and humanities scholars working with computational methods. It supports digital research as well as the teaching of digital research methods.
In this video, Sinai Rusinek explains her background in philosophy, together with her experience of the material text from work in the library. In her postdoctoral career, she began to seek out digital techniques that had not been available to her in her single-disciplinary studies. Dr Rusinek reveals that her own source of learning was at international workshops, including one organised by DARIAH-DE. She found this mode of learning inspiring in organising her own workshops and hackathons in Israel. She recommends that we should all think more about learning environments and how we learn best, collaboratively. Possibly, she recommends, we should organise more 'hackathon-like' events.
Martin Lhoták first began digital research in an IT department, which formed his connection with information systems and databases, as well as the development of software tools and the digital humanities. Unlike many librarians, he does not have a humanist background, but instead a technical education, so finds that he speaks differently from the humanities scholars he works with. However he finds interactions with these scholars interesting and inspiring. Regarding training, he argues that being technically knowledgeable - though not necessarily a programmer themselves - is essential for doing research in the digital humanities.
Salvador Ros has a background in physics and computer science, and is now working in the digital humanities. Humanities scholars and scientists have different ways of thinking, he points out in this video. This can be a problem, he finds. Both sides lack knowledge about each other's disciplines, so researchers have to talk a lot, exchange ideas - to try to understand each other. Humanities scholars who want to conduct digital research need to know at least the basic concepts of the relevant programming languages, he argues. He ends by discussing the definition and roles of a 'research infrastructure' such as DARIAH, especially in facilitating digital tools and how to use them in relation to our research questions.
DARIAH Director Toma Tasovac spoke to fellow DARIAHns and colleagues from prospective DARIAH countries about the role of training and education in digital research infrastructures.
