e-Humanity Infrastruktur

The project aims to develop a concept for a virtual research infrastructure for the humanities in Germany; specifically, it seeks to create a comprehensive national-level concept for an e-Humanities infrastructure that defines interface requirements, recommends responsibilities, and identifies relevant partners.
The newly established term "e-Humanities" refers to the fundamental transformation of research processes and scholarly communication within the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences—a shift driven by mass digitization and the development of digital libraries and virtual research environments. Research is increasingly based on networked systems (such as the Internet and grid technologies) and on inter- and transdisciplinary methods; this trend increasingly applies to the humanities as well. Although humanities research currently operates largely within a non-digital infrastructure—relying on libraries, archives, and scholarly communication via printed texts—this mode of work is undergoing a major transition. Consequently, there is rapidly growing demand for an infrastructure that is as stable and reliable as the traditional model but also offers the advantages of a digital working environment.
The concept focuses primarily on producing a study of the current national and international landscape regarding e-Humanities infrastructure. Other key aspects include defining the scope of the "humanities" in this context, identifying suitable partners and organizational structures, and determining the necessary technical infrastructure as well as specific and cross-disciplinary tools.