New web for research in digital and experimental Humanities
NEWS
The Huminfra research infrastructure, which includes Humlab, is now taking physical form through the web-based information platform huminfra.se. The web platform compiles and links to existing digital/e-scientific data collections, tools, expertise and educational opportunities spread across Sweden – resources that the individual researcher previously had to spend a lot of time identifying and learning to use.
Text: Sandra Lundström
– It will be easier for researchers to find the right expertise and get an overall picture of the resources, materials and education available in digital Humanities in Sweden, says Coppélie Cocq, professor and deputy director of Humlab and acting deputy director of Huminfra.
Research in the Humanities is multi-facetted and researchers use several different approaches, methods and techniques. It includes everything from the use of eye-tracking to understand school children’s reading development, to AI-based image analysis to study rock carvings, laser scanning and computer animation of archaeological finds, tests of ChatGPT, and studies of medieval maps combined with register data of population statistics. These new approaches require new methods and expertise.
Humlab at Umeå University has existed for over 20 years and has been pushing the development of digital Humanities in Sweden. It is therefore with great joy that we now see how the field is being strengthened both nationally and internationally
Huminfra – a consortium of 12 universities and organisations
Huminfra is a consortium consisting of 12 Swedish universities and organisations, or nodes, as they are called within the infrastructure. The beta version of huminfra.se, which has been available online since mid-January, initially contains resources from Lund and Umeå universities. During the spring, the resources of the remaining nodes will be added, and the web platform is expected to be fully operational by the summer of 2023. Meanwhile, other ongoing work within the infrastructure, include developing new national method courses as well as preparing and applying for Swedish membership in the European Research Infrastructure Consortium, The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU).
– Humlab at Umeå University has existed for over 20 years and has been pushing the development of digital Humanities in Sweden. It is therefore with great joy that we now see how the field is being strengthened both nationally and internationally through Huminfra as a national infrastructure, says Coppélie Cocq.
About Huminfra
Huminfra is a Swedish national infrastructure supporting digital and experimental research in the Humanities by providing users with a single entry point for finding existing Swedish materials and research tools, as well as developing national method courses. Huminfra is a consortium consisting of 12 universities and organisations, coordinated by Lund University Humanities Lab.
Huminfra is financed by the Swedish Research Council.
The 12 Huminfra Consortium nodes are:
Lund University, Humanities Lab
Humlab, Umeå University
Digital Humanities, Linnaeus University
Gothenburg Research Infrastructure in the Humanities, University of Gothenburg
Språkbanken Text, University of Gothenburg
Språkbanken Tal, KTH/the Royal Institute of Technology
Digital Human Science, Stockholm University
KBLab, National Library of Sweden
The Swedish National Archives
Centre for Digital Humanities, Uppsala University
Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås
Digital Laboratory Centre, Halmstad University
A beta version of the web-based information platform is available on: www.huminfra.se
