Description

The Digital Humanities Advanced Research Centre (/DH.arc) is part of the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies (FICLIT), that connects students, researchers, IT staff, and professors from FICLIT, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI) within the University of Bologna, and affiliated structures. The Centre supports scholars and institutions in designing, developing, and maintaining DH research projects. The aim is to be a hub for researchers and agencies currently working in the field of DH, and to promote innovative projects in the Humanities. /DH.arc is a platform wherein to foster collaborations, exchange ideas, discuss approaches and experiences, and train for DH skills.

In 2017 FICLIT was selected as Department of excellence and it is currently funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (MIUR) for promoting innovation in research in the fields of Digital Humanities. Among the objectives of /DH.arc is the creation of a Digital Library for collecting, curating, and sharing the wealth preserved at FICLIT, including the cultural heritage of its library and archive.

Far from being born out of the blue, /DH.arc inherits expertise from prior experiences (Multimedia Centre (CRR-MM)) and twin laboratories (DASPLab, and STLab-CNR). Members of the Centre collaborate to projects where research inquiries from the Humanities are tackled by using technologies and methodologies of the DH. Several research fields are investigated, including Knowledge Organisation, Knowledge Engineering, Web Science, Semantic Publishing, Computational Linguistics, and Digital Philology.

In particular, /DH.arc facilitates four types of projects and collaborations, namely:

Short research projects (< 12 months). Short projects tackle research questions arisen by scholars that require an interdisciplinary approach for solving problems. Projects are defined and developed collaboratively and must include innovative research topics and methodologies for creating new knowledge.

Training activities. Humanities projects that require trained personnel can apply for a training period at /DH.arc. Early-career researchers and professionals belonging to other departments or institutions will be hosted and trained so that they can achieve their research tasks.

Long term projects and collaborations. /DH.arc is available for proposing or participating to international research projects. It also offers consultancy to scholars and institutions already involved in existing projects.

Visiting periods and collaborations on ongoing projects. Students applying for internships or visiting research periods will be involved in projects lead by members of /DH.arc (see Related Projects).

Lastly, the close relation between /DH.arc and the Digital Humanities and Digital Knowledge (DHDK) MA allows undergraduate or PhD students and early-career researchers to be trained on DH skills by applying for an internship.