9. Springing the Floor for a Different Kind of Dance

Edmond, Fischer, Romary, and Tasovac begin this chapter by exploring what infrastructure means in different contexts before going on to consider ‘digital infrastructure’ as not only a tool that needs to be built but also understood. They examine practices and theories in an attempt to define infrastructure for the arts and humanities in the digital age: firstly, considering infrastructure as knowledge spaces; secondly, considering why the arts and humanities need research infrastructure and; thirdly, establishing why a community approach should be adopted and what baseline requirements should be met. They focus on the case study of DARIA ERIC and its dual hierarchical and marketplace structure to optimise knowledge sharing and in-flow from within its community. They argue that infrastructures today not only represent a different model for supporting knowledge creation but are also developing new models for creating knowledge. They conclude that DARIAH ERIC harnesses the best of two communities — research infrastructures as originally conceived of in the sciences, as well as the arts and humanities research base.