Transforming the Gap: Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills (DAReS) CoLAB
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: London College of Communication
Abstract
The DAReS (Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills) CoLab aims to develop and pilot an inclusive model for advanced digital research skills provision for arts and humanities with marginalised researchers at every stage of their career. The DAReS CoLab prioritises diversity and inclusion as important preconditions for innovation and high quality research, and applies these priorities to digital research skills development and training. The DAReS CoLab aims to transform known gaps into opportunities for inclusive practice enabling game-changer solutions, artistic practice, and impactful, high-quality research in arts and humanities
Advanced digital research skills, including data wrangling, analytics, data visualisation and computational data analysis, are predicted to be the digital skills cluster most in demand over the next five years. Yet, the state of digital arts and humanities research is wildly uneven, marked by centres of digital excellence (e.g.UAL's Creative Computing Institute and King's Digital Humanities Lab) and also widespread uncertainty around what tools and techniques can be used and how.
STEM, social science and interdisciplinary based approaches to computational methods often require heavy investment from researchers, not only in skill acquisition but also to translate these methods to arts and humanities. Computer sciences and the technology sector have a well known "diversity gap" where women, those who have disclosed a disability, Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups continue to be disproportionately marginalised and underrepresented (MacDonald 2020;BCS 2021). By focusing on inclusive practice for the arts and humanities, the DAReS CoLab provides an achievable plan for addressing and transforming these gaps into good practice for better research outcomes.
To achieve these aims and the project's objectives, there are 3 phases:
-Phase 1:Building an inclusive model(O1,O4)
-Phase 2:Digital skills summer school pilot(O2,O3,O4)
-Phase 3:Digital skills hackathon pilot(O3,O4,O5)
Using co-creation methodologies, Phase 1 brings together marginalized and underrepresented arts and humanities researchers with project partners (Wikimedia UK and CRAC/Vitae) to develop an inclusive model for advanced digital research skills provision and competency building. The project team will run 3 workshops with 30participants from every career stage, examining what inclusion means in arts and humanities, in research, and for digital research skills. Recommendations from this phase will be used to develop the model of inclusion informing the digital skills curriculum and summer school pilot.
Phase 2 applies the inclusive model developed in phase 1 to the digital research skills curriculum and pilots this in the summer school skills provision for:
-Data wrangling
-Analytics
-Data visualisation
-Social network analysis
-Computational data analysis
Following the summer school, participants, partners and the team will evaluate the summer school skills provision and experience and provide feedback to each other in a networking event closing phase 2.
In phase 3,feedback and observations from phase 2 will be applied to reiterate the summer school digital skills curriculum for a Hackathon, the second pilot. Led by Wikimedia UK, the Hackathon will bring participants, partners and the project team to co-create a skills wiki and engage in the last iteration of digital skills.
The DAReS CoLab provides an achievable plan of action for developing an inclusive and scalable digital skills pilot which can inform a regional or national training centre. The DAReS CoLab also provides an action plan for strengthening knowledge and understanding of the creative and arts sectors and speaks to cultural challenges of our time.
Advanced digital research skills, including data wrangling, analytics, data visualisation and computational data analysis, are predicted to be the digital skills cluster most in demand over the next five years. Yet, the state of digital arts and humanities research is wildly uneven, marked by centres of digital excellence (e.g.UAL's Creative Computing Institute and King's Digital Humanities Lab) and also widespread uncertainty around what tools and techniques can be used and how.
STEM, social science and interdisciplinary based approaches to computational methods often require heavy investment from researchers, not only in skill acquisition but also to translate these methods to arts and humanities. Computer sciences and the technology sector have a well known "diversity gap" where women, those who have disclosed a disability, Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups continue to be disproportionately marginalised and underrepresented (MacDonald 2020;BCS 2021). By focusing on inclusive practice for the arts and humanities, the DAReS CoLab provides an achievable plan for addressing and transforming these gaps into good practice for better research outcomes.
To achieve these aims and the project's objectives, there are 3 phases:
-Phase 1:Building an inclusive model(O1,O4)
-Phase 2:Digital skills summer school pilot(O2,O3,O4)
-Phase 3:Digital skills hackathon pilot(O3,O4,O5)
Using co-creation methodologies, Phase 1 brings together marginalized and underrepresented arts and humanities researchers with project partners (Wikimedia UK and CRAC/Vitae) to develop an inclusive model for advanced digital research skills provision and competency building. The project team will run 3 workshops with 30participants from every career stage, examining what inclusion means in arts and humanities, in research, and for digital research skills. Recommendations from this phase will be used to develop the model of inclusion informing the digital skills curriculum and summer school pilot.
Phase 2 applies the inclusive model developed in phase 1 to the digital research skills curriculum and pilots this in the summer school skills provision for:
-Data wrangling
-Analytics
-Data visualisation
-Social network analysis
-Computational data analysis
Following the summer school, participants, partners and the team will evaluate the summer school skills provision and experience and provide feedback to each other in a networking event closing phase 2.
In phase 3,feedback and observations from phase 2 will be applied to reiterate the summer school digital skills curriculum for a Hackathon, the second pilot. Led by Wikimedia UK, the Hackathon will bring participants, partners and the project team to co-create a skills wiki and engage in the last iteration of digital skills.
The DAReS CoLab provides an achievable plan of action for developing an inclusive and scalable digital skills pilot which can inform a regional or national training centre. The DAReS CoLab also provides an action plan for strengthening knowledge and understanding of the creative and arts sectors and speaks to cultural challenges of our time.
