DARIAH-EU: a cutting-edge ecosystem for Arts and Humanities research in Europe

DARIAH - Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities is a ERIC - European Research Infrastructure Consortium on the ESFRI - European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures: it represents a strategic tool of excellence, that is renowned at the European level for the scientific integration, the empowerment and the enlargement of the rich European research in Arts and Humanities at the International level.
The e-infrastructure provides a shared technological platform for the European research in the area of Arts and Humanities: on one side, it allows data, information and tools sharing and mutual integration among different communities; on the other side, it provides services and standards ensuring interoperability to the entire DARIAH ecosystem.

From a digital infrastructure to a social infrastructure: digital sharing of knowledge and expertise
DARIAH digital dimension allows to take advantage of the Net and of the most advanced technologies in order to give value, to spread and to preserve European Arts and Humanities tradition both in research and education, with the aim of building a network among the different communities of interest.
DARIAH is a social infrastructure by researchers for researchers that puts together people, expertise, information, knowledge, contents, methods, tools and technologies to support and promote inter- and multi-disciplinary research across the broad spectrum of the Arts and Humanities.
The stress on the sharing of scientific knowledge, on people, on research communities and their active involvement; the dual peculiarity of the infrastructure, digital and social at the same time: these are the basis of the collaboration between DARIAH and the S&TDL.

At the heart of a European Network
DARIAH is the centre of a European research network that brings together other research networks in the field of Humanities:
- ARIADNE (Advanced Research Infrastructure for Archaeological Dataset Networking in Europe)
- CENDARI (Collaborative European Digital Archive Infrastructure)
- CHARISMA (Cultural Heritage Advanced Research Infrastructures)
- DiXiT (Digital Scholarly Editions Initial Training Network)
- EHRI (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)
- NeDiMAH (Network for Digital Methods in the Arts and Humanities)

Benefits
Visibility - DARIAH ensures an increased visibility of national and European research by disseminating research results to wider communities
Collaboration - DARIAH supports and enhances international collaboration opportunities thanks to the exchange of knowledge, skills, expertise, training experiences and best practices
Sustainability - DARIAH promotes the sustainability of research activities after the end of project funding, consolidating research outcomes and enhancing their sharing and reuse through methods, tools, and services
Access - DARIAH provides the widest access to research data, tools and services via the DARIAH infrastructure
Funding - DARIAH increases funding opportunities at the National, European and International level

The National network: DARIAH-IT

A varied and strong partnership
DARIAH-IT founds itself on a cross-institutional agreement among the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism (MiBACT), and the Italian National Research Council (CNR). CNR is DARIAH-IT National coordinator.
The Italian network involves the eminent representation of academic, research and cultural heritage institutions, such as:
• National Research Council – through many Institutes, Systems and excellence initiatives
• Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and Bibliographic Information (ICCU)
• National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN)
• GARR Consortium, the Italian academic and research network
• Association of Italian Cultural Institutions (AICI)
• Museo Galileo in Firenze
• Educational and scientific services for the University of Firenze, Prato (PIN)
• International Society for the Study of Medieval Latin Culture (SISMEL)
• Ezio Franceschini Foundation (FEF)- Institute for studies on medieval Europe
• University of Siena
• University of Pisa
• University of Piemonte Orientale
• DigiLab - Interdepartmental Centre for Research and Services (University of Roma La Sapienza)
• Multimedia Research Resource Centre - CRR-MM (University of Bologna))

Thanks to a strong, wide and well structured independent organization, DARIAH-it aims at creating critical mass in order to give value to and to spread and disseminate research and Italian humanistic expertise and to reinforce its presence and role in the International scenario. Moreover, it tries to seize the funding opportunities existing at a National, European and International level with promptness and effectiveness.

Disciplinary areas and contributions

Among the 27 available disciplines, the most represented are the following:
• Cultural Heritage - Museology
• Art and Art History
• Literature
• History
• Archaeology - Prehistory

In order to ensure the success of this initiative, Italian partners make available a wide range of in-kind contributions, from contents to research know-how, from technical and technological expertise to organizational and educational competences.