Humanities and Social Sciences Digital Research Infrastructure in Canada
Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) encompasses the tools, technology, hardware, software, and people who facilitate digital research. Humanities and social sciences (HSS) DRI pertains to these specific disciplines and their unique needs, practices, and outputs. CRKN is actively supporting and contributing to HSS DRI in Canada.
Who is Involved
For several years, key HSS DRI groups have come together to learn from each other, explore best practices, and collaborate on areas of shared priority. This includes the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), CRKN, Érudit, Humanities Data Lab, Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE) Partnership, Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship (LINCS), Public Knowledge Project (PKP), and Scholars Portal.
Landscape Analysis
Digital Research Infrastructure for the HSS in Canada
In 2024, CRKN and Érudit embarked on a collaborative project to survey and map HSS DRI in Canada.
As a group of humanities and social sciences (HSS) digital research infrastructure leaders in Canada, we believe in the significance of the HSS as critical disciplines that foster unique and cutting edge research on the past, present, and future of human experience and knowledge creation. We also believe that such substantial research should be made as open as possible (and as closed as necessary, concerning culturally-sensitive materials), especially since this research provides critical context for fast-moving technological advancements. We understand the importance of the long-term sustainability of these disciplines through appropriate, evolving, and innovative research infrastructure that supports HSS work for decades -- if not centuries -- to come, building on its existing national-scale foundation.
Further, it is clear to us that such robust digital research infrastructure must put people at its centre; not only the 90,000+ HSS researchers, students, and additional infrastructure users in Canada, but also the highly qualified personnel responsible for the ongoing maintenance, development, socialization, and usage of this system. In collaboration with each other, our group (and the broader communities we represent) has operated and invested in this space for several years–in regional, national and global contexts–despite discipline-specific challenges. We are excited to continue to partner with peers both in the digital research infrastructure community and across the entire research sector to steward our shared investment in Canada's research capacity.
Many other organizations and initiatives are operating in the HSS DRI space. For a select list, please see below.
- Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ)
- Borealis
- Canadian Persistent Identifiers Advisory Committee (CPIDAC)
- Canadian Research Data Centre Network / Réseau canadien des Centres de données de recherche (CRDCN / RCCDR)
- Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory / Le Collaboratoire scientifique des écrits du Canada (CWRC / CSÉC); transitioning to Collaboratory for Writing and Research on Culture
- Coalition for Canadian Digital Heritage (CCDH)
- Coalition Publica
- Cyberinfrastructure ouverte pour les sciences humaines et sociales (CO.SHS)
- Data Management Plan (DMP) Assistant
- DataCite Canada Consortium
- Digital Research Alliance of Canada / Alliance de recherche numérique du Canada (The Alliance / L’Alliance)
- Federated Research Data Repository / Le Dépôt fédéré de données de recherche (FRDR/DFDR)
- Internet Archive Canada
- Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (LAC / BAC)
- Linked Editing Academic Framework (LEAF)
- Lunaris
- National Indigenous Knowledge & Language Alliance / Alliance nationale des connaissances et des langues autochtones (NIKLA / ANKLA)
ORCID Canada Consortium (ORCID-CA) - Pressbooks
- Regional Library Associations: British Columbia Electronic Library Network (BC ELN), Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries / Conseil des bibliothèques postsecondaires de l'Atlantique (CAAL / CBPA), Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL), Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), Partenariat des bibliothèques universitaires du Québec (PBUQ)
- Scholaris
- Voyant Tools