In this research, I proposed to conduct a novel ethnographic study of digital humanists at work, combined with a critical analysis of local infrastructure to investigate the entanglement of infrastructure and technology in digital humanities knowledge creation. The complexity of this phenomenon calls for epistemological and methodological developments; thus, I proposed revisiting existing approaches to build a new interdisciplinary toolset for studying knowledge constructed in a physical and digital environment. This project came at a key moment, one at which, with the rise of humanities labs, it was necessary to examine and understand the impact of socio-material assemblages on the process of scholarly knowledge production to improve the research infrastructure. This research had, therefore, great importance for the development of the digital humanities field and for opening new research avenues. I aimed to expand the emerging field of Critical Infrastructure Studies through contributions to the body of theoretical work and to initiatives of the international research group. This project also aimed to advance the state of the art within digital humanities by applying tools from Knowledge Infrastructures and Science and Technology Studies. It proposed to consolidate the ethnography of infrastructure―largely unexplored in digital humanities―using an original methodology applicable to surfacing the invisible layers of organisational systems and studying how they manage, control, and transfer information. Based on the case study of King’s Digital Lab, I aimed to provide comprehensive knowledge of digital humanities organisational systems and practices.
The research had three main objectives: 1) the epistemological goal was to develop a new theoretical framework for examining a laboratory in digital humanities drawing on Science and Technology Studies and Knowledge Infrastructures; 2) the methodological task aimed at integrating laboratory ethnography and the ethnography of infrastructure to build a new toolset for studying the intertwining of human organisation and infrastructure; and 3) the central work package focuses on investigating digital research knowledge creation based on the case study of King’s Digital Lab. The study was based on the observation of, and interviews with, participants involved in the labs, the analysis of written documents, and the analysis of digital communications.
