STRATEGICPLAN

2019 - 2026

Executive summary.........................................................2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction and background to this document................3

The DARIAH vision..........................................................4

The DARIAH mission.................................................... ..6

DARIAH's environment....................................................9

DARIAH's assets...........................................................12

DARIAH's strategic positioning......................................15

What is DARIAH's impact and for whom?.....................19

Measuring our success.................................................22

Conclusion and next steps............................................24

Appendix 1....................................................................26

Appendix 2....................................................................28

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EXECUTIVESUMMARY vision that the Arts and Humanities be

firmly anchored at the centre of atechnologically evolving knowledgesociety.

The strategy stands upon the fourpillars of: building the Marketplace asa humanist-friendly component of theEuropean Open Science Cloud;approaching training and educationstrategically and in a coordinatedfashion; deepening our connection toour communities and ensuring theyare with us; and strengthening ourvoice in policy and advocacy. Delivery upon these areas will bemonitored through a series ofquantitative and qualitative successmeasures tied in to the areas in whichDARIAH’s impact, manifested inimproved organisational efficiency,research excellence, networkdevelopment and innovation, can beevidenced.

The Digital Research Infrastructure forthe Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) wasincluded in the first Roadmap of theEuropean Strategy Forum on ResearchInfrastructures (ESFRI) in 2006, andhas been established as a EuropeanResearch Infrastructure Consortium(ERIC) since 2014. This is its firstStrategic Plan, which builds upon a 2-year exercise in strategic thinking andaction, guided by the 2017 StrategicAction Plan.

The DARIAH Strategy 2019-2026builds upon the ERIC’s unique positionwithin the European and internationalhumanities and arts researchecosystem to deliver technicalknowledge and services tuned toresearcher needs, creating a more fluidoverall system of exchange andinnovation, working toward the DARIAH

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INTRODUCTION &BACKGROUND TOTHIS DOCUMENT

The Digital Research Infrastructure forthe Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) wasincluded in the first Roadmap of theEuropean Strategy Forum on ResearchInfrastructures (ESFRI) in 2006, andhas been established as a EuropeanResearch Infrastructure Consortium(ERIC) since 2014. This is its firstStrategic Plan, which builds upon a 2-year exercise in strategic thinking andaction, guided by the 2017 StrategicAction Plan.

In that time, the DARIAH communityhas engaged in both introspection andconsultation about the value we canand do bring to our wider sphere ofinfluence. We have pursued therequired insight in small and medium-sized groups, and in large plenarymeetings; through face-to-face dialogueand distributed consultation processesseeking and assimilating diverseperspectives. Inputs have been fed infrom all corners of the DARIAHecosystem, from the working groups tothe national contact points to theScientific Advisory Board to the jointJoint Research Committee-SeniorManagement Team January strategic

meetings which have kicked-off each ofthe last two years. In particular, wehave ‘walked the walk’ of this strategy,in anticipation of its final expression asa document, through the developmentand adoption of the DARIAH StrategicAction Plan 2017-2020 (or STRAPL). Since its adoption, the STRAPLdocument has become a touchstone bywhich we could evaluate opportunitiesand communicate our trajectory to theworld, and the process by which wehave monitored progress against it hashelped us to focus our activities andresources, as well as to keep aconstant eye on changing priorities andour changing environment.

This measured and steady processtoward a strategy has given us theconfidence to be ambitious and yetoptimistic about the vision we havedeveloped together and the road wecan foresee by which to approach it. Through this plan, we will be able totarget our investment and activities,knowing what opportunities will not beappropriate for us, and allowing us todevelop on our unique potential tocontribute to research.

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First and foremost, the DARIAH ERICexists to enable excellent research inthe arts and humanities. Theintersection of these long-standingresearch fields and methods withtechnology is a crucial one, however,as technological advancement carrieswith it a profound human dimensionthat we embrace as a central challenge.

Arts and humanities research informshuman understanding of our ever-evolving cultures and societies, basinginsight on the investigation of fluid anddiverse cultural and creative practices,productions, norms and values ofhumans, cultures and societies. Theobject of humanities research istherefore both ever-changing andstaunchly constant, with the ideas ofPlato and Aristotle standing side-by-side with new media and popularculture. We explore these issues

through the rich, subtle and ambiguousartefacts humans and cultures createand leave behind. In historicaldocuments we seek not only evidenceof what happened, but how historicalrecords show, through their language,their gaps, and their origins, the biasesof their creators, and the later diffusionand impact of their thoughts. In therecord of human creativity, we find notjust what people say they know, feel ordo, but empirical evidence of whatinspires us, how we feel our identitiesand interconnectedness can beexpressed, what makes our own timeand place unique, and what makes ourexperience universal.

These aspects of lives and culturesthat are so deeply held that we canhardly describe them ourselves, and itis precisely at this level that technologyis having its most pronounced effects.

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The DARIAH Vision: Тhe Arts and Humanitiesare anchored at the centre of a

technologically evolving knowledge society.

THE DARIAH VISION2

Technology is currently reshaping oursocieties and our lives, and culture, it issaid, is not about fact, it is aboutfunction. Such a transformation mustcombine the expertise of engineers andcomputer scientists with deepknowledge of how we as humanscommunicate, how we interact, whatwe value and how we form identities. Strong societies need this (as myriadpolicy initiatives show us), as do strongeconomies (as voices from industryconfirm), and it is precisely thisinteraction that DARIAH convenes andfosters.

How we propose to build upon ourunique position to provide thefoundation for this vision is at the heartof the DARIAH strategy.

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We empower not because our communities have a deficit, but because we canhelp them add capacities that meet new or emerging requirements in theirresearch environment.

We work in research because we value excellence and innovation, and becausewe strive to contribute to a knowledge-based society. Knowledge, however, is notthe exclusive property of academics working in ivory towers. Human curiosity candrive anyone to want to know more, and our remit reaches to knowledgeprofessionals, students and citizen scientists alike. We aim for knowledge that isopen and available to all.

We support communities because we believe in the importance of workingtogether. The stereotypical model of the lone scholar working in splendid isolationcannot meet all the intellectual and technological challenges of the 21st century.Which is why we value collaboration, diversity and social responsibility.

Digital methods are a cornerstone of what we do, ensuring we focus on howtechnology is transforming not objects, but activities. For us, the digital is not agoal in itself, but a means to explore, discover and grow.

Creating, connecting and sharing knowledge about culture and society isthe ultimate goal of all the disciplines of the arts and humanities. We value thatknowledge for its historical significance and its power to shed light on the

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DARIAH's mission is to empower researchcommunities with digital methods to create,connect and share knowledge about culture

and society.

THE DARIAH MISSION3

Organisational strategy must begin inidentity: who we are and whom weserve, the assets we have and thechallenges we face. The DARIAHstrategy is therefore grounded in itsunique capacity to improve research inthe arts and humanities.

Structurally, the Digital ResearchInfrastructure for the Arts andHumanities (DARIAH) was establishedas a European Research InfrastructureConsortium (ERIC) in August 2014.Currently, DARIAH has 18 Membersand many cooperating and projectpartners developing towardmembership across eleven non-member countries. As such, the termDARIAH ERIC (or, simple, DARIAH)can be used to refer to the wholenetwork, while DARIAH-EU or DARIAH-DE/IT/RS etc. refer to the central EUcoordination activities and the differentnational ones respectively.

DARIAH’s purpose is to maintain aninfrastructure that sustains researchersworking in the diverse community ofpractice known as the arts andhumanities to build, analyse andinterpret digital or hybrid resources. Assuch, it supports and enhances thesustainable development of digitally-enabled research and teaching through

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complexities and contradictions of the human experience, but also for its potential tocontribute to creating a better, more tolerant and more inclusive society.

its network of people, knowledge,content, methods and tools. Throughthese activities, DARIAH ensures thathumanities researchers are able toassess the impact of technology ontheir work in an informed manner,access the data, tools, services,knowledge and networks they needseamlessly and in contextually richvirtual and human environments andproduce excellent, digitally-enabledscholarship that is reusable, visible andsustainable.

DARIAH is, of course, not the onlyactor in the field of supporting the artsand humanities as research disciplinesto make a productive transition into thedigital age. Our closest contributors sitwithin universities and researchcentres, libraries and archives,ministries and funding agencies, and itis not DARIAH’s place to duplicate theimportant work done within thesecontexts. In this respect DARIAH seesitself as complementing its stakeholdercommunity, creating a responsive butalso protective interface between thefast-changing world of digital tools andscientific opportunity on the one hand,and the specificity of approaches andcontexts that is central to the work ofindividual humanistic researcher on theother.

A second role we play is that ofconnector. The diversity of the artsand humanities research ecosystem isa strength, and it is important to resistthe managerial impulse to reduce orsimplify this rich and multifacetedlandscape. DARIAH therefore servesthis research community not only as aninfrastructure, providing a commonbaseline of access to knowledge andservices, but also as an ‘interstructure,’connecting potentially isolatedresearchers and fields, creating a fluidbasis for the exchange of new insightsand methods between them, andspeaking with a common voice withregards to the issues of researchtechnology and policy, where ourconcerns are largely shared.

On the other hand, DARIAH also seesits role as bringing a strong appliedperspective, as a creator servingcomplex infrastructural requirements inthe disciplines with which our workintersects. We do this by encouragingand activating, building bridges,drawing up processes and designingtools that make humanities researchmore fulfilling and less isolating.

Finally, DARIAH’s most important aimis to be transformative. By positioningourselves as both an advocate for whatwe need most to preserve in thetraditional arts and humanities and anagent of cultural change with regards todigital methods and sources, we can

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play an unique and important role in therapidly-changing research system. Wemitigate the risk inherent in bringing anexperimental approach to establisheddisciplines and provide a uniqueplatform where researcher, content-providers and ICT experts can meetand exchange knowledge,transdisciplinarily and transnationally.

DARIAH has impact on a series ofinterconnected domains: education,science and culture in the first instance,but also society, policy and the digitaleconomy. At its most basic level, itserves the research community bycoordinating across its layers toimprove over time the conditions forresearch and enhancing value ofresearch that can be achieved throughthe reuse of results and the long-termaccessibility of resulting work. In thisway, DARIAH contributes directly to theunderstanding of the cultural,economical, social and political life inEurope and beyond. It also, however,plays an essential role incontextualising the fundamentalconceptual questions of human andsocial existence for the digital age.

As a result of this vision, structure andmission, DARIAH places itself at theforefront of a changing society,researcher practices and knowledgediscovery market, in which it possessessignificant strength through its networkof partners and contributors.

There are two major factors shaping theDARIAH environment that have drivenits development since the beginning,and which must, implicitly or explicitly,lie at the heart of our strategy and driveour focus on those areas where we canuniquely contribute to it.

First, the place of higher education andresearch in society has changeddramatically in the past few decades,and our community feels itself, in manycountries, under siege and under-invested in. But the rising importanceof innovation and skills development isnot necessarily at odds with the goalsor spirit of these disciplines, only withsome expressions of it. It is here,therefore, that a cultural change agentlike DARIAH is perhaps most needed,to assist in the management of risks inthe environment and, even more so, inthe identification of relevantopportunities. Technology offersunprecedented opportunities toreinvigorate our approaches to thestudy of human creation, but manycritics focus only on the methodologicalblack boxes that threaten the rigour ofestablished hermeneutic strategies, or

see the technologisation of society andof higher education as a threat to thetraditions of critique and questioningthat are the bedrock of arts andhumanities research.

DARIAH’s position as a builder ofresearch infrastructure ‘by researchersfor researchers’ provides insulationfrom these debates, creating a ‘safespace’ for those with a moreintegrative, open vision to experimentand grow. In the end, the digitalhumanities is not just a paradigm shiftfor those few researchers who canengage in both coding and such longstanding humanistic methods as closereading, it is as much an issue for thosein the ‘long tail,’ as those working ‘atscale.’ Not every arts and humanitiesresearcher may use digital methods, oreven digital sources, but as thesystems for publication and peer reviewalso become technologised, the impactis unavoidable, and can be eitherresisted as a threat or capitalised uponas an opportunity.

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DARIAH'SENVIRONMENT4

To facilitate this, we must resist theimpulse to draw DARIAH’s sphere ofinfluence too widely: we do not seek tovalidate formal education and skills, asour university partners do, nor do weseek to take on responsibility forresearch collections, as our partners inthe GLAM sector do. Instead, we seekto build a common basis of knowledge,tools, data and services to support themethodological change occurringbetween the disciplines, and promoteaccess and visibility for good workalready being delivered elsewhere,promoting skills awareness anddevelopment outside of formalqualifications, and data managementand sharing as a living practiceembedded in research enablingcooperation with GLAMs, rather than asa specialty in its own right.

The second major trend within ourmacro-environment to which DARIAHmust remain sensitive is the Europeanpolicy landscape, in particular aspertains to research infrastructure. DARIAH is a product of the Europeanproject to define and build shared,bespoke infrastructure for its researchcommunities, and we have benefitedgreatly from this momentum and theopportunities and vocabulary it hasfurnished us with. But policies can anddo change, and we can certainlyexpect, with the continued growth of theESFRI roadmap from the bottom,

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that a more crowded landscape willbring potential changes for us as wellthat we need to be thoughtful about andwell-prepared for. As such, we remainmindful of the key documents andinitiatives that will shape ourrelationship with the Commission in thefuture, including not only large scale,flagship initiatives, such as theEuropean Open Science Cloud andHorizon Europe, but also key policiesdocuments such as the EuropeanCharter for Access to ResearchInfrastructures, which states:

“By offering high quality services to

Users from different countries,

engaging young people, attracting new

Users and preparing the next

generation of researchers, Research

Infrastructures help in structuring the

scientific community and play a key role

in the construction of an efficient

research and innovation environment.”

(European Charter for Access toResearch Infrastructures Principles andGuidelines for Access and RelatedServices)

A final aspect of the widest reach of theDARIAH environment that meritsconsideration is the geographical one. Although our reach and reputation areinternational, we are a Europeanorganisation. To serve and promotethe arts and humanities, and to do itwell, in a Europe that is still adjusting to

address the inequalities andinsecurities of the past. In this, we arefortunate: as the preparations progressfor the next phase of the EuropeanCommission’s framework funding forresearch (Horizon Europe), andlaunches take place for major openscience initiatives like the EuropeanOpen Science Cloud, our networks andknowledge of the system and theemerging policy priorities position uswell to establish ourselves in thismoment and make a positive impact forour communities.

To this end, we propose to continue onour current trajectory of maximising ourresources by learning from othersoutside of the DARIAH ecosystem,including our partners in the ERICForum of Research Infrastructures; byworking with others on key initiatives,as we have now for some years withpartners such as Europeana, CLARIN,E-RIHS, CESSDA and EASSH; and byensuring that our investments in staffand non-staff costs are tied into ourstrategy at a fundamental level,informing key documents such as ourOpen Access Policy Guidelines,Communications Strategy and internalfunding schemes, to give but threeexamples. More than anything else, weneed to be maximising the value of thereal and potential exchange ofknowledge and good practice within thelayers of DARIAH, from national to

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transnational to European and beyond,as we explore our place as a global, aswell as European, actor. Our DARIAHmembers are diverse, and representcommunities with very differentpriorities and levels of maturity, anddifferent models by which to interactwith and gain best value from theirDARIAH participation, from the largebespoke organisations (such asFrance’s Huma-NUM or theNetherlands and Austria’s CLARIAHmodel), and others running through asingle research centre or culturalheritage institution that acts as anational consolidator.

In the first decade of our development,DARIAH has built an organisation anda track record of providing innovativeand bespoke support to the arts andhumanities community. Theseexperiences, and the reputation wehave built both with our memberstakeholders and in the widercommunity of research infrastructures,policymakers, project leaders and inparticular the European Commission,are key assets we bring into oursecond decade.

The fact that DARIAH was able to builda strong coalition of 18 membercountries, even for its launch as anERIC, has been a significant strength,granting us early access to the manybenefits of scale, including stable andsufficient funding, and a rich knowledgebase to be deployed across a stableand long time horizon. We havebenefitted as well from stable andthoughtful leadership in our launchperiod, leading us to have beendeclared as a Landmark RI by theEuropean Commission already in 2016.This places us very well to continue inour leadership role as one of the

largest representative organisations forthe arts and humanities researchcommunity in Europe, a role we willseek relevant opportunities to grow anddevelop as a part of our commitment tothe ideals of international sciencediplomacy.

The foundational decision to positionDARIAH as a research infrastructurefor the full breadth of arts andhumanities research, with a particularfocus on the many points of intersectionbetween the work of this communityand information and communicationtechnologies has also had a strongstructuring effect on the organisation. This community is methodologicallydiverse and widely varied in its fluencyand acceptance of technologies for theaccess to sources, research question-based interrogation and disseminationof results based on digital sources orusing digital tools. Appealing to acommunity defined in this way positionsus at a relatively fundamental level ofinfrastructure, always seeking ways toshare between communities and fosterproductive borrowing between them.

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DARIAH'S ASSETS5

This position as an intellectualmiddleware is a powerful one, however,as we can draw out commonalities fromand build bridges between a set ofdisciplinary communities that are oftencriticised for their fragmentation. Maintaining this plurality and porositywhile still adding measurable value hasbeen a significant challenge forDARIAH, but one that has allowed us todefine a truly unique position in ourwider environment.

Of particular note is the people andpassion that DARIAH has gathered andinspired. Our broad base and bottom-up approach to building infrastructure isattractive to dynamic people, evenwhen our widest base may haveresearch interests allied with othercommunities, and this balance createsa network effect that is a powerfulengine for DARIAH. DARIAH is a pointof convergence, and not for onediscipline or country alone, but fortechnical and collections experts aswell as researchers from manyhumanities disciplines. This diversity isalso a part of our strength, as is thecreativity that comes from motivatedindividuals working in an environmentthat challenges them to expand theirframe of reference, while also givingthe whole community access to cuttingedge good practice, for example in thedeployment of new methodologiesand/or the application of established

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and robust standards. In particular asresearch data and its managementbecome ever more essential to the artsand humanities, DARIAH can uniquelysupport the informed and sustainabledevelopment and re-use of researchassets, with a focus on particularchallenges including diversity,provenance, and granularity.

The strength of our collaborators and ofour network in Europe has had anumber of positive effects, in particularour success in accessing additionalfunding, above and beyond ourmembership fees, to progress andpromote our activities. Through projectswe lead, such as Humanities at Scaleand DESIR, but also through the manyprojects to which we contribute aspartners with unique expertise andcapacity, we continue to grow anddevelop at a rapid pace, sharing thework and the benefits with our partnersalong the way.

The dynamism of our network does notcome without challenges, however. Streamlined communications and themaintenance of institutional memorycan be forced to take a back seat to thepursuit of the next exciting idea withclose collaborators, leading us at timesto reproduce, rather than offset, thefragmentation of the communities wesupport. The breadth of our communityis therefore also both a strength and a

weakness. It is very difficult for anyonein the organisation to maintain a fullyinformed view of the full range ofactivities in the network, but it is atthese furthest reaches of our directimpact that the greatest opportunitiesfor impact and growth exist.

The key management challenges forDARIAH going forward, therefore, areto harness the energy and expertise ofour contributors, while also ensuringthat the impact of the work they do iswide, sustainable and shared. Ingeneral, we believe this to be anoperational rather than strategicchallenge, however, the place of whichis discussed in section 9 below. Thatsaid, ensuring that we investstrategically in staff positions and inevents, for example, will be one of thekey positive outcomes of this plan.

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In early 2017, DARIAH commenced theprocess of agreeing a long-termstrategic vision by developing aStrategic Action Plan. Of the actions inthat plan, most have been achieved, ormainstreamed into our day-to-day work,while others were rethought and eitherdiscarded, redefined or are ongoing. Working within the short and focussedtime horizon of the STRAPL hasallowed DARIAH a period of self-reflection in preparation for thedevelopment of this strategic plan.

The result of this process has been arecognition and consolidation ofconsensus around our key areas fordevelopment. These recognised fields

of action and potential impact becomenow the core of what we commitourselves to for the coming period ofseven years, areas where theopportunities and constraints in ourenvironment map to the assets andstrengths we as an organisation have.

For DARIAH, the manifestation of thevalue we can bring, as connectors andcreators, that are complementary andtransformative for the arts andhumanities, emerges in four distinctforms. These pillars of our strategyrepresent our organisational priorities,and the services we provide to ourstakeholder community.

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DARIAH'S STRATEGICPOSITIONING6

Access to tools, data, knowledge andservices that are tuned for use andreuse by arts and humanitiesresearchers is a major challenge forthem. This challenge has been at theheart of DARIAH since its earliestformulation: the statutory requirementthat DARIAH members give far more in-kind than cash contributiondifferentiates us and speaks to our realpower. Easing the flow of contributionsfrom creator to user, for the benefit ofboth, and in a way that provides the rich

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Research in a fast-changingenvironment requires a sustainedaccess to new perspectives andmethods. While this happens inuniversities as well, researchinfrastructures like DARIAH areuniquely positioned to share new kindsof knowledge from broader networks ina wider variety of formats. In particular,mid-career researchers would struggleto meet their needs through traditional

DARIAH As Creator: Build a Marketplace to facilitate fluidexchange of tools, services, data and knowledge.

context researchers need whenevaluating how to sharpen theirresearch, is one of the most distinct,important and unique things we can do. The centrepoint of this commitment willbe our ambitious plan to build an artsand humanities-friendly component forthe European Open Science Cloud,connecting us to a major EUdevelopment and to the areasemphasised in the strategic paperdeveloped by the NCC in 2017-2018.

DARIAH As Transformative: Build access to educationand training.

training, but short, focussed schoolsand infrastructure access programmesprovide alternative modes, which are akey strength and service. We do notwant to reinvent ourselves as auniversity, however, so positioningDARIAH as a unique provider of orcollaborator for education and trainingwill be a significant challenge of themodel we seek to realise.

Enabling our communities to self-organise around emerging researchthemes and concerns is a win-winsituation: they get a structure withinwhich to develop at an early phase, andwe get an overview of the future trendsand leaders in the digitally-enabledhumanities. Working Groups areinterdisciplinary, transnational andtransverse in their approach todetermining their field of enquiry. Assuch, they represent the fruit and thefuture of our research fields, althoughnot the only one in which DARIAHmight invest, given the past successeswith regional Hubs, the long tradition ofdisciplinary societies and of course themany inspirational examples in ourmember countries.

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DARIAH As Connector: Build Working Groups, Hubs andother forms of Transnational and Transdisciplinaryorganisation.

Through such mechanisms, DARIAHwill build into its strategy thecommitment to deepen our connectionto our communities and ensure they arewith us, expanding our impact on andenhancing research cultures withinmember countries, within keydisciplines, and outside of thestereotypical researcher profiles. Wewill need to be creative about how weuse not only the now-tested forms oforganisation and support (such as theWorking Groups, and the funding wehave dedicated to them) but alsoinstruments we may have trialled (likethe Ambassadors programme),maintained over a long time (like thetheme funding or EU project consortia)or only proposed (like discipline subjectcentres) in order to promote a betterlevel of awareness and service in the‘long tail’ of the digital humanities.

Brussels, or indeed one’s own capitalcity or national research supportstructure, may seem a very long wayfrom the desk of the average arts orhumanist researcher. Often, however,the policies in development in theseplaces are closer to home than thatresearcher may think. The arts andhumanities need a voice in Europewhere research policies, in particularthose with a technological element, arebeing discussed, as well as a translatorable to bring those nascent policies tothe communities, to allow them toprepare and consider the impact thatmay be coming in 5–10 years time.

Our position as a Europe-wideorganisation with a solid base and closelinks to a wide range of actors inBrussels is an asset we can deploy forthe long-term good of our community.

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DARIAH As Complementary: Build bridges betweenresearch policy and communities of practice.

The fact that DARIAH could and shouldplay a unique and strong role in policyand advocacy is a realisation thatseems obvious, and yet has only trulybeen operationalised recently, inparticular around the policy focus onopen science. We need to expand andexplore this role: defining new emergingareas where the arts and humanitieswill be implicated; addressing keybarriers to the development of digitalresearchers and methods, like rightsand copyright in TDM, and thesustainability of ‘orphan’ researchobjects; and becoming far more visibleand audible in Brussels. Given that insome communities, even the digital artsand humanities, are still not understoodor accepted, there is much thatDARIAH can achieve at the macro-levelhere.

Impact is a much debated term whenused to describe the quality of theresults of research and of the organsthat support research. In addition,while impact can sometimes beevidenced and observed directly, andmeasured as such, very often, theimpact that we can see is merely the tipof a hugely complex iceberg ofinfluences and environmental factors, areality that makes it very difficult for oneinitiative or organisation to make a clearclaim to their role in bringing that eventor object into being.

For DARIAH, we therefore propose fivemain areas of impact that we will seekto trace our influence through, namely:

- Increase in OrganisationalEfficiency and Effectiveness (eg.at the national partner of communityof practice level). Having access toDARIAH helps research groups andnational partner institutions to gainaccess to and maintain visibility overa European horizon of research anddevelopment. In addition, they canlearn from other partners, andaccess tools and services that canbenefit their research

projects and communities, withoutthe need to necessarily instigate orfund such developments fromscratch. They can also use theseopportunities to build human capital,in their organisations and generally.

- Foster research excellencethrough new understanding andreflection, creation and diffusionof high-quality new knowledge,skills and technologies. Inparticular, individual researchers canaccess the partnerships, knowledge,tools, services and other assets theyneed for their work. They can join orform working groups to easilyassemble groupings of researchersto explore new ideas. Digital work inthe humanities is well-known for itsability to be hidden from or otherwiseinaccessible for reuse, or removedfrom developments in other researchareas. Through DARIAH, theseopportunities can be maximised.

- Promote more fluid interactionsbetween policy and practice. InDARIAH, we speak a lot about howwe are very much an organisationbuilt from the ‘bottom-up,’ serving

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8WHAT IS DARIAH’SIMPACT AND FORWHOM?

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researches and following theirneeds, rather than the other wayaround. To do this effectively,however, the overall environmentfrom the ‘top-down’ must also be inline with these researcher needs,and research policy has very oftenbeen seen as in conflict rather thanin harmony with the distinct needs ofarts and humanities research.DARIAH, as a large andrepresentative body, recognised atEuropean-level and with nationalministry buy-in, is in a uniqueposition to inform policy, in particularas our expertise and interest intechnology places us at the heart ofso many debates, from OpenScience to the social implications ofbig data and AI to the future of theDigital Economy.

- Develop Networks andCollaborations. More the anythingelse, DARIAH is about people, andabout sharing knowledge in largegroups and small conversations.These networks can lead to largescale funding proposals, or to morelimited (but no less valuable) insight,publications and events, all of whichensure the fluid circulation ofknowledge among committedexperts and the merely curious alike.

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- Promote Innovation. Because of itsscale and place between humanitiesarts research and technology, DARIAHis able topromote and support newmodes of research that may followeither a policy imperative or an appliedor translational one. Through DARIAH,researchers and research performingorganisations can develop theircapacity in research approaches thatare mission-oriented, addressing newaudiences, implementing policies (suchas open science), supporting uptake ofresults by industry or facing societalchallenges. This will be a particularlyimportant area for development as wesee the launch of the Horizon EuropeFunding programme in 2020.

These may not be the only areas, andof course we will be growing this listover the period of this plan.

The concomitant question to that of‘what is impact?’ is, of course, ‘impactfor whom?’ For this reason, we includea stakeholder map in Appendix 2 of thisdocument. Of the many actors listedhere, we would see our nationalmembers, and the researchers theyrepresent as our most critical partnersand “users.” We use this word, user,only with hesitation, however. As aterm, it is recognised widely within

research infrastructural policy andpractice as a descriptor for thebeneficiary of the services theinfrastructure provides. In DARIAH, wecan hardly recognise this relationship,however. Our users, if indeed they aresuch, are as much contributors asbeneficiaries: the high in-kindcontribution our statutes require ofmembers canonises this much moreequal standing between those who mightbe considered central within DARIAHand those who might be seen asperipheral. We therefore use the termonly in the sense of the ‘produser’ or‘prosumer,’ whose input is as essential tothe eventual quality of the services andexperiences DARIAH provides as isDARIAH to the services and experiencesthey partake of.

Serving this community will require us tobring value to some of our otherrelationships: with the EuropeanCommission, with cultural heritageinstitutions, and with other ERICs, forexample. Beyond this, we can abstractto a further level of general impact,reaching out to society and research asa whole. For more detail on the widermapping of our stakeholders, seeAppendix 2 of this document.

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The four pillars of DARIAH’s strategyhave come into clear focus as we haveworked within the productiveconstraints of the Strategic Action Planover the past two years. To make themnow central to the organisation’sstrategy as the embodiment of how weadd value as a research infrastructurewill take a new level of commitment. Managing our resources and ourmessage according to these clearspheres of engagement are a part ofthat, but measuring our success againstthem will be a yet larger one.

Evaluating the success of anorganization is a crucial activity for itsmanagement, and the success of anorganization should reflect operationalefficiency, but must also be defined interms of making progress toward itsstrategic goals. The definition of theindicators used to measure suchsuccess must therefore be based upona solid understanding of what ourstakeholders value. Too often,indicators become rough proxies,whose trajectories alone seem to speaka truth about an organisation’s impact. In developing the success

measures that accompany thisStrategic Plan, DARIAH has madegreat efforts not to fall into this trap.

In the early phase of DARIAH’sdevelopment, success could be easilymeasured through growth. When newcountries would join, that validated ourmessage and our activities. Wecontinue to plan to expand and growthe number of DARIAH countries, butmembership growth alone is not a goodmeasure for DARIAH: what we reallywant our KPIs to provide evidence forand focus our efforts upon is the depthand richness of our impact intoresearch communities, into nationalconsortia, into the practices andknowledge base of individualresearchers who may or may notconsider themselves ‘digitalhumanists.’ To disappear from viewand attention is the dangerous fate andthe goal of effective infrastructure, asinfrastructure, done well, should beable to be taken for granted.

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9MEASURING OURSUCCESS8

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In this spirit, we will underpin this planwith a number of quantitative andqualitative KPIs that will give us a truepicture of the health and impact of theDARIAH ERIC. They are based uponthe following segmentation of ouractivities, outputs and outcomes, andwill be expressed in the form of aBalanced Scorecard covering the areasof Use, Efficiency and Scientific andCommunity Impact.

DARIAH’s ultimate goal is to ensure abetter overall environment for digitally-enabled humanities research that is ofhigh quality and high impact, as well asfostering greater fluidity in accessingand using digital tools. This StrategicPlan aims to plot a course that uses ourunique assets and position in theenvironment to contribute to this goal. By making this commitment as anERIC, we commit to increasing ourvalue for all of our stakeholders:researchers, research policy bodiesand research contributors alike. Indoing so, we believe that the seconddecade of the DARIAH ERIC will

continue the trajectory set by its first ofsustained growth in both size andimpact across its network of partnersand beyond.

The emergence of this plan representsa significant step forward for DARIAHas an organisation and as acommunity. Making commitments thatwill focus and guide our decisions forthe next seven years represents asignificant step forward, and is a sign ofthe confidence we can now claim in ourvalue and our capacity to provide animportant infrastructural layer within theEuropean research ecosystem.

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10CONCLUSION ANDNEXT STEPS9

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The work is not done with theagreement of this plan, however, whichwill be supplemented over the comingmonths by a number of more focussedannexes, including a second StrategicAction Plan (STRAPL II), to ensure weare translating our strategic aims intoclear, measurable actions, and anImpact Assessment Implementationplan (IAIP), which will clearly definehow we collect and share the evidenceof activity against our key performanceindicators, and may also indicate areaswhere we might trial new indicators forpotential future integration into ourpublic reporting.

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10APPENDIX 1: REFERENCESAND BACKGROUNDDOCUMENTS

DARIAH-ERIC Statutes: https://www.dariah.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DARIAH-ERIC_Statutes_May2019.pdf Earlier documentation: Laurent Romary (2011) Partnerships, relationships and associated initiatives —Towards a strategic plan for DARIAH. [Research Report] R EU 4.3.1, DARIAH.2011. https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01150112 Laurent Romary, Tobias Blanke, Conny Kristel (2014) Towards a strategy forDARIAH Paper presented at the 2nd DARIAH-ERIC General Assembly, 17November 2014 Laurent Romary, Mike Mertens, Anne Baillot (2016) Data fluidity in DARIAH –pushing the agenda forward. BIBLIOTHEK Forschung und Praxis, De Gruyter,2016, 39 (3), pp.350-357: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01285917 Further papers and documents relevant to this plan can also be found in theDARIAH HAL archive: https://hal.inria.fr/DARIAH Some external examples consulted: ICOS Impact assessment Report: https://www.icos-ri.eu/sites/default/files/2018-09/ICOS_Impact_Assessment_Report_2018.pdf Performance Indicators for BBMRI-ERIChttps://zenodo.org/record/159416#.W7HevZNKgWo

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10CLARIN-ERIC Key Performance Indicatorshttps://office.clarin.eu/v/CE-2018-1266-Key-PerformanCE-Indicators-for-CLARIN-ERIC-v1.pdf Impactometrixhttps://dariah-de.github.io/Impactomatrix/ Europeana Impact Playbookhttps://pro.europeana.eu/post/introducing-the-impact-playbook-the-cultural-heritage-professionals-guide-to-assessing-your-impact UK Research Evaluation Framework Impact Case Studieshttps://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/ Library of Congress: Mission, Vision and Valueshttps://www.loc.gov/strategic-plan/

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10APPENDIX 2: DARIAH MEMBERS,COOPERATING PARTNERS ANDLARGER NETWORK

DARIAH MembersAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceIrelandItalyLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPolandPortugalSerbiaSlovenia

DARIAH Cooperating Partners in thefollowing countries:

FinlandHungaryNorwayRomaniaSlovakiaSwedenSwitzerlandUnited Kingdom

To get an overview of the DARIAH network visit this map:https://www.mindmeister.com/1134174308/dariah-partners-and-community