The convenors of an Arts and Humanities Research Council/Irish Research Council funded project to undertake research and consultation towards the implementation of a permanent Digital Humanities association for the UK and Ireland (see list of team members at https://dhnetwork.org/) invite submissions from individuals to co-create an event relating to DH and inclusion.

One of the dreams of information and communication technologies is that of equitable and open access to information, to services, and to opportunities. We know, of course, that this is only true on the surface, and that technological systems tend to recreate the inequities of the cultures and societies that build them. As such, the dream of the digital humanities as a ‘big tent’ (that is, capacious, broad and inclusive) is also one that we need to constantly query and challenge if the field is to have a claim to being inclusive and diverse.

This is a particularly pressing issue as we explore the potential for a regional DH network to support the use and promotion of DH methods in the UK and Ireland.

Programme

09:30 Welcome to the event, Jennifer Edmond

09:45 - 11:00 Session 1: Digital Humanities and Access to Cultural Heritage

Moderator: Natalie Harrower

• Tinashe Mushakavanhu, 'African Digital Humanities and archiving gaps' (10-minute presentation)
• Adam Stoneman and Paul Mulholland, 'Making cultural participation and citizen curation accessible' (10-minute demonstration taster session)
• Valeria Carrillo Garza, 'The COVID19 crisis and small museums in the UK' (10-minute presentation)
• Kyle Ramsy, 'Using open access software to make acoustic reconstruction more accessible' (5-minute pre-recorded presentation)
• Kenna Hernly, 'The Museum Challenge' (5-minute provocation)

Discussion (35 minutes)

11:00 - 11:30 COFFEE break

11:30 - 12:45 Session 2: Access to Places and Spaces; Networks and Communities

Moderator: Rianna Walcott

• Samya Brata Roy, 'Making networking accessible for Early Career Researchers' (8-minute presentation)
• Nabeel Siddiqui, 'Travelling through DH: what Big Tent?' (8-minute presentation)
• Anna-Maria Sichani and Tiago Garcia Sousa, '"So close, yet so far away": European DH professionals in post- Brexit Britain' (8-minute panel taster session)
• Nicholas Bowskill, 'Post-Autonomy and 'Groups in the Mind'' (8-minute workshop taster session)
• Vicky Garnett, 'Accessibility Lessons from Lockdown' (8-minute presentation)

Discussion (30 minutes)

12:45 - 2:00 LUNCH Break

1:15 - 2:00 Lunchtime Breakout sessions

• Adam Stoneman, 'SPICE curation platform' (Demonstration)
• Anna-Maria Sichani and Tiago Garcia Sousa, '"So close, yet so far away": European DH professionals in post- Brexit Britain' (Panel discussion)
• Nicholas Bowskill, 'SharedThinking and 'Making Groups Visible'' (workshop)

2:00 - 3:15 Session 3: Structuring for Inclusivity

Moderator: Alex Gil

• Kristen Schuster, 'Gender, labour and personal information spaces' (15-minute presentation)
• Chris Houghton, 'Bringing DH to the masses' (15-minute presentation)
• Sharon Webb, 'The Sussex Humanities Lab' (15-minute presentation)

Discussion (30 minutes)

3:15 - 3:30 Closing remarks, Charlotte Tupman