DHLab Studying the Entanglement of Infrastructure and Technology in Knowledge Production

The study is drawn on a novel empirical investigation of laboratory practices in digital humanities by merging various ethnographic methods: a laboratory ethnography developed in science and technology studies, the ethnography of infrastructure in sociology and information studies, and digital ethnography in the anthropology. The integrative methodology approach aims to build a new toolset for studying the intertwining of human organisation, infrastructure, and knowledge. This research also intends to propose a humanities-centred analysis of infrastructure, which has the potential to reveal technical, socio-political, and cultural complexities entangled in local and global contexts. 

The research is built on a case study of King’s Digital Lab situated within the UK DH infrastructure and community and in close relationship with the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London. The study is based on the observation of, and interviews with, participants involved in the labs, the analysis of written documents, and the analysis of digital communications. 

As part of this research, Dr Pawlicka-Deger has been organising Digital Humanities & Critical Infrastructure Studies Workshops in association with the Critical Infrastructure Studies collective, presented her outcomes at international conferences, and published scholarly articles. The outputs will also include methodological guidance and monograph.