Understanding Digital Humanities (david M. Berry) / quote 12 of 16
Clergy of the church of england database - citizen collaboration
Working together within a shared framework of assumptions, expert scholars and expert amateurs can build databases accessible to all and enriched with content beyond what the scholars can contribute. An example is the Clergy of the Church of England Database directed by Arthur Burns (2009), in which volunteers collected data and, using laptops and software provided by the project, entered them into the database. Hypermedia Berlin (Presner 2006, 2009b) offers another model by providing open-source software through which community people can contribute their narratives, images, and memories, while HyperCities (Presner et al. 2008) invites scholars and citizens across the globe to create data repositories specific to their regional histories. In addition to contributions to scholarship, such projects would create new networks between scholars and amateurs, from which may emerge, on both sides of the disciplinary boundary, a renewed respect for the other. This kind of model could significantly improve the standing of the humanities with the general public.