Humanities e-Science: From Systematic Investigations to Institutional Infrastructures

In this paper we bring together the results of a number of humanities e-research projects at King´s College London. This programme of work was not carried out in an ad hoc manner, but was built on a rigorous methodological foundation, firstly by ensuring that the work was thoroughly grounded in the practice of humanities researchers (including ´digitally-aware´ humanists), and secondly by analysing these practices in terms of ´scholarly primitives´, basic activities common to research across humanities disciplines. The projects were then undertaken to provide systems and services that support various of these primitives, with a view to developing a research infrastructure constructed from these components, which may be regarded as a ´production line´ for humanities research, supporting research activities from the creation of primary sources in digital form through to the publication of research outputs for discussion and re-use.