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Ethical Collaboration in the Digital Humanities

This guide is for scholars of DH to use as they plan collaborative projects. It walks scholars through thinking about position, communication, documentation, with the ultimate goal of creating fair, equitable, and sustainable work.

Practice

Guideline 4: Learn how to have difficult conversations. Learn which ones you need to have. Have them early and often.

Who will you go to if conflict arises? How will everyone be compensated? What are the expectations in each field for documenting work? Are there reviewers you could reach out to with relevant expertise? If you take time to think through these questions at the beginning, you may save yourself a lot of headaches.

Expectations, Risk, and Reward

Expectations, Risk, and Reward

What does each collaborator hope or expect to gain from this collaboration? Experience? Single-author credit? Access to resources? What are they risking? These resources are largely bullet-points or checklists for thinking through this question rigorously, with the expectation that you are already familiar with the key issues in DH about reward and credit. Taking the time to talk through this with collaborators can also prevent unexpected copyright conflicts down the road.

 

  1. Collaborators’ Bill of Rights | Off the Tracks | MediaCommons Press. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2021, from Access here.

This seminal work by DH scholars lays out clearly and concisely what collaborators should expect from each other, regardless of position or status. Collaborators could use this for self-advocacy, or to provoke conversation at the beginning of a project.

 

2. A Student Collaborators’ Bill of Rights. (2015, June 8). HumTech - UCLA. Access here.

A companion to the collaborators' bill of rights, this work was created to help students advocate for themselves and each other in academic research spaces. As a student, and especially as a staff member, this piece could be brought up as a resource a

Conflict

Conflict

I certainly do not enjoy going into a project already thinking about how to resolve conflict. However, even an ideal group that has clearly communicated and documented every step is going to disagree. I, and the authors here, think that an honest and ethical collaboration necessitates disagreement. Conflict can be generative or destructive. These pieces are about harnessing conflict rather than avoiding it or being controlled by it.

 

  1. Digital Humanities Best Practices. (n.d.). The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from Access here.

This page from the NY Institute of Fine Arts links to an incredible document created by Elizabeth Buhe, with a checklist for scholars engaging a collaborator in Digital Humanities Work. Buhe created it with the intention of guiding scholars not trained in project management how to best, most sustainably engage with collaborators on Digital Humanities projects.

 

  1. Griffin, G., Hamberg, K., & Lundgren, B. (Eds.). (2013). 3. Managing Differences: The Complexities of Leadership and Leadership Styles in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration. In The social politics of research collaboration. Taylor & Francis. Access here.

While the authors' focus is on clashes of leadership in interdisciplinary teams, their advice rings true for all teams. They discuss tension in meetings, the need for a conflict resolution plan, and allowing intellectual creativity at team gatherings. An invaluable resource.

 

  1. Overton, A. R., & Lowry, A. C. (2013). Conflict Management: Difficult Conversations with Difficult People. Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, 26(4), 259–264. Access here.

This article, originally aimed at health care professionals, summarizes key models of conflict management and suggests a path through difficult conversations. If you or anyone on your team is new to conflict management, this is an excellent beginning resource.