Data Frictions: Inclusion and Data Skills in Arts, Humanities, and Culture

This report builds upon the year long ‘Transforming the Gap: Inclusive Digital Arts and Humanities Research Skills’ (DAReS) project report (see Sujon et al. 2026). The report offers the concept of ‘data frictions’ as a lens to make sense of the many tensions and fractures involved in the intersections between 1) arts, humanities, and culture, 2) under-represented groups, and 3) data oriented research skills training. The impetus for this work was widening access to digital resources like infrastructures, compute, software, and digital research skills training for arts and humanities researchers, and under-represented and marginalized groups. Yet, for this project, widening access requires focusing on the training and data environments, rather than on individuals, specific ‘protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act (2010), or on under-represented groups themselves. This is not a project about enhancing literacies but instead about the conditions for thinking through, researching with, and engaging data skills and research methods for arts, humanities, and culture researchers from under-represented groups.

• https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-c...