A workflow analysis perspective to scholarly research tasks

Abstract

Since the appearance of digital research infrastructures in the humanities in the last decade, important efforts are being made to understand and model scholarly processes. Different methods are used in those investigations, which often result in abstract representations of research phases, taxonomies of scholarly activities, in conceptual frameworks, or in scholarly ontologies. While the aim of these representations is to inform the design of the digital infrastructures, the complexity and diversity of scholarly work pose the question about the applicability of those models for design and evaluation of research infrastructures and tools. In this paper, we explore a methodology to analyze workflows from a micro-perspective, which aims at capturing the transitions between activities. We use two scholarly projects as case studies, describe their research activities in detail by using existing ontologies and describe the connections between activities, and analyse generic transitions. We discuss what kinds of implications this approach has to evaluation and design of information systems and services to facilitate scholars' complex and varied research processes.