Digital Methods Network: Co-developing Research Tools through Technical Imagination and Engineering

This pilot project establishes a UK-based Digital Methods Network to co-develop reusable research tools through method-driven engineering.

By bringing together digital Research Technical Professionals (dRTPs), digital methodologists, designers, and other researchers, the network addresses a shared challenge: in many research-software contexts, tool conceptualisation and tool engineering remain separated, leaving fewer spaces for dRTPs, including but not limited to RSEs, and digital methodologists to co-lead the translation of methodological problems into sustainable, open, and reproducible tools.

The network will be built through practical collaboration on two tool-development cases. First, the project will consolidate ImgNetMaker into a robust beta tool, enhancing its documentation, usability, and open-source readiness to support visual collections’ network analysis. Second, we will scope AIsearchTracer, a prototype infrastructure designed to capture AI-generated outputs, including text, screenshots, links, and metadata.

Both tools support reproducible methods, respectively, for interpreting image collections and studying how AI surfaces and ranks web knowledge, supporting digital humanities and critical AI studies.

Through partner engagement, a collaborative method-engineering workshop, and an open hybrid roundtable, this project will strengthen the digital research community by advancing a distinctive approach to dRTP practice. It will strengthen dRTP leadership in method-driven engineering while delivering reusable tools and a foundation for interdisciplinary collaboration.