NINES: a federated model for integrating digital scholarship

Abstract

NINES is a scholarly initiative to establish a coordinated network of peer-reviewed content and useful tools (both organizational and interpretive) for pedagogical and research materials developed by educators and scholars working in 19th-century British and American literary and cultural studies. The goal is to establish this aggregated body of scholarly and educational materials within those existing professional frameworks and organizations that monitor and accredit professional publication. NINES is designing a working model for a federated network akin to the Open Access Initiative but operating under coordinated professional oversight. Such a model decentralizes scholarly work, allowing individuals and groups to work and archive scholarly materials in their local IT environments and at the same time integrate that work into a widely distributed network.