Digital Humanities and "Niche" Research Fields: The Case of Ancient Arabian Epigraphy

The paper aims to contribute to the discussion of the challenges, impact and prospects of digital initiatives engaged with "young" and "niche" sectors of research, through the experience of DASI - Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions. Formerly an ERC-funded project at the University of Pisa in partnership with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, DASI is now maintained thanks to the cooperation between the University of Pisa and the CNR. The objective of DASI is to foster the study of the enormous epigraphic heritage of pre-Islamic Arabia, which spans from the beginning of the I mill. BCE to VI cent. CE. Attesting different Semitic languages and scripts, epigraphs are the only textual sources for the study of Ancient Arabia. Relevant Digital Humanities theoretical and methodological challenges encountered during the course of the project (e.g. issues of choices in data modelling in relation to the complex nature of the epigraphic source, of harmonization of definitions for "marginal epigraphies", of applying language technologies to under-resourced languages' corpora, of using the electronic resources for didactic aims) are discussed, in relation to the description of DASI's digital tools for archiving, curated edition, online fruition, and cultural and linguistic research. Finally, the research prospects of the project, in terms of widening contents, updating technologies and disseminating results, are considered against issues such as the sustainability of short-term funded projects, and of the evaluation of digital, "non-traditional" outputs and publications in academic careers.