Shared infrastructure consists of a basic backbone of communications and data sharing. [D(DIY)CH] is a social network site for accessing Digital Cultural Heritage and Digital Humanities expertise in a peer-to-peer format, where members highlight areas of expertise and showcase projects in progress. The site is populated by professionals and researchers at all career stages. Most non-communications infrastructure and tools are seen as fragile and temporary. Major investments in such projects are rare and they are generally not designed to last. Instead, the emphasis is increasingly on mobilising projects, people and resources for emergent needs. Bespoke tools and approaches are made to fit the problem at hand, and to be quickly adapted or repurposed. Some needs, such as major emergencies and crises, are big enough to draw people together, but most successes rely on having the social capital to interest experts and peers in particular projects. Tools, ideas and projects proliferate and then vanish, often without enough traces left behind to allow them to be recovered or adapted if they become relevant again. However, the communication mechanisms are robust, and you can always ask the network.
Links
Infrastructure Futures for Digital Cultural Heritage (project page)