A Tangential View on Impact for the Arts and Humanities through the Lens of the DARIAH-ERIC

The reflections in this chapter stem from the perspective of the DARIAH-ERIC, a distributed infrastructure for the arts and humanities. They explore how impact can take a variety of forms not always considered when the term is applied in a strictly technocratic sense, and the idea that focussing on the user of a research infrastructure may not describe an optimal relationship from an impact perspective. The chapter concludes by presenting three frames of reference in which an infrastructure like DARIAH can have impact: to foster excellence through impact on researchers, promote fluidity through impact on policymakers, and support efficiency through impact on our partner organisations.