Vision, Mission, Values - Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship

Our vision

Where collaboration and community drive the advancement of digital scholarship.

The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship connects people, builds community, and enables research to support and advance digital scholarship.

Creating Connection: We connect learners, researchers, and community members to the people, training, and resources that lower barriers and build capacity for responsible digital scholarship.
Building Community: We create and strengthen relationships that foster inclusive communities for teaching and research in digital scholarship.
Enabling Research: We make digital scholarship happen by providing tools, expertise, and support for innovative and interdisciplinary research.

The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship values engagement, knowledge, and responsibility in our work and interactions with our communities.

People first: SCDS values human connection in its interactions, with an emphasis on quality over quantity. We use technology but are centred on humans.
Connection: We prioritize the “connection”: We readily share expertise with our community when we have it. When we don’t, we facilitate connection to expertise elsewhere through referral, joint consultation, or hosted events and workshops.
Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity: SCDS values collaborative and interdisciplinary opportunities, bringing together diverse or multi-faceted elements/ideas, and celebrating the unique contributions of all team members.
Service to our communities: We actively participate with and contribute to our communities (local to international) to build relationships, advance shared understanding, and support new ways of using and sharing information and ideas.

Lifelong Learning: SCDS values lifelong learning and the full learning cycle. We support and encourage learning for students, educators, researchers, and community members and celebrate their growth.
Curiosity and Inquiry: SCDS values curiosity and inquiry as a driver of learning and knowledge creation, prioritizing problem-solving and creativity as fundamental elements of scholarship.
Innovation: SCDS celebrates and supports innovation, while recognizing the care and labour involved in maintaining human and technical systems that support learning and discovery.

Open Access: SCDS values open access to their resources and strives to make their tools and instruction/training available to the widest possible audience, building capacity within learners and empowering teachers to freely adapt and build upon its materials. Through engagements and collaborations, we advocate for knowledge and outputs that are as open as possible to maximize their reach and value.
Equity and Ethical Engagement: SCDS values equitable and responsible practices, critical and ethical engagements with topics and tools.