Researchers are increasingly encouraged to undertake collaborative research that stretches beyond their home discipline, and engages community, industry, and government stakeholders. This transdisciplinary research approach explores complex societal challenges, requiring researchers to navigate knowledge and organizational boundaries, including how best to integrate qualitative, quantitative, experimental, and textual methodologies. Transdisciplinary researchers must also engage effectively with external stakeholders, who bring a wealth of professional expertise to study designs and implementation, but typically lack formal research training and are unfamiliar with many research processes. This tutorial will explore how researchers in human information interaction and retrieval can work effectively across transdisciplinary boundaries. This tutorial introduces human information interaction and retrieval researchers to the powerful insights that can be gained by working effectively across research paradigms, including involving qualitative social scientists and humanities scholars in human-focused research design. The session also examines how to navigate these research designs with external partners, particularly those with limited research experience.

Abstract While technology affords creation of digital collections, and promises access to all, the reality is that many cultural data collections exist in a precarious ecosystem, where erratic funding, fragmented support, and disconnected expertise threaten their continued existence. As a significant branch of the broader information ecosystem, cultural data collections range in size and scope, from national institutions to bespoke local collections supported by individuals. This exploratory, qualitative study engaged cultural data experts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom to map the broad cultural data ecosystem and to identify opportunities for healthier growth. The development and maintenance of cultural data collections requires integration across the spheres of expertise of creators, curators, subject matter experts, information science, and computing and technology. The foundational structural elements of the ecosystem include funding, policies, access to existing data, community context, and technological infrastructure. The key elements of a healthy data ecosystem are clarity of purpose, user‐focused design, sustainability, allied coproduction, and reciprocal interconnection. A healthier cultural data ecosystem means more collections and initiatives will have positive impacts for research, knowledge, and diverse communities, contributing positively to the broader information ecosystem and to society, at large.