Blog Post 2: Data and Digitization
Chapters 2 and 3 in The Digital Humanities Coursebook begin to discuss some of the technical aspects of creating and processing materials. Both chapters highlighted the importance of having a plan as to how you will model data and digitize said data before you begin a Digital Humanities project. Collecting or creating data and digitizing documents both have concerns of ethics and sustainability tied to them. In Chapter 1 these issues were alluded to, however in these chapters they were expanded upon.
Creating data for a humanities project can be difficult as the humanities (art, music, dance, literature, ect.) are meant to be interpreted, not necessarily defined or categorized. Despite this, to create a data model information must be standardized and categorized and, "Because data are always produced through an act of selection governed by decisions, they are necessarily the expression of a point of view and value system"(Drucker 26). In other words even though data may seem like hard and fast fact, it will never paint an entire picture. As a result a good digital humanities project is careful in how they collect data and create a data model to build their project upon. In the case of analyzing a digital humanities project, looking at the data model can provide insight into the substantiality of the claims being made through the project's presentation.
Collecting humanities data can also easily cross boundaries of privacy and cultural appropriation. For example, the "Selfie City" project we looked at on the first day of class brought up some questions about if the people featured on the website were willing or even aware of their likeness being used. In the project I am analyzing ,which is a virtual tour of the Cambodian city of Angkor, cultural appropriation could be an ethical issue. Questions to ask could include: Who has given them permission to use cultural artifacts as models? and, Where have they gotten their information on the beliefs and practices present in this city and who has given them permission to use said information in this way?
When digitizing material the main issues come from the questions of how and where will that material be stored? and, who will it be accessible to? The main idea of Chapter 3 was: though it may seem like everything online just appears out of thin air when you search for it, all the material has to be stored somewhere. Along with this to prevent "bit rot" online files that encode websites must be maintained by someone. All of this takes money and energy and as a result, "... a digital project is always, in some sense, on life support, dependent on electricity, air conditioning, and other material features of a storage environment"(Drucker 48). In relation to the project I am analyzing, because it is an interactive 3D model of a vast area that relies on the storage of a large amount of digital material (maps, topographical data, images, sound, and text files) one must consider the amount of resources it uses.
I like how you talked about the difficulty of including data in digital humanities, since as you mentioned, digital humanities is something that's meant to debated, rather than something that is meant to be defined. I also liked how you highlighted the importance of ethics when including data in digital humanities. Since data is something that can be personal or cultural, it is important that the reasons as to how the data was acquired and why it is being used, and is safe to use, is very important not only to the project but to digital humanities as a whole.
ReplyDeleteA great Drucker quote to illustrate the complexity of data selection, look at ethical (Selfie City is a good example) and storage and preservation considerations!
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