first blog by gabby

 what is digital humanities? 


what we can see from the first chapter- in a general sense, digital humanities is the addition of technology into preexisting concepts of art, history, and literature that make data more attainable to the masses. 
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according to professor david m. berry, digital humanities was initially called, "humanities computing" https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/what-are-digital-humanities/

                              -------------          "it is necessary when understanding digital humanities, to reject the idea that technology is invading academia."

    ----because digital humanities is nothing without technology and increasing innovations. 

        main components when diving into digital humanities- materials + processing + presentation

examples:

    materials- photographs, texts, maps, three-dimensional models, sound, and media files
          
    processing- data mining / statistical analysis

    presentation- web-based or online


materials + processing + presentation ----> implementations????

well, let me tell you!

mediation/remediation ---> datafication/modeling ----> processing/analytics ----> presentation/display ---
----> sustainability/preservation

disciplinary lines blur when it comes to digital humanities rather than the more specific interdisciplinary lines that make up digital humanities. 

        i had a hard time placing a meaning to the name of digital humanities- simply because the title was so broad. there were so many definitions it began to feel overwhelming, but now once i read the first chapter i was able to create my own definition for it. i was able to take other people's ideas of this concept and mark it with my own words. 

i've seen many, many definitions of what digital humanities mean from "something borrowed... something blue" to a 500-word description dissecting each letter of digital humanities; so trying to figure out what to believe- can be slightly misleading... or maybe that's the whole point. 
    
the point is that there is no one standing definition- it's a collaborative effort.
        
           having one direct definition of the word would defeat its purpose. that it can be altered and changed and spun and deleted.                                             it is traditionally binary. 

    


a way that digital humanities impact today's generations is that we are expansively breaking the barrier between the digital and physical world of today's innovations. i've learned that digital humanities is a term that is difficult to fit its meaning into one sentence but there are key words that lead to the understanding of the term. it is something that is constantly changing and evolving for the betterment of society. It is something that people can collaborate with other scholars on to fix and change and add to and detract.

i think as a society, we view digital platforms as something that is auto-generated and have been reluctant to understand its origin. i know throughout my life, i have never given thought to the collaboration that could be included in the production of online platforms. after reading this chapter, i gained insight after having no prior knowledge on the topic of digital humanities.         


Comments

  1. Dr. MSeptember 2, 2024 at 1:21 PM

    Love the artful manifesto-style post! And the insightful observation: "the point is that there is no one standing definition- it's a collaborative effort" so important to DH endeavors (ours included)! :)

    ReplyDelete

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