Alyssa DeBlasio, PhD Dickinson College (USA) What are the Digital Humanities?
OUTLINE 1.Introduction: Defining the “Field” 2.DH for Research 3.DH for Teaching 4.Going Forward: Challenges & Questions 5.Conclusion: Questions & Contributions
1. DEFINING THE “FIELD”
How do you define DH? All the ways that the humanities and digital technologies intersect. —Rebecca Davis The thoughtful use of computing in humanistic inquiry and the thinking through of computing from the perspective of the traditions of the humanities. —Geoffrey Rockwell The use of digital technologies to generate and answer new questions relevant to humanities and to share and transform scholarship and its modes of creation/dissemination. —Michael Widner … a commitment to the openness of knowledge. Plus a commitment to build new scholarly objects. —Enrico Natale The humanities in and for a digital age. —Laurie N. Taylor Humanities. —Martin Holmes
How do you define DH? adds something uses digital technologies but more than the tech direction of the humanities? commitment to the openness of knowledge and info. open-source tools Renewed and reconceived role of the library and archive
Melissa Terras (University College London)
OUTLINE 1.Introduction: Defining the “Field” 2.DH for Research 3.DH for Teaching 4.Going Forward: Challenges & Questions 5.Conclusion: Questions & Contributions
DH FOR RESEARCH (1) Digitizing materials for public research Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center (2) New ways of presenting research Mapping the Republic of Letters (3) New ways of conducting research (crowd sourcing) Transcribe Bentham
OUTLINE 1.Introduction: Defining the “Field” 2.DH for Research 3.DH for Teaching 4.Going Forward: Challenges & Questions 5.Conclusion: Questions & Contributions
BENEFITS 1.Visibility
BENEFITS 1. Visibility 2. Merge research and teaching 3. Inter-institutional collaboration 4. “Teach Smarter” – maximize instructor efficiency and student learning outcomes
OUTLINE 1.Introduction: Defining the “Field” 2.DH for Research 3.DH for Teaching 4.Going Forward: Challenges & Questions 5.Conclusion: Questions & Contributions
4. GOING FORWARD: CHALLENGES & QUESTIONS access to digital resources digital literacy faculty workload institutional support
TYPES OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Modified from: Patrik Svensson, “Landscape of the Digital Humanities,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 4.1. (2010) 1.Offer digital humanities training, seminars, conferences, etc.; 2.Collaborate with members of other academic departments, organizations or projects outside the home institution; 3.Create and nurture a “zone of experimentation and innovation” in the humanities; 4.Academic appointments and staffing for the DH; 5.Incentivize research in digital scholarship among faculty; 6.Create, host, and encourage digital-based collections; 7.Provides technology support and solutions to humanities departments.
4. GOING FORWARD: CHALLENGES & QUESTIONS access to digital resources digital literacy faculty workload assessment – teaching & research data storage long-term project sustainability institutional support
QUESTIONS 1.Do digital technologies add something to my research? 2.Does the project make my teaching better and easier? 3.Do I have support for the project? Can I achieve what I want visually? 4.Is the project sustainable in the long-term?
5. CONCLUSION: QUESTIONS & CONTRIBUTIONS Alyssa DeBlasio (Dickinson College)