WHAT IS DIGITAL HUMANITIES?
WHAT IS DIGITAL HUMANITIES?
To me, Digital Humanities is the study of us--humans--as individuals and as a species. Digital Humanities attempts to define what it is to be human, whether it be through art or government, technology and everything in between; digital humanists and humanists alike are interested in humans and their interactions with others and their environment.
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum states in his article: “What Is Digital Humanities and What's It Doing in English Departments?” that “At its core digital humanities is more akin to a common methodological outlook than an investment in any one specific set of texts or even technologies…. Yet digital humanities is also a social undertaking..."
From "Glossary of the Digital Humanities" : “DH values collaboration, plurality, investigation of human culture, and the disruption of and reflection on traditional practices and is concerned with not just the use of digital technology for humanities projects but how the use of digital technology for humanities projects changes the user’s experience.”
At Stanford University, Digital Humanities is described as "at the crossroads of computer science and the humanities."
But what does all this really mean?
First, lets define humanities.
The study of humanities is the academic discipline or field of study of the aspects of human society and culture.
or, humanities "can be described as the study of how people document and process the human experience" (Stanford)
“The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”
—National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended (the U. S. Congressional Act that created the National Endowment for the Humanities)“The humanities—including the study of languages, literature, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, comparative religion, ethics, and the arts—are disciplines of memory and imagination, telling us where we have been and helping us envision where we are going.”
—The Heart of the Matter (Report of the American Academy of Arts & Science’s Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences to the U. S. Congress in June 2013)“The humanities are academic disciplines that study human culture. The humanities use methods that are primarily critical, or speculative, and have a significant historical element—as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences. The humanities include ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts such as music and theatre. Areas that are sometimes regarded as social sciences and sometimes as humanities include history, archaeology, anthropology, area studies, communication studies, classical studies, law and linguistics…. The humanities and social sciences teach us how people have created their world, and how they in turn are created by it.”
–Wikipedia, “Humanities,” 2014.So why study the humanities or be a humanist?
Now that we have a better understanding of the humanities, lets define digital humanities.
Dictionary.com defines digital humanities as "an academic field concerned with the application of computational tools and methods to traditional humanities disciplines such as literature, history, and philosophy."
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum states in his article: “What Is Digital Humanities and What's It Doing in English Departments?”
"The digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, is a field of study, research, teaching, and invention concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities. It is methodological by nature and interdisciplinary in scope. It involves investigation, analysis, synthesis and presentation of information in electronic form. It studies how these media affect the disciplines in which they are used, and what these disciplines have to contribute to our knowledge of computing"
Finally, lets take a loot at some videos that will further define the digital humanities.