The Digital Humanities is a field of study that blends digital tools with humanities materials for the purpose of preservation and accessibility.
Digital Humanity scholars can agree that the Digital Humanities involves the combining of computational methods with the study of history, philosophy, religion, languages and literature. Computational methods are in reference to the techniques computer systems utilize to adapt humanities materials such as primary sources into a digital format. According to scholar, Johanna Drucker, these computational methods include “text analysis, data mining, databases, metadata, geospatial encoding, virtual world building, network analysis, information visualization, interface design, and imaging.” These computational methods transform and adapt humanities materials for the modern day.
Remarkably, scholars in the field are able to sustain the original integrity of humanities materials while adapting them for digital preservation. The Digital Humanities promotes interdisciplinary collaboration amongst scholars, librarians, archivists, curators and the public. Interdisciplinary collaboration is valuable as it enables intellectual discussion over the maintenance and protection of artifacts. Additionally, intersectionality amongst academic disciplines has enabled a renewed interest in re-representing artifacts. As stated by Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens and John Unsworth, “many disciplines have gone beyond simply wishing to preserve these artifacts, what we might now call early forms of data management, to re-represent and manipulate them to reveal properties and traits not evident when the artifact was in its native form.”
The Digital Humanities increases the general public’s accessibility to artifacts by utilizing communication technologies to share knowledge and information. For example, the Journal of American History argued “new communication technologies of the computer, the Internet network, and software systems” enable digital history to be experienced, read and followed by interested parties. Rudy McDaniel agrees with this idea of accessibility by acknowledging that the Digital Humanities provides “insight into the human condition through digital technologies” for “those audiences who do not have the means or ability to access a physical copy.” For this reason, the Digital Humanities are invaluable for sustaining human memory with the utilization of digital tools.
Burdick, Anne, Johanna Drucker, Peter Lunenfeld, Todd Presner, and Jeffrey Schnapp. “A Short Guide to the Digital Humanities.” In Digital Humanities, 122-27. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2012. http://jeffreyschnapp.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/D_H_ShortGuide.pdf
Rudy McDaniel, “How do you define Humanities Computing / Digital Humanities?”Links to an external site. University of Central Florida, Day of DH, Taporwiki, 2009.
Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth, “The Digital Humanities and Humanities Computing: An Introduction, Links to an external site. ” in A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004).
“Interchange: The Promise of Digital History,Links to an external site.“ Journal of American History 95, no. 2 (Sept. 2008).