Something that we digital scholars like to always mention when teaching digital scholarship, is that digital scholarship is very flexible and fluid. We often tell people “Anything can be a digital project”. I think that this one aspect of digital scholarship allows us to teach it “accordingly”. The flexible nature of digital scholarship allows us to mold projects based on the needs of one person or a group of people. The needs of who is in front of us can vary greatly. Sometimes the person in front of us is just one person who needs to know how to use StoryMap JS for a project that their professor assigned them. Other times it is society that is in front of us, needing tolerance and someone to listen and understand them. Digital scholarship molds itself accordingly and addresses the needs of society. I would whole heartedly say the project “What We Did Here” was created out of a campus need for inclusion and understanding. The website was created as a safe space for people to share their voices to what is happening in the world. Digital scholarship provides that safe space for people who want and need to share their voice and opinions. Digital scholarship has no borders and you can truly create a “room of one’s own”.
Being a humanities major, I study the human culture. I try to assess, analyze, and understand the actions of humans throughout time. Digital humanities strives to do the same but for present day audience. We do digital humanities for those in front of us when we are able to listen to those in front of us. We need to listen and address a wide range of issues for those in front of us. And as my co-worker Lauren has pointed out, diversity and inclusion are two things that I think society needs more of today and digital humanities is doing an excellent job of addressing these two issues. The two keynote speakers at the Bucknell Digital conference focused their speeches on the issues of diversity, the need for it, and how digital humanities can play a role in shaping a more diverse society.
I think that the most valuable thing about my experience as a digital scholar this year is to be in an environment where I can grow as a scholar and a person. I absolutely love who I work with and in the words of Julia Wall “I wouldn’t give my cohort up for the world”. Another valuable aspect of my experience is being able to form relationships with the faculty I worked with. Also, it was really neat to be able to see the students’ final projects and see them grow as “digital humanist”. Overall, it has been a great semester and I hope to have another great semester with you all in 2017.
Best Wishes,
Keira
