Becoming Part of the Narrative

Upon rereading my first blog post, I think that the line that stood out to me the most was “the sharing of ideas and knowledge from people at all levels of experience is crucial to the success of a digital humanities project.” As these ten weeks come to a conclusion, the aspect of DH that has proved most striking to me is the collaboration that occurs within the field.
Throughout the summer, we as fellows have not only collaborated with the working group, but have also been introduced to the wider DH community, especially through our sessions, twitters, and our day spent at Lafayette College. DH’s uniqueness is borne out of the interactions that happen between scholars in the field. Each person’s vision, interests, and knowledge contribute to and advance the humanities–not to destroy them, but to transform them. Projects are made possible by entire support groups who each bring their skill set to the table. For example, an individual’s level of technological expertise or research ability is not critical so long as the person has a desire to learn and be a scholar who is engaged and involved.
It is my opinion that my project highlights this kind of collaboration. It is the result of multiple people’s input and help, as well as my own passion. With the assistance of the working group and my fellows, I was able to create a project that presented the humanities in a new and dynamic way. Collaboration also extends past those people who have experience in the digital humanities to those who make up the narratives documented in the humanities. As such, I make an active effort on my site to bring more people into my project and expand it by providing users with a survey.
I am tremendously excited to see what next year’s fellows will create. Another aspect of the digital humanities I have come to appreciate is that it is about the advancement of knowledge. Knowledge is dynamic, not static, and subsists on new ideas. My advice to the incoming fellows is this: Let your passions drive your projects. Do not approach them with fear. More so than they are intimidating, they are exciting and will return all the love and care you put into them ten fold.
Do not be afraid to fail–this is something that was hard for us to grasp. But failure is productive; it moves you forward instead of setting you back. Everything is at your fingertips, and there is a whole community of people waiting and wanting for you to succeed. I hope that this summer inspires you to fall in love with digital humanities, just as this summer has done for me.

We Did Not Waste Our SHOT !!!

Looking at my first blog from week 1, I don’t think my definition of digital humanities has changed all that much. I still agree with what I wrote in my first blog. I believe that digital humanities is “the interdisciplinary approach to presenting the humanities by using digital tools”. In terms of digital humanities values, I still stand by the notion that digital humanities is open and collaborative. Although my definition of digital humanities has not changed all that much, I do think I have a deeper understanding of the values that digital humanities teaches.

What I wrote in my first blog post was largely based off of what the cohort discussed and read.  Because my first blog post was based on what I read, there was nothing personal about my definition. Now, because I have made it to the end of the 10 weeks I can personally understand the importance of collaboration and openness.

I think my project reflects the values of digital humanities: collaboration, openness, and public facing. My project was a product of the collaboration over the summer. There were people who were constantly by my side through the whole process, giving me advice and support. My project is now live and open to anyone who comes across it.

I hope my project conveys an interactive narrative of women’s history at Gettysburg College. I believe that my project portrays women’s experience at Gettysburg College. But I think if I research more I can change the narrative slightly. Some people commented that they wanted to know more about where women fit in the overall narrative of Gettysburg College history. What I have on my website is a good foundation. I know if I expand my project I will eventually be able to show where women fit within the larger narrative.

The advice I would like to give to the next DSSF fellows is to be open to everything and don’t have a set plan or idea. Experiment and test the limits of your project. Like I said in my presentation, I learned to think outside the box and I encourage the new digital scholar summer fellows to do the same. Also, really get to know the people who you are working with, get to know the cohort. Being able to have a strong bond with the working group and digital scholars is what got me through the summer. I can honestly say I could not have done it with them. Human connection is an important factor in the outcome of your digital experience and project.

I have learned a lot this summer and I will continue to learn more about digital humanities. This has been a great experience and I thank everyone who has made this fellowship possible. To end with a Hamilton reference, we definitely did not waste our shot.

Boldly Go

In my first blog post, my definition of Digital Humanities was “TBA”. To be completely honest, I did not fully understand or comprehend the weight that Digital Humanities would have on my life and how much of an integral part it would have in my future academic studies.

To redefine Digital Humanities now, I would like to start out with a definition of Humanities from Standford.

“The humanities can be described as the study of how people process and document the human experience.”

Digital Humanities is a new birth of Humanities, trying to be freed from the formal “academics only” stigma of traditional Humanities. What comes to my mind when I think of a comparison of Digital Humanities is Star Trek. It is a new field, there is so much to explore and create but we aren’t doing it to conquer, but to explore and add to the wealth of knowledge that is already out there. We are not creating a new world, we are just adding to parts of the old one. The core of Digital Humanities is still the same; to explore what makes us human and what connects us to each other. But the way that we are approaching it is different and our values are different as well.

To compare to Star Trek once again, the difference of traditional Humanities and Digital Humanities are like the differing goals of exploration for the Age of Exploration in the 16th century and Star Trek Exploration in the 23rd century. Like the goals of Exploration in the 16th century were things like: spread of religion, to attain wealth and exotic riches, and to spread imperial power. These are also true of what you can say of traditional Humanities because they have been around since the Age of Exploration and even before that. The goals of 23rd century exploration are: “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before”. Exploration while embracing the diversity that has been brought to the forefront of Humanities.

“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.”
-Gene Roddenberry

I believe we have reached that point to where we not only praise diversity but when diversity is lacking we call it out and address it, especially in the field of Digital Humanities. One of the core values of Digital Humanities is diversity, not only in subject matter, but in people. Part of diversity is accessibility. Traditional humanities has the stigma of old white men because for centuries only old white men formally studied humanities, it was only accessible to them. One of the values of Digital Humanities that I find very important and very inspiring about Digital Humanities is the importance placed on accessibility and how anyone can access and anyone can do Digital Humanities.

Through this fellowship I have learned that Digital Humanities is not “TBA”, it is a defined field of diversity and exploration into what connects us as humans and how we can make that accessible to everyone, not just Humanists or Digital Humanists.

Kirk out.

“Cohort, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful fellowship”

So it’s the end of the Digital Scholarship Summer Fellowship 2016. This is a very bitter sweet movement; I am both happy and incredibly sad. I am happy to be going home to air conditioning but I am sad to be leaving behind such wonderful and incredible people I have bonded with over the past 10 weeks. Although it is the end of the summer, I would like to think that it is just the end of the beginning. The fellows and I have already established that fact that we fully intend to come back in the fall. We have already started to make jokes about using the Keurig in the staff room and visiting R C in his new office.

But more than that, our projects are going to live on after this summer. That’s the beauty of digital humanities. It is simply just not one and done, it is an ongoing process. I am going to continue expanding my project as well as starting new ones. From what I and the cohort have learned and accomplished over the summer, it is safe to say that digital humanities is here to stay.

So this is not the end, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful fellowship.

-Keira

P.S. Do you get the movie references?