Reflection #1

Reflection #1

 

This first week being a DSSF has been heavily focused on the core values and aspects of the Digital Humanties. The Digital Humanities is a broad term for a genre of scholarly projects that use digital tools as a way of presenting and distributing their research. For my project, I plan to see the digital humanities exemplified through many aspects of my research. By use of interact maps, I can show my findings per area throughout the United States. This mix of scholarly research and information and digital tools is how Digital Humanities is used in my project. Unlike the sciences, digital humanities projects seem to have a more of a wide variety of formats in which the information is presented. For example, my project plans to have text analysis, video analysis, and video presentation to present my research. If this was a science or other STEM related project, then the information is most likely only offered through one platform because the information is often more literal. Digital Humanities is especially interesting to me because it encompasses the same principles of classic research yet it involves modern technologies. In the article by Amanda Visconti, she explains how the digital humanities often take the work and the research of others to a collected source that can be reached on many different platforms such as tablets and laptops. My project definitely does that by taking news articles and collecting them together. The Digital Humanities seem to be a great way to preserve the works of others because once they are uploaded to the web, a second copy of that work becomes preserved. My project will take these news articles and my analysis of them and allow them to be preserved. The digital humanities seems to be like an online library or reserve that holds scholarly sources in a digital database. With my project, I hope that the information I provide about political bias in the news will be in a place that can be easily accessed by all. From what I have read and seen, a core principle of the Digital Humanities is fair access for all. To gain this, my Digital Humanities project will hopefully be compatible with a number of different devices. Similar to a book in a library, this makes my project easily accessible and free. This easy gain of the information is a major part of making a true Digital Humanities project. In the upcoming weeks, I look forward to developing a better understanding of the Digital Humanities and adapting what I learn to my own project. Digital Humanities is still a rather foreign concept to me, and I hope to become more of an expert on the topic. I also look forward to developing a schedule around my project and creating wireframes as well as beginning the actual research. This past week has been a great intoduction to the Digital Humanties, and it has gotten me even more excited about the upcoming work that I have planned.

 

2 Replies to “Reflection #1”

  1. You’re absolutely right that DH values don’t always map well to STEM projects. The sciences could probably incorporate all of the values we’ve discussed to a certain degree, but it seems like the approach to experimentation might be the biggest difference between the humanities and STEM. DH might find a right answer, but there probably isn’t a single right answer that solves a problem for all researchers or all audiences.

  2. Thanks for embracing the idea of openness so strongly, Eric. DH in many ways is applying many of the values of STEM to humanistic inquiry, but from a different angle. Scientists have, for a long time, used computers and open access models to share and disseminate research. What is really different, I think, about the H part of DH is that the idea of there being this open inquiry as well, that you are doing interpretation and putting it out there for others to see as well. So it’s a database, but it’s also thinking critically about the database! We’re looking forward to the conclusions that you draw.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

css.php