Looking over the three claims made by the authors of this article, I think my project appropriately follows the guidelines to fit the TransformDH hashtag. When I was first thinking of ideas for my Digital Humanities project, my only goal was to share information the general public did not usually see. I wanted to answer the overwhelming question of why does my DH matter. Thinking about populism and how it has affected our country made me question how it has affected other countries. By researching countries rarely discussed or reported about, I thought that I could give a voice to the voiceless, whether that be suspected criminals losing rights of citizenship or ethnic and religious minorities having to flee their homes amidst persecution.
Transform DH focuses on activism and making knowledge available to everyone. This hashtag believes all digital tools should be used to advocate for political or social change. My project follows these beliefs by offering perspectives from minorities and people who have been disadvantaged. By sharing their stories, I hope to give them a platform. In addition to this, I also have a tab on my main menu that directs my users to a page that focuses in on getting involved. This page will include news resources that report and share reliable information about my topic as well as descriptions of organizations that advocate and aid those suffering from human rights violations. By trying to spread knowledge and offering my users the chance to get involved in activism, I believe I am following the criteria to transform DH into something more focused on change.
From Week 1 to Week 5, I think my views on what is considered DH has definitely changed. Before, I considered very few things DH. Websites and digital tools were DH, but hashtag activism definitely was not. I was super wary to even consider social media platforms as reliable tools for DH. After reading many articles and attending lunch discussions these views I previously had are very different. I think DH is much looser than I originally thought. While I am still trying to decide how to draw the line to what is Dh and what is not, I think as of right now, anything that reports knowledge or information on a platform openly accessible should be considered DH if it also offers chances for collaboration. I know my views may change in the next three weeks but I hope I am coming closer to understanding DH for what it is entire.
I am glad your perspective has broadened. I think the key with DH is understanding how the tools are being used and what methodologies are behind their use … social media isn’t always DH, but DH can use social media as part of a research methodology, not just as data, but also as a method of communication and dissemination of information. I think your project is definitely transformative!