What is Digital Humanities?


Humanities, in the simplest terms, is the discipline of art and literature. While there could be further speculation of what that entails, there is a general consensus regarding the general field of humanities. By contrast, digital humanities is a broader term—and a more ambiguous one at that. Combining creativity, technology, and analytics, digital humanities explore the Arts in innovative new ways. From algorithm programmed poetry to virtual archives, the possibilities of design are endless. Digital humanities opens up the world to an entire new realm of invention.  

 

The endless opportunities, however, make it difficult to define the extent of digital humanities. The Digital Humanities Manifesto attempts to do just that; compiling a lengthy 14 page discussion of the subject. According to the Manifesto, the phrase ‘digital humanities’ has “use‐value to the degree that it can serve as an umbrella under which to group both people and projects seeking to reshape and reinvigorate contemporary arts and humanities practices, and expand their boundaries”. In other words, digital humanities is simply a term applied to an ever-changing and emerging new subject; composted of unique and original ideas. There are no limits, the Manifesto argues, when it comes to discerning what is labelled as part of the discipline and what isn’t. Rather, digital humanities provides the space to be expressive; to combine arts and literature in an entirely different manner. As the introductory readings state, digital humanities is a combination of ethical, intellectual, and creative elements combined. Personally, I find digital humanities to be a term that applies to any type of expressive form of thought with a medium. Just as art is boundless, so should be the humanities. 

 

 

Comments

  1. Dr. MSeptember 5, 2022 at 10:36 AM

    Limitless is a great way to look at it--this also gives us room to expand and reshape and redefine as we need to. Why spend our time arguing about what it is and isn't and instead spend our energies creating and experimenting and expressing? :)

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  2. Mackenzie MacEachernSeptember 5, 2022 at 11:51 PM

    I really enjoyed your points in your blog. Adding the definition used in the manifesto was interesting to me because I thought it was the most confusing explanation out of all the readings. That was the point you made so I am glad I was not the only one. I did not put together that the manifesto was so all over the place with information because it wanted to show the digital humanities is continuously evolving. Since technology is expanding everyday, so does humanities and it makes spreading art and information so easy.

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