DH: Tuesday, September 16

"Introduction" in "Debates in the Digital Humanities 2019"

         Gold and Klein seem to be focusing on the actions of DHers in our current 2019 landscape. They discuss projects, such as digital mapping, that Digital Humanists have created as a means to help those suffering in the wake of hurricane Irma and those affected by child separation. This last point brings the article to its political leanings, as it clearly does not favor the current political headwind. In fact, it refers to these methods as ways for Digital Humanists to "resist" the current agenda that has become common place in the United States. Of course, when this agenda is referenced as "racism, sexism, xenophobia, and generalized vitriol," one can probably understand the authors' desire to find ways to "resist."

What's Next: The Radical, Unrealized Potential of DH

         Posner's article seems to be focused on the difficulty of projecting visualized data, as well as thinking that the Digital Humanities need to be reevaluated. The article is a lot to take in, but the general point seems to once again be that Digital Humanist studies are underfunded - preventing the creation of things like google maps or other larger projects. Posner also posits the problem of Digital Humanists trying to work with programs that require exact dates/times for reasons of completeness and visualization. However, as Posner points out, "many of us are dealing with things like 'ca. 1500s.'"

Comments:

        While Gold and Klein are envisioning what Digital Humanities look like in 2019, Posner seems to be thinking of what Digital Humanities should look like post 2019. Whereas one posts the uses of the current Digital Humanities as a means of helpful resistance, the other seems invested in recognizing the problems with the current system and its requirement for specific data. That's not to say there aren't similarities between the two articles, a small example being the construction and mention of digital maps as a means of helping others, but I read them as more different than similar, to be sure.

Question:

Gold and Klein reference the Digital Humanities as a means to fight discrimination. This may lead to the Digital Humanities being reclassified in public knowledge as a tool to fight discrimination. Based on the perceptions of the 2019 climate, would this be a bad thing for the field's future?

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