The disconnect between methods of pedagogy inherited from cloisters and seminar rooms and those of a massively mediated culture is real. Digital humanists strive to bridge that gap.
Burdick et al. “1. Humanities to Digital Humanities,” in Digital Humanities (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012), 24.
Digital humanities is a field that straddles various disciplines, practices, and methodologies. It acts as a mediator between knowledge and story, gathering data and thoughtfully ascribing meaning to it. The quote I selected explains this phenomenon really well. In the traditional humanities, there is a kind of formality associated with the deep and lengthy scholarly dialogue that takes place in cloisters and seminar rooms. In everyday life, there is a kind of personable, more casual narrative that is fed to us through mass media outlets. In this sense, traditional academia and national culture tend to be at odds with one another. While one seems stuffy and elitist, the other is loud, distracting, and, as some would argue, rather trivial. This disconnect is clear in classroom pedagogy. Some educational institutions today stick to the more traditional form of education: reading “classic” texts, writing integrative essays, learning by lecture. Others dare to stray from it, employing instead a more interactive, experiential form of education: spending time in the community, using modern media to broaden worldviews, learning by doing. The fact that the digital humanities can be something that brings those two worlds together is what caught my attention about this quote. How cool would it be if the knowledge of traditional academia could be presented in a way that is digestible, interactive, even fun? How many more people would be willing and excited to absorb scholarly information if it was displayed in an eye-catching manner with genuine curiosity and interest in mind? I personally find the potential for collaboration between the two super intriguing.
In relation to my future plans, this quote definitely kindled excitement and reflection in me. I hope to work in the technology field some day, but I’m also aware of the ethical and moral implications that come along with a sector so riddled with a drive for profit and sometimes even exploitation. I’ve weighed these factors against each other often, and I find it hard to justify working in a field that excites me when the corporate motives behind my job might be suspicious or unethical. Learning about how digital humanities uses technology for good, though, has made me more hopeful and optimistic. It’s shown me that there is a way to build technology that works for society, not against it.
Under the large umbrella of digital arts and humanities, I am most eager to pursue data visualization this term. I love looking at graphs and maps and charts, and I really appreciate how they manipulate data into an understandable, fascinating story. I am looking forward to seeing more examples of data visualization in this class!