The “Digital Humanities” and Why It Should Be In Our English Departments

What is the digital humanities exactly? Matthew Kirschenbaum, author and English professor, gives a few examples in his essay, “What is Digital Humanties and What’s It Doing in English Departments?”

The Wikipedia definition he cites sums it up pretty nicely: “The digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, is a field of study, research, teaching and invention concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities.” The author is also sure to point out what the digital humanities is not: simply the digitization of information.

Though his final paragraph leaves the (positive?) effects of these new technologies up for question, his overall argument appears to push forward for the further development of the digital humanities within and beyond the English department. These include widely accessible online archives (which most of us have used for research at some point or another), large-scale e-book projects, and collaborative platforms that might surprise the jaded English scholar, such as Twitter.

Kirschenbaum uses two English conferences (one exclusively devoted to the digital humanities) to describe how blogs and other social networking services allow colleagues to comment on important contributions to the field as they occur. Tweeting about an interesting panel or phenomenal essay sends it beyond the conference’s attendees to other academics and even students. Blogs highlight things that can be easily disseminated and widely shared.

Perhaps it’s because computers and the Internet have always been a part of my learning and research processes, but I’m surprised by the amount of attention the digital humanities have gotten. Before reading Kirschenbaum’s essay, it seemed almost natural for technology and the humanities to be experienced together.