Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T08:56:32.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Meaning of the Digital Humanities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Alan Liu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This question of disciplinary meaning—which I ask from the viewpoint of the humanities generally—is larger than the question of disciplinary identity now preoccupying “DH” itself, as insiders call it. Having reached a critical mass of participants, publications, conferences, grant competitions, institutionalization (centers, programs, and advertised jobs), and general visibility, the field is vigorously forming an identity. Recent debates about whether the digital humanities are a “big tent” (Jockers and Worthey), “who's in and who's out?” (Ramsay), whether “you have to know how to code [or be a builder]” (Ramsay, “On Building”), the need for “more hack, less yack” (Cecire, “When Digital Humanities”; Koh), and “who you calling untheoretical?” (Bauer) witness a dialectics of inclusion and exclusion not unlike that of past emergent fields. An ethnographer of the field, indeed, might take a page from Claude Lévi-Strauss and chart the current digital humanities as something like a grid of affiliations and differences between neighboring tribes. Exaggerating the differences somewhat, as when a tribe boasts its uniqueness, we can thus say that the digital humanities—much of which affiliates with older humanities disciplines such as literature, history, classics, and the languages; with the remediation of older media such as books and libraries; and ultimately with the value of the old itself (history, archives, the curatorial mission)—are not the tribe of “new media studies,” under the sway of the design, visual, and media arts; Continental theory; cultural criticism; and the avant-garde new. Similarly, despite significant trends toward networked and multimodal work spanning social, visual, aural, and haptic media, much of the digital humanities focuses on documents and texts in a way that distinguishes the field's work from digital research in media studies, communication studies, information studies, and sociology. And the digital humanities are exploring new repertoires of interpretive or expressive “algorithmic criticism” (the “second wave” of the digital humanities proclaimed in “The Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0” [3]) in a way that makes the field not even its earlier self, “humanities computing,” alleged to have had narrower technical and service-oriented aims. Recently, the digital humanities' limited engagement with identity and social-justice issues has also been seen to be a differentiating trait—for example, by the vibrant #transformDH collective, which worries that the digital humanities (unlike some areas of new media studies) are dominantly not concerned with race, gender, alternative sexualities, or disability.

Type
The Changing Profession
Information
PMLA , Volume 128 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 409 - 423
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by The Modern Language Association of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adams, Michael, ed. “Cunning Passages, Contrived Corridors”: Unexpected Essays in the History of Lexicography. Electronic ed. Monza: Polimetrica, 2010. PDF file.Google Scholar
Alexander, Marc. Message to the author. 6 Oct. 2012. E-mail.Google Scholar
Alexander, Marc. “‘The Various Forms of Civilization Arranged in Chronological Strata’: Manipulating the HTOED.” Adams 309-23.Google Scholar
'Analytics: Supervised vs. Unsupervised Learning.“ MONK: Metadata Offer New Knowledge. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.Google Scholar
Bauer, Jean. “Who You Calling Untheoretical?” Journal of Digital Humanities 1.1 (2011): 68–74. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Bearman, Peter S., and Stovel, Katherine. “Becoming a Nazi: A Model for Narrative Networks.” Poetics 27 (2000): 69–90. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Bibliography.” Ed. Marten Düring. Historical Network Research. N.p., 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Bogen, James, and Woodward, James. “Saving the Phenomena.” Philosophical Review 97.3 (1988): 303–52. Print.Google Scholar
Burdick, Anne, Drucker, Johanna, Lunenfeld, Peter, Presner, Todd, and Schnapp, Jeffrey. Digital_ Humanities. Cambridge: MIT P, 2012. Print.Google Scholar
Cecire, Natalia. “Introduction: Theory and the Virtues of Digital Humanities.” Journal of Digital Humanities 1.1 (2011): 44–53. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Cecire, Natalia. “When Digital Humanities Was in Vogue.” Journal of Digital Humanities 1.1 (2011): 54–58. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
“The Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0.” Humanities Blast. N.p., 2009. Web. 9 Sept. 2012.Google Scholar
Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. London: Verso, 1978. Print.Google Scholar
iHumanities: Advocating for the Humanities. Ed. Christine Henseler, Alan Liu, Geoffrey Rockwell, Stéfan Sinclair, and Melissa Terras, with Lindsay Thomas. 4Humanities, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
Franzosi, Roberto. Quantitative Narrative Analysis. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, Frederick W., and Cohen, Daniel J. “A Conversation with Data: Prospecting Victorian Words and Ideas.” Victorian Studies 54.1 (2011): 69–77. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gold, Matthew K., ed. Debates in the Digital Humanities. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2012. Print.Google Scholar
Goldberg, David Theo, and Svensson, Patrik, ed. Humanities and the Digital. Cambridge: MIT P, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Goldstone, Andrew, and Ted Underwood. “What Can Topic Models of PMLA Teach Us about the History of Literary Scholarship?” The Stone and the Shell: Historical Questions Raised by a Quantitative Approach to Language. N.p., 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.Google Scholar
Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2012. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heuser, Ryan. Message to the author. 13 Sept. 2012. E-mail.Google Scholar
Heuser, Ryan, and Le-Khac, Long. “Learning to Read Data: Bringing Out the Humanistic in the Digital Humanities.” Victorian Novels 54.1 (2011): 79–86. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heuser, Ryan. “Online Companion to ‘Learning to Read Data: Bringing Out the Humanistic in the Digital Humanities,‘ Victorian Studies 54.1; and Stanford Literary Lab Pamphlet 4.” Stanford Literary Lab. Stanford Lit. Lab, May 2012. Web. 13 Sept. 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heuser, Ryan. A Quantitative Literary History of 2,958 Nineteenth-Century British Novels: The Semantic Cohort Method. Stanford Literary Lab. Stanford Lit. Lab, May 2012. Web. 1 Sept. 2012. Pamphlet 4.Google Scholar
Historical Thesaurus. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford UP, 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, with Additional Material from “A Thesaurus of Old English.” Ed. Kay, Christian, Roberts, Jane, Samuels, Michael, and Wotherspoon, Irené. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.Google Scholar
Thesaurus, Historical Photo Gallery. U of Glasgow, n. d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012.Google Scholar
Jockers, Matthew L. “Thoughts on a Literary Lab.” Matthew L. Jockers. N.p., 4 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
Jockers, Matthew, and Worthey, Glen. “Introduction: Welcome to the Big Tent.” Digital Humanities 2011. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Kay, Christian. “Classification: Principles and Practice.” Adams 255-70.Google Scholar
Kay, Christian. “What Is the Historical Thesaurus of the OED.” Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford UP, 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Kay, Christian, and Chase, T[homas] J. P. “Constructing a Thesaurus Database.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 23 (1987): 161–63. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. “Digital Humanities As/Is a Tactical Term.” Gold 415-28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Cambridge: MIT P, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. “What Is Digital Humanities and What's It Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin 150 (2010): 55–61. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koh, Adeline. “More Hack, Less Yack? Modularity, Theory and Habitus in the Digital Humanities.” Adeline Koh. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Le-Khac, Long. Message to the author. 4 Feb. 2013. E-mail.Google Scholar
Lemercier, Claire, and Rosental, Paul-André. “The Structure and Dynamics of Migration Patterns in Nineteenth-Century Northern France.” Vers. 3. HAL: Sciences de l'homme et de la société. Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe, 5 May 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Liu, Alan. “From Reading to Social Computing.” Price and Siemens.Google Scholar
Liu, Alan. “The Humanities and Tomorrow's Discoveries.” 4Humanities: Advocating for the Humanities. 4Humanities, 25 July 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.Google Scholar
Liu, Alan. “Is Digital Humanities a Field? An Answer from the Point of View of Language.” Alan Liu. N.p., 6 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.Google Scholar
Liu, Alan. The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2004. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Alan. “The State of the Digital Humanities: A Report and a Critique.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 11.1-2 (2012): 8–41. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Alan. “Where Is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?” Gold 490-509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarty, Willard. Humanities Computing. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
McGann, Jerome J. “Position Statement from McGann.” Panel: What Is Text? A Debate on the Philosophical and Epistemological Nature of Text in the Light of Humanities Computing Research. By Susan Hockey, Allen Renear, and McGann. N.p., 1999. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
McGann, Jerome J. Radiant Textuality: Literature after the World Wide Web. New York: Palgrave, 2001. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohr, John W., and Duquenne, Vincent. “The Duality of Culture and Practice: Poverty Relief in New York City, 1888-1917.” Theory and Society 26.2-3 (1997): 305–56. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moretti, Franco. Network Theory, Plot Analysis. Stanford Literary Lab. Stanford Lit. Lab, 1 May 2011. Web. 6 July 2012. Pamphlet 2.Google Scholar
“Names, Dates, People, and Places.” P5: Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange. Vers. 2.2.0. TEI, 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Digital Humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants: Frequently Asked Questions. NEH, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Owens, J. B. “Jack.” “What Historians Want from GIS.” ArcNews. Esri, 2007. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
Phillips, Amanda. “#transformDH—a Call to Action Following ASA 2011.” HASTAC. N.p., 26 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Pickering, Andrew. The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1995. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Kenneth M., and Siemens, Ray, eds. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology. MLA Commons. MLA, 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
Ramsay, Stephen. “Algorithmic Criticism.” A Companion to Digital Literary Studies. Ed. Schreibman, Susan and Siemens, Ray. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Ramsay, Stephen. “On Building.” Stephen Ramsay. N.p., 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 20 June 2011.Google Scholar
Ramsay, Stephen. “Who's In and Who's Out.” Stephen Ramsay. N.p., 8 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Schreibman, Susan, Siemens, Ray, and Unsworth, John, eds. A Companion to Digital Humanities. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Sculley, D., and Pasanek, Bradley M. “Meaning and Mining: The Impact of Implicit Assumptions in Data Mining for the Humanities.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 23.4 (2008): 409–24. Print.Google Scholar
Seefeldt, Douglas, and Thomas, William G. III. “What Is Digital History? A Look at Some Exemplar Projects.” Faculty Publications. Dept. of History, U of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1 May 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. Paper 98.Google Scholar
Stallybrass, Peter. “Books and Scrolls: Navigating the Bible.” Books and Readers in Early Modern England: Material Studies. Ed. Andersen, Jennifer and Sauer, Elizabeth. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2002. 42–79. Print.Google Scholar
“The Structure of the Historical Thesaurus of the OED.” Oxford University Press. Oxford UP, 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Svensson, Patrik. “Envisioning the Digital Humanities.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 6.1 (2012): n. pag. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Svensson, Patrik. “Humanities Computing as Digital Humanities.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.3 (2009): n. pag. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.Google Scholar
Svensson, Patrik. “The Landscape of Digital Humanities.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 4.1 (2010): n. pag. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.Google Scholar
Underwood, Ted. “Topic Modeling Made Just Simple Enough.” The Stone and the Shell: Historical Questions Raised by a Quantitative Approach to Language. N.p., 7 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 Jan. 2013.Google Scholar
Underwood, Ted, and Sellers, Jordan. “The Emergence of Literary Diction.” Journal of Digital Humanities 1.2 (2012): n. pag. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.Google Scholar
Vismann, Cornelia. Files: Law and Media Technology. Trans. Winthrop-Young, Geoffrey. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Wotherspoon, Irené. “Historical Thesaurus Database Using Ingres.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 7.4 (1992): 218–25. Print.Google Scholar
Wotherspoon, Irené. “The Making of The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary.” Adams 271-87.Google Scholar