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Kayla Cuggy

Looking for Interdisciplinary Perspectives - 19 views

started by Kayla Cuggy on 19 Jan 14
  • Kayla Cuggy
    #1 Kayla Cuggy on 19 Jan 14
     
    Many of the articles we have read so far in class suggest the Digital Humanities to be rooted in English departments. Matt Kirschenbaum, for example, highlights how the traditional values and practices of English scholars produce an academic environment which is well-suited to the needs of the Digital Humanities and digital humanists. He discusses how text, which is obviously the primary subject of study in English departments, is an easily manipulated form of data, and is therefore a good place for digital humanists to start. He also mentions the long established connection between computers and composition. At this point, I fail to understand the particular association between that these qualities and English as a discipline. Obviously text and composition are essential components of studying English, but they are not exclusive to the discipline; these qualities are major parts of the humanities in general. Kirschenbaum proceeds to provide more specific examples which are more clearly unique to the study of English literature. He references the movement in the 1980s in English departments concerning editorial theory and method and the following "widespread means to implement electronic archives and editions," as well as the contemporary growth of electronic literature and hypertext. He further discusses the tendency of English departments specifically to be open to various kinds of digital media due to the advent of cultural studies as a discipline. Finally, Kirschenbaum cites the immense popularity of e-readers and e-book devices as well as "large-scale text digitization projects." From my perspective as an English student, these last four examples seem to be much more discipline-specific; however, I wonder if other disciplines can relate these qualities to their own fields.

    As we have discussed in class and through blog posts, the Digital Humanities are collaborative and interdisciplinary by nature, and we are lucky in our class to have representatives from multiple disciplines. So I wonder how you all, from your various academic backgrounds, react to Kirschenbaum's explanation for the strong association between DH and English. We discussed these issues in class, and I believe we all agreed that DH does not exclusively belong to English departments, but rather to all of the humanities and social sciences. I am not asking whether or not English has a particular claim over DH, but rather, more specifically, about Kirschenbaum's six qualities which make English departments a welcoming home for DH. Are they really exclusive to English? Can other disciplines relate these six qualities to their own field, or perhaps think of parallel examples?
  • Ridha Ben Rejeb
    #2 Ridha Ben Rejeb on 20 Jan 14
     
    I read your comment with immense interest in your thought provoking questions and critical approach. My reaction to Kirschenbaum's explanation for the strong association between DH and English is that the lack of exposure and narrow mindedness of some scholars can lead to exclusive attribution of DH to their specific discipline of interest. This is nothing but conventional humanities practices drawn into digital era. When Kirschenbaum mentions the long established connection between computers and composition, I tend to refer to Svensson (2012) counter claim"…a worrisome indicator that DH will be locked down by the same tired socioeconomic gatekeeping mechanisms that prevent many people with talent from succeeding in so many other academic disciplines" . Nevertheless, Svensson (2012) argues that "we should think of [DH] not as a tent but rather a trading zone and meeting place". The meeting place is able to accommodate an array of disciplines including but not limited to humanities, social sciences, science, engineering and so on for more on this visit: http://www.innovation.ca/en/ResearchinAction
    To address your comment "So I wonder how you all, from your various academic backgrounds, react to Kirschenbaum's explanation for the strong association between DH and English". I would say that such a claim inevitably excludes innovative DH initiatives and projects in other disciplines from recent work in arts, neuroscience and business. I will take the liberty to state projects that have DH component and not necessarily English from our series in DIGH 5800:
     Jason Della Rocca and his game development industry ,
     Steve Fai from the Department of Architecture and his project of Digital Models and the Rehabilitation of Parliament's West Block ,
     Ruth Phillips and her initiative of The Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Cultures,
     Shawn Graham: Setting up Labspace on Domain of One's Own,
     Paul Theberge: Music and Digitization
    And from outside our DIGH 5800 course
     Sociology Department at Carleton organized a conference in the Fall 2013:The Social Engineering of Mobile Phones, New Media, and Internet-Mediated Communication,
     Larry Kardish, "Cinema in the Digital World" at Ottawa Public Library,
     Andrew Piper of McGill University and the winner of a prestigious grant by NEH for his Digging into data initiative also known as data mining the past,
     Brian Greenspan : digital world changing future shoppers https://soundcloud.com/innovation-ca/welcome-to-the-hyperlab/s-4gkLV
    There are also courses that explore virtual worlds with a focus upon new digital forms of identity, community, art, and communication http://www.dhsi.org/courses.php and to name but few.

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