In Tara McPherson’s article, she discusses the concept of fragmentation, the separation between digital humanities technology, and the ongoing political, social, racial, gendered, etc. conversations essential to understanding the climate this digital technology is produced within. Essentially, history stratifies into linear, bifurcated storylines that focus on only one aspect of the construction of our world, and the construction of our digital humanities projects/tools.
http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php
Today, I found a mapping system of diasporic communities in a university’s award catalogue for the digital humanities. This project looks, in terms of structure/design, like something that we might produce by the end of this class (in the sense that it’s not exactly polished or complete). And so, I thought to analyze how this system plays into McPherson’s view of fragmented reality, in an attempt to avoid that pitfall in my own DH project construction. I hope to discuss the problems with globalization, DH focus on complicated tech (as opposed to content, accessibility, etc), and the importance of context in our seminar conversations.
