Last week, I stumbled upon “Here and There: Creating DH Community,” an informal talk by Miriam Posner (UCLA). The purpose of the talk is to give concrete advice to those scholars–usually young, fresh graduates–who have been tasked with initiating a space for local digital humanities labs and projects. The piece is brief, witty, and conversational, but it delivers some heavy food for thought. (This statement, especially, hits home: “When people anticipate challenges to getting DH activity off the ground, they often anticipate technophobia (which, as I’ll explain, I think is a fairly misguided fear) or a dearth of technical expertise. But let’s be real. If anyone sees you as a threat, it’s because you represent a shift in the institution’s power balance.”)
I’ve also found Matthew Gold’s blog, The Lapland Chronicles, to be a useful resource when pondering ways to foster global dh solidarity. Facts, Patterns, Methods, Meaning: Public Knowledge Building in the Digital Humanities provides discussion about how the dh community is perceived in popular discourse. He points out the recent shift from exploratory, wonder-filled dh experimentation ( à la Moretti) to the “scientifically oriented” work that has more recently gained the spotlight (à la Jockers) and encourages us to pursue a philosophy of dh studies that will also allow projects which fall in between those extremes. I think this piece is especially helpful when deciding how the dh community should present itself and its goals to those outside of the digital humanities–we want people in all fields to participate in our discourse, not just those who use dh tools for particular ends. (As a side note, Gold’s prose is gorgeous. He’s a joy to read.)
And here’s a bonus article that has little to do with this week’s topic, but everything to do with expressing the profundity of interpersonal relationships. This is Cathy Davidson’s touching, informal homage to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and I can’t stop thinking about it: Handicapped by Being Underimpaired: Teaching with Equality at the Core.
