Reflection Prompt #1

Reflection Post #1: “On Material and Digital Archives” – REVISED
Due: 8/30 by 11pm
Prompt: This week you were introduced to the field of digital humanities. We talked in general terms about DH research and looked at the Great Parchment Book project as an example of how DH methods can make the unaccessible accessible through preservation, transcription, and online publication.

We read a portion of Alan Liu’s essay “The Meaning of the Digital Humanities” and considered the relationship between DH and the humanities more generally.

Go to the DH Sample Book and and look at these four DH projects (you can find each project by clicking on one of the categories on the right side of the page):

  • Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts (Digital Edition)
  • Livingstone’s 1871 Field Diary (Preservation)
  • The Map of Early Modern London (Mapping)
  • Old Weather (Archive)

After examining all four, choose one that you find compelling or intriguing. Analyze the project, considering three of the following questions similar to those we addressed in class when critiquing the Great Parchment Book:

  • What is the project?
  • What research questions or objectives are being addressed by the project team?
  • What challenges do you think the research team faced when approaching this project?
  • Who is the audience/are the audiences for this project?
  • What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of creating and making accessible such digital artifacts?

In considering these questions, draw upon direct and indirect evidence from the project website (hint: you may have good luck finding such evidence on the project’s “home” or “about the project” pages).

Consider what you read in the article by Alan Liu. What does Liu say about DH that informs your understanding of how the scholars who work on this project use DH methods to engage with research in ways that are different from traditional text-based research?

Post editing interfaceReminder: look at the Reflection Posts assignment description and rubric. Give your post the category “Reflection #1” (Categories are listed on the right side of your post-writing interface.) Since this is your first post, you only need to add one image to the post. (For guidance about how to insert media into your post, see this Support Page on the WordPress website.

Please email me with any questions you may have.