What is DH?

So the question of the first week is what is DH? That is a great question. Coming into this class I wasn’t so sure myself. Intro to Digital Humanities sounded cool, and it looked a lot better than some of the other classes offered this semester. After doing some reading, I began to understand what all DH consisted of, and it all made sense. I just never really used the term Digital Humanities.

After reading the Intro and Part 1 of Debates I found some answers as well as clarification on what DH is, or at least what DH consists of. Here is what I gathered from the reading. Digital Humanities in fact is made up of a ton of different topics, categories, and things. What is involved in the study of Digital Humanities consists of a variety of topics. DH is the study and research, the teaching and computing of certain knowledge. DH is also driven by the many types of social media. In fact, many of us do not realize it but things we have in our everyday lives falls into the category of DH. DH is also; “history, musicology, performance studies, media studies,” and so much more. I think that maybe DH is just a name for one category that a lot things fit into.

I never really thought about what DH consisted of until I began this class. As a teacher, I realize that I have it all around me everyday. The one point made in Part 1 was that composition and computers go together. Electronic archives and electronic literature are becoming more and more popular and everything else is becoming part of the past. DH can expand cultural studies because of the electronic and online resources.

Social Media, texting and technology are constantly changing. The more advanced technology gets, the more advanced society becomes. It is a constant race to have the “newer, smarter” phone, tablet, laptop, and even car. Even though technology is changing, it will still always be in the category of DH.The more digital the world is, the faster, and usually better things will be. The times of reading a book, and actually hand writing letters and papers are becoming more and more things of the past. Welcome to the digital world.