You're an English major - you use computers for reading, researching, writing your papers, and procrastinating from writing those papers. Yes, computers are central to your studies but what is this "DH" thing?
Well, there are a number of ways in which you can incorporate various tools and methods and engage critically with the digital humanities:
Do you want to change or improve your [[workflow]]?
Are you looking for new ways of [[analysing texts]]?
Try new ways of [[presenting information]].
Tempted by new [[research methods]]?
Consider the different [[contemporary critical theories]] on DH.
Curious about what [[people are saying]] about DH?
Want some food for thought on [[DH's place within academia]]?
And don't forget to educate yourself on the [[material realities]] of digital objects. iPhones don't grow on trees.
Tired of drudging away on Microsoft Word under the shadow of Bill Gates? Well, look no further. Here's what you need to revolutionise your workflow and take control of the finished product. Resist the planned obsolescence of software. Future-proof your work. Riseup, I say! Rise up!
<img src="https://github.com/SAllieW/DecemberUpgrade/raw/master/FinalResult.png?raw=true" width="500" height="300" alt="pandoc">
Use the command line of your computer to transform your documents into various file formats and style formats (including MLA) using Pandoc. See my tutorial with Jenna Herdman here:
<a href="https://github.com/digh5000/student-tutorials/blob/master/pandoc-tutorial-for-english-students-watson-herdman.md" target=_blank>Pandoc for Dummies, by Dummies</a>.
Turn your documnts into webpages using Jekyll. Alex Nahas and Justin Langille made a tutorial for this program <a href="https://github.com/digh5000/student-tutorials/blob/master/alex-and-justin-jekyll-tool-tutorial.md" target=_blank>here</a>.
Sublime Text 3 is an awesome program for writing markdown formatted documents - check out Sharon Newton's tutorial <a href="https://github.com/digh5000/student-tutorials/blob/master/Beginner%20Guide%20to%20Sublime%20Text%203%20and%20Markdown.md" target=_blank>here</a>.
Closely related to your workflow are obviously your [[research methods]] and, once you've completed the project you're working on, the way that you're [[presenting information]] might bear some experimentation.
Text analysis is one of the most exciting areas of using DH methods to study literature. Read up on one of the major text analysis gurus, [[Franco Moretti]] to get a sense of what kinds of work are being done and what their value may be.
<a href="http://salliew.github.io/Text-Analysis-Assignment" target=_blank>Here's an example</a> of the work that can be done using two different text analysis programs on a fairly small corpus of six
You have a couple of options for entry-level text analysis programs. The first is: [[AntConc]].
The second is [[Topic Modelling]].
But how should you [[presenting information]].
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/d2ZcB53hANmIfJXW/giphy.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="visualising">
Do you like [[visualisation]]? New ways of presenting your work can bring [[new audiences to your work->DH's place within academia]].
Or! Try your hand at [[this very website]] and see how hyperlinking texts with Twine works for you.
Read all the things. Including the things said on [[Twitter->people are saying]].
Broken down into my highly biased little sub-categories, here are some of the major ways that people have been theorizing DH.
Remember how capitalism rules your life and the Internet is a huge platform for circulating goods and extracting labour? Yeah good times. Let us peer into [[The Hidden Abode of Production->material realities]].
Linking texts and imbedding various forms of media must surely be changing the way we understand texts and culture. Check out early theories on [[hypertext]].
The Internet has enabled all sorts of delightful little cesspools of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, booger-flicking loudmouths. But also some very thoughtful debate on [[race, gender and disability]].
DH is currently negotiating its [[role within academia ->DH's place within academia]] and as a set of practices/practitioners.
[[Franco Moretti]] is the father of "distant reading," which has drawn a lot of praise and critique from English scholars.
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/oD2tqUxLCNOco/giphy.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="doof">
To the Twittermobile! No seriously, it's not just for tweeting selfies and sassing celebrities.
Here are some of the best people to follow:
Matthew Kirschenbaum <a href="https://twitter.com/mkirschenbaum?lang=en" target=_blank>@mkirschenbaum</a>:
David Golumbia <a href="https://twitter.com/dgolumbia?lang=en" target=_blank>@dgolumbia</a>:
Beth Nowviskie <a href="https://twitter.com/nowviskie?lang=en" target=_blank>@nowviskie</a>:
Brian Greenspan <a href="https://twitter.com/theHyperlab?lang=en" target=_blank>@theHyperlab</a>:
Shawn Graham <a href="https://twitter.com/electricarchaeo?lang=en" target=_blank>@electricarchaeo</a>:
Miriam Posner <a href="https://twitter.com/miriamkp?lang=en" target=_blank>@miriamkp</a>:
Tressie McMillan Cottom <a href="https://twitter.com/tressiemcphd?lang=en" target=_blank>@tressiemcphd</a>:
Ian Bogost <a href="https://twitter.com/ibogost?lang=en" target=_blank>@ibogost</a>:
Ian Milligan <a href="https://twitter.com/ianmilligan1?lang=en" target=_blank>@ianmilligan1</a>:
Alan Liu <a href="https://twitter.com/alanyliu?lang=en" target=_blank>@alanyliu</a>:
Daniel Allington <a href="https://twitter.com/dr_d_allington?lang=en" target=_blank>@dr_d_allington</a>:
Aimée Morrison <a href="https://twitter.com/digiwonk?lang=en" target=_blank>@digiwonk</a>:
Adeline Koh <a href="https://twitter.com/adelinekoh?lang=en" target=_blank>@adelinekoh</a>:
Digi-taal <a href="https://twitter.com/Digi_Taal?lang=en" target=_blank>@Digi_Taal</a>:
Feminist Frequency <a href="https://twitter.com/femfreq?lang=en" target=_blank>@femfreq</a>:
Transform DH <a href="https://twitter.com/TransformDH?lang=en" target=_blank>@TransformDH</a>:
To see some important articles that these people and more have published on the field of DH, consider [[contemporary critical theories]].
<img src="https://github.com/jennaherdman/jennaherdman.github.io/blob/master/KIDSLIT1.png?raw=true" width="500" height="300" alt="viz">
[[Alan Liu->DH's place within academia]] has some very compelling arguments about how visualisation is an important factor in the role of DH when it comes to disseminating the intellectual production of people within academia. In Liu's article "Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?," he argues that "“digital humanists should create technologies that fundamentally reimagine humanities advocacy . . . something more akin to a brochure, poster, video, or other high-impact brief—that is, something that could expose the gist of scholarship for public view and use.”
To see how you might engage with texts using visual representations, consider this <a href="http://jennaherdman.github.io/jennaherdman.github.io-vizvoice-/" target=_blank>introduction to visualisation</a>.
Of course, not everybody can appreciate all kinds of visualisations - this brings up a whole range of questions concerning [[equality and accessibility->race, gender and disability]].
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/XXMYrK6C5yL16/giphy.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="hypertext">
Hypertext theories date waaaaay back. In 1945, Vannevar Bush published <i>As We May Think</i> in which he discussed the "memex" that would revolutionise research and mimic the way the human brain forms associations. Today, his ideas of the memex are reflected by hyperlinked texts and indeed by [[this very website]]. His early thoughts are available <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/" target=_blank>here on The Atlantic site</a>.
Another early theorist on hypertext was George Landow. Though I couldn't find his text <i>Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology</i>, <a href="http://www.elmcip.net/critical-writing/hypertext-20-convergence-contemporary-critical-theory-and-technology" target=_blank>this page</a> gives you a good idea of the range of his influence on more current debates surrounding hyperlinking.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/abI9pDa.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="dood">
Dear white, able-bodied man, here are some things to think about. Actually, scratch that. Dear everybody, please consider race, gender, and disability.
There's so much to say here. Firstly, I would recommend joining the discussions happening right now on [[Twitter->people are saying]].
My personal fav out of these Tweeps is Tressie McMillan Cottom <a href="https://twitter.com/tressiemcphd?lang=en" target=_blank>@tressiemcphd</a>. Her article "Who the Fuck Do You Think You Are?" <a href="http://adanewmedia.org/2015/04/issue7-mcmillancottom/" target=_blank>needs to be read.</a>
Also, here's one small aspect of the gendered dynamics of online spaces in the article "Men (Still) Explain Technology to Me: Gender and Education Technology" by Audrey Watters. <a href="http://hackeducation.com/2015/03/11/men-still-explain" target=_blank>Give it a read.</a>
Finally, a good topic to touch on is the idea of "Universal Design." Can responsible digital projects be designed in such a way that they are accessible by most people? Read George H. Williams' article "Disability, Universal Design, and the Digital Humanities" <a href="http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/44" target=_blank>here.</a>
Be mindful of these issues when [[analysing texts]] and conducting your [[research->research methods]].
How do the digital humanities contribute to new pedagogical approaches and the production of new knowledges?
You know what's great for gaining knowledge?
Reading!
<img src="http://i.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/30-rock-gif-11(1).gif" width="500" height="300" alt="yay">
Have some article recommendations:
Alan Liu's article, "Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?," advocates the place of the digital humanities in championing the place of humanities in public discussions and research. He wants DH to go about "assisting in advocacy outside the academy in the humanities’ present hour of social, economic, and political need." Read it <a href="http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates" target=_blank>here.</a>
In his article, “The Dark Side of Digital Humanities: Dispatches from Two Recent MLA Conventions,” Richard Grusin problematises what he sees as “the recent turn away from issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality, an escape from the messiness of the traditional humanities to the safety of scripting, code, or interface design.” Read more on this <a href="http://differences.dukejournals.org/content/25/1/79.abstract" target=_blank>here</a>.
Though close reading has long been a favouried mode of textual analysis in English departments, [[Franco Moretti]] has been using distant reading to try and gain new insights into old texts.
And then hit up the conversation happening on these issues on [[Twitter->people are saying]].
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/iUsqxbz2MI3m0/giphy.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="pop">
<a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams" target=_blank>Google nGrams</a> is a cool way of seeing word occurences in the massive corpus of Google Books. Obviously, this way of approaching your research draws heavily on [[visualisation]].
Trailblazer is a program that allows you to track and visualise the browsing path you've taken online. You can then easily keep track of where your online research has taken you and re-access pat pages. Check out <a href="https://github.com/digh5000/student-tutorials/blob/master/susan.beth.shannon.md" target=_blank>this tutorial</a> on using Trailblazer by Susan Chabot, Beth Mekitiak, and Sharon Newton.
In conjunction with reimagining your research methods, you might consider spicing up your [[workflow]].
The main proponent of "distant reading," Franco Moretti is one of the foremost scholars on textual analysis using DH methods.
Here's an example of the kind of work he did on <i>Hamlet</i>:
<img src="https://github.com/jennaherdman/jennaherdman.github.io/blob/master/morettigraph.png?raw=true" width="600" height="500" alt="Hamlet">
Though not identical to Moretti's work, [[Topic Modelling]] and [[AntConc]] are two programs you can use to try your hand at text analysis.
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAllieW/screencaps/master/web.png" width="500" height="300" alt="AntConc">
Analysing many and huge texts has never been so easy. Download the corpus analysis program AntConc <a href="http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software.html" target=_blank>here</a> and follow <a href="http://programminghistorian.org/lessons/corpus-analysis-with-antconc" target=_blank>these instructions</a> for using it.
Another text analysis program you might consider using is [[Topic Modelling]].
This way of seeing multiple paths through and connections across the text has been thoroughly addressed in [[hypertext]] theories if you're interested in reading more.
Also, using this to look at your primary text may change your [[research methods]] in ways that might be usefully combined with other tools.
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAllieW/screencaps/master/ChosenTopics.png" width="500" height="300" alt="Gui">
Unlike [[AntConc]], topic modelling produces slightly more mysterious results and may surprise you with the word groupings it creates. The strength of topic modeling is its potential for drawing attention to patterns that may not have caught the reader's attention if she were only engaged in more conventional forms of reading.
Download the Topic Modeling Tool <a href="https://code.google.com/archive/p/topic-modeling-tool/" target=_blank>here</a> and then <a href="http://programminghistorian.org/lessons/topic-modeling-and-mallet" target=_blank>use these directions</a> for using the program with your chosen corpus of texts.
[[hypertext]]
[[race, gender and disability]]
[[Franco Moretti]]
<img src="https://github.com/SAllieW/screencaps/blob/master/Twine1.png?raw=true" width="500" height="300" alt="Twine1">
Twine itself is a program that may be of great interest to English majors. How cool is it to make your own [[hypertext]] fictions??
<a href="http://www.depressionquest.com/dqfinal.html" target=_blank>"Depression Quest"</a> is a cool example of a Twine game, by Zoe Quinn. Because of [[toxic gamer culture->race, gender and disability]], Quinn was at the heart of the Gamer Gate garbage fire that started in 2014.
Twine is a very cool way of representing and hosting projects in a more interactive and interesting way than, say, an essay. DH's role in bringing research out of the university and making it attractive to non-academics is championed by [[Alan Liu ->DH's place within academia]].
To learn how to build your own Twine, <a href="http://www.develop-online.net/tutorials/a-guide-to-twine/0206492" target=_blank>this site</a> is a wonderful repository of knowledge. Also, take a look at these screencaps of this very Twine and you'll see the basic codes for linking to text boxes, external pages, and hosting images:
<img src="https://github.com/SAllieW/screencaps/blob/master/Twine2.png?raw=true" width="600" height="500" alt="Twine2">
<img src="https://github.com/SAllieW/screencaps/blob/master/Twine3.png?raw=true" width="600" height="500" alt="Twine3">
I have two words for you: Edward Burtynsky.
<img src="http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/site_contents/Photographs/image_galleries/China_Gallery/CHNA_MAN_16_05.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="mobile">
Check out some of his photography on the factories in China where digital technology gets assembled and the wastelands where the discarded parts pile up.
A great article to read in order to start seeing into the hidden abode of production is "Circuits of Labour: A Labour Theory of the iPhone Era" by Jack Linchuan Qiu, Melissa Gregg and Kate Crawford. It <a href="http://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/540/607" target=_blank>can be read here</a>.
The poetry and brief life of a Foxconn worker: Xu Lizhi (1990-2014) <a href="https://libcom.org/blog/xulizhi-foxconn-suicide-poetry" target=_blank>is worth a sobering read</a>.
These material realities all link up with concerns with [[race, gender and disability]] as well.