Welcome back! This will be my last post, so I will be reflecting on the materials that I have used throughout this course and their utility for humanists. The questions that I will be addressing will be:
- Why have some individuals been slow to adopt DH methodologies?
- In what ways do disciplinary conventions mitigate against using DH?
- How might the long-term viability of projects, the technical demands of learning appropriate research tools, or the tendency of humanists to complete projects in isolation, affect their choices?
- Which tools might be best adapted to the research questions that interest me and projects I envision attempting in the future?
Some individuals have been slow to adopt digital humanities methodologies. I believe this comes down to two factors, one being the learning curve that comes with adopting a new practice and the other being the long-term possibilities for DH. As I have experienced in this class there is a learning curve to many digital humanities applications that can be frustrating to work with. This discourages people from trying new methodologies, as learning new skills is not easy. This can be especially frustrating for those who are unsure if their work will stand the test of time. While nothing is forever, this is especially true for the internet. With many online applications becoming obsolete over time, some are discouraged from using these platforms for fear that their hard work will disappear or become unusable over time.
There are certain disciplinary conventions that may further discourage the use of DH, this includes the unconventional ways of delivering information that DH encourages and time constraints. Allowing digital humanists the ability to use digital tools to interact with their audiences comes with challenges like straying from traditional constraints of the humanities. Within DH there is a newness to these works, making them unfamiliar and often discouraged by professionals. Professionals in the humanities are often working under time constraints making the issue of learning new software and tools especially difficult.
As previously discussed, the long-term viability of DH is an issue that discourages some from exploring into DH for fear of losing their hard work. There is an issue with the learning curve of understanding a new DH tool that would prevent some potential digital humanists from using DH regularly, but there is also an issue with many who engage in the humanities to do so in isolation. Working in isolation can present issues with working through problems with DH tools and without having a collaborative space to work with others can make working through difficult tools even more difficult.
Now that I have more familiarity with some digital humanities tools, in the future Omeka and Zotero have the most potential use for me. Omeka is helpful to organize images and understand the backend of information needed to organize a digital exhibit. Since working with Omeka I have noticed more websites for museums or libraries that use Omeka. This is obviously a useful tool that is user friendly, and I can see myself using it in the future. Zotero is a great resource to gather and organize sources especially while I am still in classes and needing one centralized place for sources while creating projects or writing papers.
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