In September, I provided a definition of digital humanities that truly needs revisiting and revising, due to both feedback and questions on the definition and due learning(reconsider word) over the past several months. My original post can be found here: A Definition of Digital Humanities | Online Portfolio (kejacobsen.com) or in the posts listed to the left.

I took a trip down the Google rabbit hole after seeing the term “transdisciplinary” in a definition for digital humanities while rereading Burdick, et. al. I had probably read it as interdisciplinary, the term mostly used in related writing. Transdisciplinary, according to Radakovic, refers to “a research or educational approach that seeks to challenge disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic perspective that provides opportunities to connect across scientific and nonscientific communities¹.” Given its roots in computing for the humanities and its expansion into multiple forms of media and digital tools, the idea of a holistic approach resonates with me. Exploring several types of digital humanities over the semester has helped develop a better understanding of the scope of the field. It has still left me with some questions I am still not sure of the answer.

For a definition, Digital Humanities is a collaborative, transdisciplinary field that uses digital tools and methods in research and presentation of studies in the humanities. The humanities can be understood as the study of things humans have created. It can be literature, history, religion, law, linguistics or the arts.² Based in computing and computer technologies, digital tools offer methods of understanding, exploring, analyzing, sharing and presenting information and research. Digital humanities projects use the same tools to educate and engage audiences, often including the general public. The unanswered question is where is the line between a humanities project presented digitally and a digital humanities project? 

In an earlier post, my experience with building a community through shared love of a podcast led to a question on what about podcasts, or crowdsourced projects for that matter, causes that effect. The transdisciplinary nature of those mediums may be the answer, as they add a social element to digital humanities. They can be perceived as establishing a relationship with the user that engages and draws them in. Whatever the audience, the strength of digital humanities is finding new approaches to research, analysis and engagement that grow and change with new technologies, regardless of the age of the subject matter.

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1. N. Radakovic, W. I. O’Byrne, M. Negreiros, T. Hunter-Doniger,, E. Pears, & C. Littlejohn . (2022). Toward Transdisciplinarity: Constructing Meaning Where Disciplines Intersect, Combine, and Shift. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 71(1), 398-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/23813377221113515
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2. Jeffrey R. Wilson, “A New Definition of the Humanities,” Insider Higher Education” October 23, 2023. Online at https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/10/25/new-definition-humanities-opinion ↩︎