Digital humanities refers to a methodological approach that uses digital technologies and networks to conduct humanities research and scholarship. It emerged as a term in the early 2000s and involves text analysis, data mining, and multimodal productions. Digital humanities is a social phenomenon that connects researchers through collaborative projects and a body of scholarship. It is relevant to English departments due to their focus on textual analysis, connections between computing and composition, and opportunities to study digital culture and new forms of literature.

1. Digital humanities….? culled from Matthew Kirschenbaum’s “What is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?”

3. digital humanities is… …associated more with a methodological outlook than a commitment to specific set of texts or technologies (i.e., text analysis tools, data-mining tools, multimodal productions) …a social phenomenon that joins networks of people (i.e, the Orlando Project, archiving initiatives) …a body of scholarship, a pedagogy

4. emergence of the term 2001: planning for Blackwell Companion to Digital Humanities:title originally included “humanities computing” (in vogue at the time); changed to “digitized humanities” to “digital humanities,” signaling a shift away from digitization as the primary activity that defined the movement 2004: formation of Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations 2006: launch of Digital Humanities Initiative by NEH

5. Why in English departments? 1. emphasis on text = enduring data type for computers to manipulate 2. long association between computers & composition 3. convergence between editorial theory & method in 80s & implementation of e-archives & editions 4. projects around e-literature 5. focus on cultural studies  computers and other objects/tools of digital material culture ripe for analysis 6. digitization and reading (Google Books, iPad, Nook, etc.)