Definitions of DH
Digital Humanities (usually abbreviated as DH) is notoriously difficult to define, and you will find dozens of varying approaches to it in the sources included in this research guide. One way of understanding DH is that it involves the use of digital tools to curate, analyze, and visualize scholarly content, usually from the humanities (but frequently interdisciplinary and including other fields such as the natural sciences). As Melissa Terras notes, DH is not just about the humanities but also about the “human” (Melissa Terras, “Inaugural Lecture: A Decade in Digital Humanities,” 27 May 2014, University College London). More broadly, DH often refers not only to the specific application of digital tools to scholarly content but also to an approach to academic scholarship overall, often understood as innovative, collaborative, and anti-hierarchical.
This research guide views DH as inclusionary rather than exclusionary. DH tools are meant to empower you to find new ways to envision your scholarly content. In the menu you’ll find information on specific digital tools which can assist you with projects of all kinds.
Some striking definitions of DH to consider as you navigate this field:
“Digital humanities is not a unified field but an array of convergent practices…. The digital is the realm of the open: open source, open resources, open doors. Anything that attempts to close this space should be recognized for what it is: the enemy. Yes, there is something utopian at the core of digital humanities: The open, the unfixed, the contingent, the infinite, the expansive, the no place…. Teamwork as new model for the production and reproduction of humanistic knowledge. Teams sometimes fail because they take risks. This is the heart of digital humanities: Risk-taking, collaboration, and experimentation…. Digital humanities promote a flattening of the relationship between masters and disciples. A dedefinition of the roles of professor and student, expert and non-expert” (A Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0, 15 December 2008, UCLA).
“Doing digital humanities means challenging the institutionalization of humanistic inquiry.... We must build tools, technologies, methodologies, and theories that represent this disruptive force” (Shawn W. Moore, cited at “What Is Digital Humanities?”)
“What Is Digital Humanities? We take a broad, critical, and inclusive approach to digital humanities, understanding it to be interdisciplinary humanities research, teaching, learning, and publishing, that can be presented in digital form(s), enabled by digital methods and tools, about digital technology and culture, experimenting with and developing digital technologies, and critical of its own digital-ness” (Josh Honn, “What Is Digital Humanities?,” Digital Humanities Research Guide, Northwestern University Libraries).
Manifeste des Digital humanities
“Nous, acteurs des digital humanities, nous nous constituons en communauté de pratique solidaire, ouverte, accueillante et libre d’accès. Nous sommes une communauté sans frontières. Nous sommes une communauté multilingue et multidisciplinaire. […] Pour nous, les digital humanities concernent l’ensemble des Sciences humaines et sociales, des Arts et des Lettres. Les digital humanities ne font pas table rase du passé. Elles s’appuient, au contraire, sur l’ensemble des paradigmes, savoir-faire et connaissances propres à ces disciplines, tout en mobilisant les outils et les perspectives singulières du champ du numérique. Les digital humanities désignent une transdiscipline, porteuse des méthodes, des dispositifs et des perspectives heuristiques liés au numérique dans le domaine des Sciences humaines et sociales" (Marin Dacos, “Manifeste des Digital humanities,” THATCamp Paris 2010, publié 26 March 2011, User Generated Unconference on Digital Humanities/Non-Conférence sur les Digital Humanities, https://tcp.hypotheses.org/318).
Find more definitions of Digital Humanities at “What Is Digital Humanities.com” (find a new quote each time you refresh the page).
The Programming Historian. Free Tutorials in several DH topics.
“We publish novice-friendly, peer-reviewed tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate research and teaching.”
The Programming Historian en français. Leçons gratuits.
“Nous publions des tutoriels évalués par des pairs qui permettent l'initiation à et l'apprentissage d'un large éventail d'outils numériques, de techniques et de flux de travail pour faciliter la recherche et l'enseignement en sciences humaines et sociales.”
Johanna Drucker’s DH101
Johanna Drucker, “DH101. Intro to Digital Humanities: Concepts, Methods, and Tutorials for Students and Instructors,” UCLA Center for Digital Humanities.
Miriam Posner’s DH Tutorials
Includes tutorials on Omeka, Tableau, Gephi, Voyant, and many others
Miriam Posner, UCLA, “How Did They Make That?”
These websites provide invaluable information as to how DH projects are constructed:
“How Did They Make That?” (article)
“How Did They Make That?: Reverse Engineering Digital Projects” (video)
This is not a complete list, but just a few selected places to get you started.
The Humanities + Data Lab, University of Ottawa. A Digital Humanities Lab in uOttawa's Faculty of Arts | Labo de données en sciences humaines.
Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), Victoria, B.C.
One of the most important DH centers in the world, where scholars and students gather every year to take workshops in DH.
Canadian Society of Digital Humanities | Société canadienne des humanités numériques
“A Canada-wide association of representatives from Canadian colleges and universities that began in 1986, founded as the Consortium for Computers in the Humanities / Consortium pour ordinateurs en sciences humaines. Our objective is to draw together humanists who are engaged in digital and computer-assisted research, teaching, and creation” (About CSDH)
“La Société canadienne des humanités numériques/Canadian Society of Digital Humanities a d’abord été connue sous le nom de Consortium pour ordinateurs en sciences humaines / Consortium for Computers in the Humanities (COSH/COCH), fondé en 1986 pour regrouper des représentants des collèges et universités canadiennes. Notre objectif est de rassembler les collègues engagés dans des activités d’enseignement, de recherche et de création en liaison avec des ressources numériques” (A propos de SCHN)
Canadian Society of DH Educational Resource Page. This site lists institutions in Canada that offer DH as a field of study, major DH centres, and important DH publications:
en français
English version
Digital Humanities Network, University of Toronto
A DH center that has sponsored numerous tools and projects, such as Digital Tools for Manuscript Study, Text Analysis Portal (TAPoR), Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and many others.
.txtLAB, McGill University
“We explore the use of computational and quantitative approaches towards understanding literature and culture in both the past and present. Our aim is to use the tools of data science, network analysis and machine learning to promote a more inclusive understanding of culture and creativity.”
CRIHN, l’Université de Montréal
“Basé à l’Université de Montréal, le Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur les humanités numériques (CRIHN) regroupe 48 membres réguliers, 36 collaborateurs et 6 stagiaires de recherche postdoctorale provenant de huit universités, CEGEP et établissements de recherche québécois”
Digital Textualities | Écritures numériques, Université de Montréal
“The Canada Research Chair on Digital Textualites aims to offer a new reading and a new understanding of this writing that now makes our world. On this site you will find all the projects led by Marcello Vitali-Rosati and his team, the publications of the Chair members and the description of all the theoretical concepts used for our research.”
“La Chaire de recherche du Canada sur les Écritures numériques a pour objectif de proposer une nouvelle lecture et une nouvelle compréhension de cette écriture qui fait désormais notre monde. Sur ce site vous trouverez l'ensemble des projets menés par Marcello Vitali-Rosati et son équipe, les publications des membres de la Chaire et la description de tous les concepts théoriques mobilisés pour nos recherches.”
This is not a complete list, but just a few selected places to get you started.
Manifeste des Digital humanities
Marin Dacos, “Manifeste des Digital humanities,” THATCamp Paris 2010, publié 26 March 2011.
"THATCamp Paris est une non-conférence sur les Digital humanities. Au contraire des colloques habituels, THATCamp met l'accent sur les discussions informelles, et non sur les conférences canoniques, sur la collaboration et non l'individualisme, sur une approche pragmatique et non sur les approches théoriques" (THATCamp Paris).
Find more about THATCamp Paris here
ADHO
“The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) promotes and supports digital research and teaching across all arts and humanities disciplines, acting as a community-based advisory force, and supporting excellence in research, publication, collaboration and training.” ADHO sponsors a yearly conference, publications related to DH, and discussion forums.
4Humanities
“4Humanities was founded in November 2010 by a collective of digital humanities scholars and practitioners in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia, … because the digital humanities community—which specializes in making creative use of digital technology to advance humanities research and teaching as well as to think about the basic nature of the new media and technologies–woke up to its special potential and responsibility to assist humanities advocacy. The digital humanities … use new technologies to help the humanities communicate with, and adapt to, contemporary society.”
HASTAC
“HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) is an interdisciplinary community of humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists, and technologists changing the way we teach and learn. HASTAC’s leadership and administration is shared between hubs located at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) and Dartmouth College.”
Alan Liu’s DH Toychest: Digital Humanities Resources for Project Building
This massively detailed website is a treasure trove for DH, curated by Professor Alan Liu at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since it was last updated a few years ago, not all links might be current, but it is an invaluable resource. It includes general guides to DH, samples of DH projects, datasets, tutorials, tools, and more. From the home page: “This selection is not intended to be comprehensive and is under continuous development. Selections are restricted to free tools or tools with generous trial periods.”
Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology
A Glossary by Daniel Powell, with Constance Crompton and Ray Siemens, hosted by MLA Humanities Commons. This invaluable site is both a glossary and a list of links that explains everything from “AntConc” to “Zotero.” Organized alphabetically, it is a good source for browsing all topics both related to DH and the broader digital world.
CUNY Academic Commons Wiki Archive
A comprehensive guide to DH that includes definitions, sample projects, blogs, tools, etc.
Martin Grandjean, “Les humanités numériques et ceux qui les font”
This is not a complete list, but just a few selected places to get you started.
Digital Studies | Le champ numérique
“Digital Studies / Le champ numérique is a refereed academic journal that serves as an Open Access area for formal scholarly activity and as a resource for researchers in the Digital Humanities. It is published for the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations under the direction of the Canadian Society for Digital Humanities/Société canadienne des humanités numériques (CSDH/SCHN) by the Open Library of the Humanities.”
Computing in the Humanities Working Papers
“CH Working Papers (or Computing in the Humanities Working Papers) are an interdisciplinary series of refereed publications on computer-assisted research.”
Digital Humanities Quarterly
“Welcome to Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ), an open-access, peer-reviewed, digital journal covering all aspects of digital media in the humanities."
Digital Medievalist
“Digital Medievalist (DM) is the journal of the Digital Medievalist Community. It publishes work of original research and scholarship, theoretical articles on digital topics, notes on technological topics, commentary pieces discussing developments in the field, bibliographic and review articles, tutorials, and project reports.”