Rhea Xavier

In William G Thomas’ “What We Think We Will Build and What We Build in Digital Humanities”, my idea of what I wanted the entirety my group’s area of study ‘Science and Religion’ on the Digital Humanities Project, Resistance and Caribbean Reality, began to shift.

Throughout the course of the passage, my unattainable aspirations of this theme resembled greatly of a poorly constructed building during 8.0 magnitude earthquake. This is due to the understanding that what we envision for our project versus the outcome largely differ.

In the reading, the writer examines multiple questions which include:

Is an archive an argument? And a related question, where is our scholarship?

How do we work in teams of scholars in the humanities?

What does scholarly argument look like in digital form?

The first question proposed was ‘Is an archive an argument?’ This led me to believe that in some instances it may be considered one since in the case of newspapers about slavery. How does one make this searchable when building archives outside of the sole heading ‘Slavery’? As stated in the reading, through the creation of more capacious archives is seemingly appropriate. In this approach, we re-imagine digital archives by making it ‘intentional and interpretive’. The concern ‘Where is our scholarship?’ simply put states that they are in libraries which aid in the availability, modelling and preserving of this scholarship.

The second question was ‘How do we work in teams of scholars in the humanities?’ Upon entering Create Caribbean, I clearly remember Dr. Esprit emphasizing on the importance of collaborating but what truly did that mean? Collaboration is working alongside people in various fields from colleagues to librarians etc. Collaboration is an excellent method of joining the minds of various individuals well versed in your project’s area of study. According to the reading, these teams of researchers create projects which then transform into publication objectives and contributions.

The final question posed by the author stated ‘What does scholarly argument look like in digital form?’ Initially, the view was introduced as a system to inspire investigation and focus attention on projects. The scholarly practice shifted from research available solely for scholars to openly available research. In the use of new models of production: students like myself and citizens can be colleagues. However, the new challenge includes validating and crediting their contributions, incorporating their work and allowing their work to assist in other scholarships.

In conclusion, there may be various factors which affect the outcome of your project whether it may be in the path you intend on it going or not. However, this article helps me understand that although I may want it to be executed the manner in which I initially imagined,  the outcome can different and better in many more ways those in which was initially planned and these changes can benefit both the audience and the researchers in various means.

During our first Digital Humanities class, we were asked to define Digital Humanities, we defined each of the word. Digital is coded or electronic and then we defined Humanities as ideas and behaviors; humanities and culture or arts, history and/or literature.

Primarily, the blog “What Digital Humanists Do” focuses of a knowledge site, a digital edition of a text, a database, a semi-linear customizable narrative, large scale text analysis etc. Some of those I can honestly say I was unfamiliar with. However, the format was kept quite simple by the author, explaining first the definition, then its purpose and concluding with the use of each category, granting me the ability to easily understand the terms expressed.

Paige Morgan clearly and gracefully expounds on the various categories of digital humanities and used examples and other forms to relay information to her audience. As taught in the last reading ‘Building an Audience’ who explaining in detail methods of developing any media outlet through various skills.

Upon reading the title at first I was convinced the I would have a full and concise definition for the term ‘Digital Humanists’ but a simple answer to the question it that Digital Humanists do whatever they want to do. And this may be a strange definition however this is completely true and complete of an answer.

In my opinion, Digital Humanities is a field with unlimited options and is the only field I’m aware of where the rules can be made up, altered or affected as the field grows in anyway deemed suitable to any member. If this reading has taught me anything is that unlike Natural Sciences, with the field of Digital Humanities, it is dissimilar in nature and unique. From knowledge sites to digital 3-D models to even geo-mapping, Digital Humanities is the only discipline whose limits only exist in the absence of creativity and open-mindedness.

I used to think that religion was the embodiment of life itself, but the older I grew the more I recognized the error in that way of thinking. Merriam- Webster defines religion as 1. The service and worship of God or the supernatural, 2. Commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance or 3. A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

But that’s just it. There is no one definition of religion and therefore every individual’s opinion of this word may be vastly different. In many countries, religion may be the major contributing factor resulting in many of the world’s popular current event; leading to wars, genocides etc. In many places, although widely known, is seldom spoken of. This is the google definition of a taboo.

I asked a friend “What qualifies religion as a taboo? How much do you know about other religions?” This person was incapable of answering for various reasons and immediately I found the problem. This individual was not capable of answering because they were not well informed enough to make a solid case. This is essentially the source and the result of the problem leading to generational ignorance. We aim to be so respectful that we sometime let it overshadow knowledge and we stop asking questions about other religions.

Currently, I believe that religion is something which focuses more on the labelling rather than the beliefs and doctrines behind the creation of any religion. However, every major religion has a common thread, each was built on the belief of something/ someone greater than themselves and maintained through something extremely impactful, Faith. Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something, and is vital for religion since every religion asked that you believe something greater than ourselves and place our trust in something we can’t see.

Cohen and Rosenzweig’s chapter about building an audience embraces the uniqueness of one’s topic and teaches how to reach your project’s audience and how a website is a cheap relatable method to doing such.

The body of the text teaches us about the value of the content in you project and methods in which we can easily direct our audience across our form of media. These include connecting with your community, assessing your audience and creating an easy accessible platform.

Firstly, connecting with your community is important in building an audience since through this method the creator becomes aware of the people accessing his/her site and therefore he/she is able to see the number of people accessing his/her site on a constant basis.

Secondly, assessing your audience is vital when connecting to your community since when you become aware of the preferences of your targeted audience you can change the content on the site to better facilitate the targeted audience whether it is through specifying said content and by being more flexible. If the topic of the site is too broad, less visitors will be able to connect to the content at hand. Cohen and Rosenzweig suggest that the focus of your website become narrower.

Lastly, Cohen and Rosenzweig recommend the creation of linked pages or drop down menus with each type of content. In the text, the writers use and example of a website which is fully comprised of the diary of Martha Ballard. Due to the diversity of the diary, the site has a drop down menu which encompasses the various topics in her diary. This is an easy way for the visitors to be able to access the information on your site and therefore the ease in accessibility will attract visitors.

This piece of writing elegantly addresses, what I consider, the most important methods of increasing an audience and how to maintain them through several what may seem the most overlooked methods of such.

Prior to reading the “10 Reading Revolutions before E-books” I was somewhat unsure as to what I would expect, but to my relief I was pleasantly surprised. This article encompassed a large amount of historical aspects that I was unprepared to see, from cuneiform to the current method of writing information. It awes me to see how our writing has evolved to the current style which transcends generations.

The “10 Reading Revolutions before E-Books” showcases the drastic changes in the world which led to the current book industry we know and appreciate. Firstly, the Reading Revolution changed our way of reading the actual books from intensive to extensive. During our Digital Humanities class meeting last Thursday, I clearly recall Dr. Esprit explaining to us how we, Digital Natives, don’t read in depth as we do in breadth. This meant that what we read is as vast a sea however we may not know a lot about the actual topic at hand. Secondly, due to the Print Revolution, more people had access to lighter, more modern folded codices rather than the heavy scrolls. This change of book style also led to the change in sheets used to hold the actual information. Thirdly, the Industrial Revolution led the way for books to be printed in bulk. Thanks to the cheapness and ease of accessing books and the state driven educational push, more people became literate. Fourthly, the Industrial Revolution steered the current Electronic Age. In this era, many people welcomed newer computers and other electronic devices with open arms. This Age uses text written by computers rather than humans largely increasing the amount of information we receive constantly. The Electronic Age is the reason why E-books are now possible and this creates a great amount of convenience for us Digital Natives.