Sydney - Data and Digitization
If someone were to think about Digital Humanities, they most likely would imagine scanning an old document, throwing it onto a website, and calling it a day. But Chapters 2 and 3 of the Digital Humanities Coursebook, Data Modeling and Digitization, show that it is way deeper than that.
Digital Humanities is not about moving humanities materials online. It is an active, hands-on process. Chapter 2 reminds us that data is not just lying around waiting to be found. It is made through abstraction. Every time we build a database, we make choices about what features to highlight, categorize, or leave out. Chapter 3 shows how converting real-world objects into digital files requires technical decisions around file types and image resolution. These two chapters show how technological choices and structures change the way we view humanities and history.
The concepts from both chapters show up all over the Emily Dickinson Archive. Dickinson wrote on random scraps of paper and envelope flaps, and old publishers wiped out her real layout and dashes to make her writing fit standard books.
You can see digitization right in the main image viewer, where high-resolution scans let you zoom way in to see the paper texture, fold lines, and exact angles of her handwritten dashes that print editors erased.
Harvard was also able to turn raw scans into something you can search. Computers cannot read 19th-century cursive on their own, so they tagged every manuscript with structured information (such as who the letter was sent to, which library holds the physical copy, etc.) so that it is an organized, searchable database.
Sydney, I really liked your example of the Emily Dickinson Archive, especially when you talked about being able to see things like the folds in the paper and the way she actually wrote her dashes. I hadn’t really thought about how much of that can be lost when someone’s writing is put into a printed book. I also think it’s interesting that the archive isn’t just scanning her work and putting it online, but actually organizing all of that information so that people can easily search through it. It goes to show how digitization can help to preserve original work while also making it easier for more people to access and study it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described DH as a hands on process rather than a passive one. I think your project is a prime example of that too, using the technology we now have to see how Dickenson wrote her poems. I'm currently in a media studies class and we're learning about how technology can either be seen as a mirror of society, or vice versa and it's nice to see it playing out here in other classes too.
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ReplyDeleteHaha, love "scanning an old document, throwing it on a website, and calling it a day!" And yes, those curation choices are so crucial, and can show data bias even before a project begins! Nice application to the Dickinson archive.