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Do historians need scientists?

[edit: I’m realizing I didn’t make it clear in this post that I’m aware many historians consider themselves scientists, and that there’s plenty of scientific historical archaeology and anthropology. That’s exactly what I’m advocating there be more of, and more varied.] Short Answer: Yes. Less Snarky Answer: Historians need to be flexible to fresh methods, […]

Appreciability & Experimental Digital Humanities

Operationalize: to express or define (something) in terms of the operations used to determine or prove it. Precision deceives. Quantification projects an illusion of certainty and solidity no matter the provenance of the underlying data. It is a black box, through which uncertain estimations become sterile observations. The process involves several steps: a cookie cutter to make […]

Bridging Token and Type

There’s an oft-spoken and somewhat strawman tale of how the digital humanities is bridging C.P. Snow’s “Two Culture” divide, between the sciences and the humanities. This story is sometimes true (it’s fun putting together Ocean’s Eleven-esque teams comprising every discipline needed to get the job done) and sometimes false (plenty of people on either side […]

A Working Definition of Digital Humanites

Hah! I tricked you. I don’t intend to define digital humanities here—too much blood has already been spilled over that subject. I’m sure we all remember the terrible digital humanities / humanities computing wars of 2004, now commemorated yearly under a Big Tent in the U.S., Europe, or in 2015, Australia. Most of us still […]

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data are everywhen

methodologies

Do historians need scientists?

Appreciability & Experimental Digital Humanities

A Working Definition of Digital Humanites