Critical Digital Humanities: The Search for a Methodology (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252084041)

Can established humanities methods coexist with computational thinking? It is one of the major questions in humanities research today, as scholars increasingly adopt sophisticated data science for their work. James E. Dobson explores the opportunities and complications faced by humanists in this new era. Though the study and interpretation of texts alongside sophisticated computational tools can serve scholarship, these methods cannot replace existing frameworks. As Dobson shows, ideas of scientific validity cannot easily nor should be adapted for humanities research because digital humanities, unlike science, lack a leading-edge horizon charting the frontiers of inquiry. Instead, the methods of digital humanities require a constant rereading. At the same time, suspicious and critical readings of digital methodologies make it unwise for scholars to defer to computational methods. Humanists must examine the tools--including the assumptions that went into the codes and algorithms--and questions surrounding their own use of digital technology in research. Insightful and forward thinking, Critical Digital Humanities lays out a new path of humanistic inquiry that merges critical theory and computational science.

Author: James E. Dobson
ISBN-10: 0252084047
ISBN-13: 9780252084041
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 03/16/2019
Pages: 196
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2019