Introductory Readings for Digital Humanities

I often field questions about what to read to get to know digital humanities, e.g., for introductory workshops, from faculty members who’ve heard about it but don’t know what it is, from campuses who think they need to do something about it.  Here’s the list I sent off in response to the most recent query:

General Introduction to what is digital humanities:

• Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. “”What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin, no. 150 (2010). (reprinted in Debates in the Digital Humanities) http://mkirschenbaum.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/kirschenbaum_ade150.pdf

You might also have those interested watch any of these videos:

• Dr. Edward L. Ayers on “What is Digital Scholarship, and Why Do We Need It?”
• Dr. Dan Cohen on “The Community of Scholars”
• Interview with Jen Rajchel, Bryn Mawr: “Digital Humanities and the Undergrad“

For those who want to get a sense of the community’s motivations and breadth:

• Hayles, N. Katherine. “How We Think.” In Understanding Digital Humanities, edited by Dr David M. Berry. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
• Svensson, Patrik. “The Landscape of Digital Humanities.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 4, no. 1 (2010). http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/4/1/000080/000080.html

For Digital Humanities and Liberal Arts Colleges

• Alexander, Bryan, and Rebecca Frost Davis. “Should Liberal Arts Campuses Do Digital Humanities?  Process and Products in the Small College World.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities, edited by Matthew K. Gold. University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
• Davis, Rebecca Frost. “Digital Humanities and Liberal Education.” Techne, March 2, 2011. http://blogs.nitle.org/2011/03/02/digital-humanities-and-liberal-education/.
• Davis, Rebecca Frost. “A Snapshot of Digital Scholarship at Liberal Arts Colleges.” Techne, November 15, 2011. http://blogs.nitle.org/2011/11/15/a-snapshot-of-digital-scholarship-at-liberal-arts-colleges/.
• Any of my Techne Posts on digital humanities: http://blogs.nitle.org/tag/digital-humanities/
• Archives of Digital Scholarship Seminars: http://www.nitle.org/help/digital_humanities_events.php

For those who are interested and want to take the next step by acting on that interest:

• Spiro, Lisa. “Getting Started in Digital Humanities.” Journal of Digital Humanities, March 10, 2012. http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/introduction/getting-started-in-digital-humanities-by-lisa-spiro/.

Finally, this series of articles in the New York Times also are aimed at a more general audience–the first one especially covers examples liberal arts colleges.

• Cohen, Patricia. “Digital Humanities Boots Up on Some Campuses.” The New York Times, March 21, 2011, sec. Books. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/books/digital-humanities-boots-up-on-some-campuses.html?_r=1&ref=humanities20.
• ———. “For Bentham and Others, Scholars Enlist Public to Transcribe Papers.” The New York Times, December 27, 2010, sec. Books.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/books/28transcribe.html?ref=humanities20.
• ———. “Geographic Information Systems Help Scholars See History.” The New York Times, July 26, 2011, sec. Arts. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/arts/geographic-information-systems-help-scholars-see-history.html.
• ———. “Humanities Scholars Embrace Digital Technology.” The New York Times, November 16, 2010, sec. Arts. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/arts/17digital.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all#.
• ———. “In 500 Billion Words, a New Window on Culture.” The New York Times, December 16, 2010, sec. Books. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/books/17words.html.
• ———. “Victorian Literature, Statistically Analyzed With New Process.” The New York Times, December 3, 2010, sec. Books.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/books/04victorian.html?ref=humanities20.

What did I miss? What would you include?

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