Digital Humanities (DH) is a multidisciplinary field that centers around the use of new digital technologies to further research, analysis, collaboration, and presentation of materials, such as data, artifacts, and records, within the humanities field. The humanities is defined as the study of human society including a variety of fields such as history, economics, art, literature, and law. New technologies offer the opportunity to reshape the humanities field in the ways that knowledge is both obtained and presented to a wider audience beyond just members of the academic community. It is in the convergence of new digital technologies with the areas of knowledge that are covered in the humanities, that digital humanities was formed.
In creating my definition of Digital Humanities, I wanted to encapsulate the vastness of the field. Throughout the different readings, there were a few key points that stood out to me in defining what is Digital Humanities, a multidisciplinary field, the use of new digital technologies, and the collaboration and sharing of ideas. I chose the phase multidisciplinary to reflect a point made by Melissa Terras in her blog post describing Digital Humanities as a “Big Tent.” The idea of Digital Humanities being both a “Big Tent” and multidisciplinary reflects the vast array of different professions, methods of research, and digital tools that can fall under the title of Digital Humanities. Another point that was mentioned in all of the readings was the use of new digital technologies. As mentioned in “A Short Guide to the Digital Humanities,” Digital Humanities involves using new technologies to bring about changes in the humanities field. New digital technologies are meant to change the way we look at the humanities and can provide a new understanding of human society and knowledge previously not possible with traditional methods of research and collaboration. One final point that many of the articles referenced, was the use of new technologies to allow for new levels of collaboration and the sharing of ideas with a wider , and diverse, audiences. Through the use of technology, individuals and groups working on a project are able to share their work not just with members of the academic community, but with the public as a whole. New digital tools can allow for both collaboration, dissemination and a field that is more inclusive. This sharing and collaboration has been made possible by the field of Digital Humanities allowing modern technology to facilitate goals advancing the agenda of the field.