Berry David M. - Digital humanities: knowledge and critique in a digital age

DAVID M. BERRY AND ANDERS FAGERJORD

polity

Copyright David M. Berry and Anders Fagerjord, 2017

The right of David M. Berry and Anders Fagerjord to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2017 by Polity Press

Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9769-7

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Berry, David M. (David Michael) author. | Fagerjord, Anders, author.

Title: Digital humanities : knowledge and critique in a digital age / David M. Berry, Anders Fagerjord.

Description: Cambridge, England ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016048324 (print) | LCCN 2017010938 (ebook) | ISBN 9780745697659 (hardback) | ISBN 9780745697666 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780745697680 (Mobi) | ISBN 9780745697697 (Epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Digital humanities.

Classification: LCC AZ105 .B395 2017 (print) | LCC AZ105 (ebook) | DDC 001.30285--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048324

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Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

For Lorna M. Hughes and Andrew Prescott

This book would not have been written without the support and assistance of a large number of colleagues who have in various ways contributed to the project. So, first, we would like to individually thank our respective supporters.

David would like to thank Mansfield College, University of Oxford, for electing him a Visiting Fellow during 2015/16, which offered a hugely supportive and scholarly environment in which to complete this book and especially Pam Berry, Tony Lemon and John Ovenden, with whom he enjoyed many Wednesday evening Formals. David would also like to thank colleagues in the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex and the members of the Sussex Humanities Lab: particularly Caroline Bassett, Tim Hitchcock, Sally Jane Norman, Rachel Thomson and Amelia Wakeford, and, in the Computational Culture strand, Beatrice Fazi, Ben Roberts and Alban Webb. David is also grateful to the University of Sussex for support for the Sussex Humanities Lab and for digital humanities and computational media at Sussex particularly Michael Davies, Debbie Foy-Everett and Alan Lester. He would also like to give thanks for the continued support of colleagues: Christian Ulrik Andersen, Armin Beverungen, Ina Blom, Melanie Bhler, Michael Bull, Mercedes Bunz, Natalia Cecire, Andrew Chitty, Faustin Chongombe, Christian De Cock, Natalie Cowell, Michael Dieter, Kathryn Eccles, Wolfgang Ernst, Leighton Evans, Gordon Finlayson, Paul Flather, Jan Freeman, Matthew Fuller, Steve Fuller, Alex Galloway, Craig Gent, David Golumbia, Ground Coffee House in Lewes (particularly Beth, John and Rick), Andres Guadamuz, David Hendy, Lorna M. Hughes, Tim Jordan, Athina Karatzogianni, Raine Koskimaa, Alan Liu, Paul Lodge, Geert Lovink, Thor Magnusson, The Mansfield College Porters, Chris Marsden, Ursula Martin, Derek McCormack, William Merrin, Peter Nagy, Jussi Parikka, Luciana Parisi, The Pelham Arms, Alison Powell, Andrew Prescott, Ned Rossiter, David De Roure, Lucinda Rumsey, Darrow Schecter, Paul Solman, Bernard Stiegler, Nathaniel Tkacz, Transmediale, Iris van der Tuin, Craig Vear, Pip Willcox and the many, many people he may have forgotten to include. Additionally, David would like to thank his Ph.D. students: Yilmaz Aliskan, Emma Harrison, Isla-Kate Morris and Carina Westling for their continued discussions. Many thanks also have to be expressed to Anders Fagerjord who has been a wonderfully collaborative and thoughtful co-writer. Finally, David would also like to thank his partner, Trine Bjrkmann Berry, and their children, Helene, Henrik Isak and Hedda Emilie, for accepting the disruption to family life from writing yet another book.

Anders would like to thank all his fantastic colleagues at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo, particularly Terje Colbjrnsen, Charles Ess, Bente Kalsnes, Lucy Kng, Maren Moen, Marius fsti, Terje Rasmussen, Tanja Storsul, Espen Ytreberg, the members of the band Stimulus Response, and Gunnar Liestl, who introduced him to digital humanities more than two decades ago. His Ph.D. students Joakim Karlsen and Kim Johansen stby have also introduced him to new areas and ideas, for which he is truly grateful. The Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, let him share an office space there for several months when this book was being written, and he would like to give thanks for the hospitality and support extended by Rune Arntsen, Kurt Gjerde, Stein Unger Hitland, Leif-Ove Larsen and Terje Thue. While there, he also enjoyed many fruitful discussions, including those with Dag Elgesem, Jostein Gripsrud, Lars Nyre, Eirik Stavelin and Bjrnar Tessem. He would also like to thank his many friends and colleagues for continued support over the years, including Espen Aarseth, Cheryl Ball, Jay Bolter, Taina Bucher, Martin Engebretsen, Gail Hawisher, Steve Jones, Anders Olof Larsson, Anders Sundnes Lvlie, Andrew Morrison, Cuiming Pang, Jill Walker Rettberg and Scott Rettberg. Finally, he would like to thank David Berry, who first came up with the idea for this book and invited him to take part, something he has enjoyed immensely.

We would both like to thank the team at Polity, who have been very supportive throughout the writing process. We would also like to thank Marcus Leis Allion for his wonderful cover design and for agreeing to take on the project. We are grateful to all the colleagues who have supported the writing of this book, and especially those who hack and those who yack in the digital humanities.

This book is about the digital humanities, an exciting new field of research that emerged at the beginning of the 2000s. Nonetheless, as a term, it helpfully situates humanities research that is self-consciously digital in its orientation, and assists in giving a sense of the kinds of research practice that are increasingly being shared and incorporated into humanities scholarship.

One need not talk to many humanists, however, before one learns that this label is an umbrella term for a variety of diverse practices, which often have a history that is older than that of the digital computer. Some voices also echo the opinion that digital humanities is somehow alien to the tradition of humanities, and may even be a threat to its values. In this book, we touch on some of these controversies and debates and seek to contribute to understanding of them and the ways in which they offer helpful critique, and, sometimes, anti-technology polemic.