The elusive digital/critical synthesis

Long, Seth and Baker, James (2019) The elusive digital/critical synthesis. In, Gold, Matthew K. and F. Klein, Lauren (eds.) Debates in Digital Humanities 2019. (Debates in the digital humanities) University of Minnesota Press.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In the first edition of Debates in the Digital Humanities, Alan Liu argued that digital humanists risk losing a seat at the “table of debate” if they continue to emphasize tools and databases to the exclusion of cultural criticism. Digital humanists, Liu wrote, must learn to “move seamlessly between text analysis and cultural analysis” if they are not to become a service industry to the humanities, providing tools and data for other scholars but not contributing to key debates. Not long afterward, the expression “hacking and yacking” emerged as another iteration of the difference between cultural critique and tool- and data-centric research. In 2014, Bethany Nowviskie tried to put the expression to rest, noting that the digital humanities has plenty of room for both hacking and yacking (“On the Origin”). Roopika Risam has likewise expressed optimism about “transcending” the “simplistic hack/yack binary.” The field continues to seem optimistic about the compatibility of digital methods and cultural criticism. Liu’s challenge is being met

This record has no associated files available for download.