Press Pause: Slowing Down Digital Humanities Practices

Abstract

The digital humanities has its roots in fields of study dedicated to textual analysis and historical examination. The present moment is filled with DH practitioners creating visualizations of ‘big data,’ mapping connections between people and ancient cities, and building archives dedicated to long-dead authors. DH projects flourish in collaborations across disciplines and at the intersections of technology and humanistic inquiry. Yet despite the “h” in DH we often get caught up in technocentric discourses that prompt us to produce more, “scale” our projects, increase our “users.” In this talk, I encourage us to pause, reflect, slow down and bring back an emphasis on building relationships as central to the practices of digital humanities.