Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This journal is a result of our frustration with 21st century humanities scholarship and dissemination. The term “digital” humanities has gained a certain cache and indeed, bringing technology into humanities research was, and still is, an important hurdle to overcome. However, humanities conversations on the topic have stalled and can’t seem to move beyond defining digital humanities. We believe that much of this stagnation is due to the emphasis on a superficial understanding of technology as a mode of delivery rather than as a mode of inquiry. Digital media and tools do allow for better and faster ways of doing traditional humanities things like scholarship and education. However, the failure of the digital humanities movement to look beyond media transformation and towards new modes of inquiry, blocks the humanities from evolving. The stubborn insistence on clinging to traditional forms of humanities scholarship at the expense of innovation is holding the field back. If, as McLuhan hypothesizes, the “medium is the message,” then why is the humanities still so doggedly focused on the content? We envision this journal as a forum to generate new ideas and ways of thinking about the humanities.
Recommended Citation
Egert, Christopher; Goins, Elizabeth S.; and Phelps, Andrew
(2014)
"Interactivity: New Rules of Engagement for the Humanities,"
Journal of Interactive Humanities: Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
DOI: 10.14448/jih.02.0001
Available at:
https://repository.rit.edu/jih/vol2/iss1/1