Abstract
The social acceptability of computing to the humanities is no longer a serious
problem, although its role in research is sometimes overlooked or must be kept
decorously out of sight. The real problem is that in an academic world largely
defined by disciplinary turf-polity, possibilities for it are severely constricted.
As was true in the early days of computer science, humanities computing is still
likely to be seen, judged and funded not as an integral practice but piecemeal,
in the widely differing terms of the disciplines to which it is applied. In this essay,
I go after antiquated figures of thought responsible for this blinkered, piecemeal
view. Reasoning from the evident importance of geopolitical metaphors to our
operative conception of disciplinarity, I look down under, and back in time,
for different, less constricting metaphors and draw out of them a different
professional myth to live by.
problem, although its role in research is sometimes overlooked or must be kept
decorously out of sight. The real problem is that in an academic world largely
defined by disciplinary turf-polity, possibilities for it are severely constricted.
As was true in the early days of computer science, humanities computing is still
likely to be seen, judged and funded not as an integral practice but piecemeal,
in the widely differing terms of the disciplines to which it is applied. In this essay,
I go after antiquated figures of thought responsible for this blinkered, piecemeal
view. Reasoning from the evident importance of geopolitical metaphors to our
operative conception of disciplinarity, I look down under, and back in time,
for different, less constricting metaphors and draw out of them a different
professional myth to live by.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Defining Digital Humanities |
| Subtitle of host publication | A Reader |
| Editors | Melissa Terras, Julianne Nyhan, Edward Vanhoutte |
| Place of Publication | Farnham, Surrey |
| Publisher | Ashgate |
| Pages | 97-118 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781409469629 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |