This survey of the digital humanities begins with a question that is much debated in this field: what is “digital humanities”? The editors immediately disclaim any attempt to “define digital humanities or provide a theoretical discussion” and opt for a pragmatic approach based on describing what is actually being done under this general heading. The book focuses on the activities and projects of the Centre for Digital Humanities at University College London (UCL), established in 2011; all but one of the authors is associated with the Centre.
An extensive range of topics is covered: digitisation, image processing, 3-D recording of museum objects, text encoding, historical bibliography and online teaching materials. The use of social media, especially for encouraging public engagement in humanities research, is also discussed. There is an interesting analysis of institutional models for digital humanities (again based primarily on the activities of the UCL Digital Humanities Centre), which touches on some broader issues connected with involvement in teaching and research, as well as the provision of training and support. Each chapter is supplemented and expanded by the inclusion of a series of short case studies – projects illustrating the specific application of the topic under discussion. There is a greater variety of voices here, although again many of the projects are connected with UCL.
The opening chapter by Claire Warwick is particularly valuable. She gives a very good introduction to studying humanities researchers as users, reviewing various recent studies (including her own LARIAH project) and making a series of recommendations – aimed mainly at ensuring that users are not taken for granted in building and applying digital technologies. It is slightly disappointing, though, that there is little discussion or analysis of humanities research processes in a general sense.
In practice the approach taken by the editors means that the book tends to define digital humanities as the use of information technology to carry out and enhance humanities research. The focus is mostly on techniques, resources and projects. There is little discussion of promoting digital humanities as a field, nor of the possible relevance of digital humanities to cultural criticism as urged by Alan Liu and other scholars.
At several points the authors note the importance for the digital humanities of librarians and similar personnel in what has become known as the #alt-ac community. Digital humanities is growing rapidly: for example, more than 450 people attended the 2013 International Digital Humanities Conference. Academics, researchers and their information support teams need to be aware of what is happening in this field, both to give direction to their research and to consider how best to provide support and expertise.
