This blog is in response to a thinking activity given by our professor Dilip Barad https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/11/introduction-to-digital-humanities.html?authuser=0 this is the link you can go there and see more detail about this task. In this Blog I am going to write about my understanding of "Digital Humanities".
The fundamental question that arises is: What exactly is Digital Humanities?
Digital humanities is an academic discipline that explores the intersection between digital technologies and culture. It emerged from the humanities, which study aspects of human society, and include well-known popular subjects, like history, philosophy, literature and modern languages. As a new and emerging field, digital humanities aims to open up new areas for research in these subjects and to explore traditional questions in a different way.
Digital Humanities is a diverse and still emerging field that encompasses the practice of humanities research in and through information technology, and the exploration of how the humanities may evolve through their engagement with technology, media, and computational methods.
Digital Humanities (DH) can be seen as an interdisciplinary field that applies computational techniques, data analysis, and digital tools to enhance humanistic scholarship. It goes beyond traditional approaches to research and scholarship by leveraging technology to explore vast quantities of data, uncover hidden patterns, and gain new insights into various facets of human culture, history, language, literature, and more.(Chat GPT)
Digital Humanities encompasses a wide range of activities, including text mining, data visualization, digital storytelling, cultural preservation, digital archives, network analysis, and computational linguistics. It involves collaborating with experts from diverse disciplines, such as computer science, information science, linguistics, history, archaeology, literature, and philosophy, to name a few.(Chat GPT)
Here is a video featuring a speaker discussing the field of Digital Humanities.
While searching for informative videos on Digital Humanities, I come across a highly comprehensible resource that effectively explains the concept and functioning of Digital Humanities. This video utilizes visual images to facilitate a clear understanding of the subject matter, making it an excellent educational tool for grasping the essence of Digital Humanities.
what is done under Digital Humanities?
1. CLiC Dickens Project by University of Birmingham.
Within our department's computer lab, we have actively pursued various projects within the realm of Digital Humanities. Like we have done CLiC Dickens project, which demonstrates through corpus stylistics how computer-assisted methods can be used to study literary texts and lead to new insights into how readers perceive fictional characters. This Project is developed by University of Birmingham.
Here is a Link of that project:-
Here is a Link of Activity book:-
Our sir has assigned us into pairs, and my classmate Gayatri and I have been partnered together to work on Activity Number 10. At first glance, this activity seemed relatively straightforward, but once we delved into it and gained a deeper understanding, we realized that it posed more challenges than we initially anticipated.
So, Our Activity is based on Setting and atmosphere in novels:-
For the creation of fictional worlds, the setting and atmosphere play an important role. While each novel creates its own particular world, it is still possible to identify similarities across novels and we can interpret accounts of settings against the social and historical context of the time. Charles Dickens is often referred to as an author who was concerned with living and working conditions in the city, Jane Austen, in contrast often shows us social life away from the city. A starting point to compare the type of fictional worlds that these two authors write about is a ‘key comparison’.
Activity 10.1 Keywords comparing Austen and Dickens:-
As we progressed with the activity, we found ourselves comparing words and their usage. To use our analysis, we referred to a provided link containing Keywords of works by both Dickens and Austen. https://clic.bham.ac.uk/keywords?clusterlength=1&corpora=corpus%3ADNov&pvalue=0.0001&refcorpora=emma&refcorpora=persuasion&refcorpora=pride&refcorpora=ladysusan&refcorpora=mansfield&refcorpora=sense&refcorpora=author%3AJane%20Austen&refsubset=all&subset=all&table-filter=
Further if you want to read you can go to the Activity book of CLiC Project.
Here are the outcomes we obtained from this activity:
We are supposed to identify or compare what kind of Keyword's are frequently used in Dickens works as well as in Jane Austen's works. In Austen, the female pronoun she and the possessive determiner her are relatively more frequent than in Dickens. In
Dickens, his and Mr are relatively more frequent than in Austen. In Dickens we also find the body part nouns face, hand and head more often than in Austen.
1. Keyword's used in Dicken's works:-
Male Characters are more like: Oliver, Jonas, Copperfield, Paul, Bob etc..
Body Parts are used like: Eye, Breast, Shoulder, Feet, Nose, Mouth, Ears, Eyebrows etc..
Elements of Settings like: Chair, Bag, box, Knife, Windows, Kitchen, Bridge, Roof etc..
He used dark colors like: Red, Black, Blue etc..
Due to the large number of keywords involved (2,039), it is not possible to do categorize each individual word.
2. Keyword's used in Austen's works:-
All of her novels predominantly focus on female characters, incorporating terms such as "She," "Her," "Mrs.," "Miss," and others that center around women.
Female Characters like: Elizabeth, Emma, Catherine, Marianne, Lydia, Fanny, Jane, Anne, Isabella, Maria etc..
Her writings frequently incorporate terms such as "Marriage," "Engagement," "Affection," "Love," "Wish," "Match," and other related expressions.
She always supported women's Independence and freedom of women etc..
For Austen there are words like feelings, happiness, manners, behavior, civility, conduct, pleasing, kindness which seem to suggest themes around interpersonal relationships. Another set are: marry, marriage, marrying, invitation, dance, ball with can be seen to relate to romantic relationships.
2. Moral Machine:
Moral Machine, A platform for gathering a human perspective on moral decisions made by machine intelligence, such as self-driving cars.
Here is a link of this activity:
Another engaging activity we participated in was the Moral Machine exercise, which presented us with challenging ethical dilemmas. Each of us assumed the role of a "Digital Murderer" as we deliberated and made choices using provided slates.
If you’re feeling creative, you can also design your own scenarios, for you and other users to browse, share, and discuss.
3. Generate Poem Using Chat-GPT:
As part of our study in Digital Humanities, we were given the task to create poems on the topic of "Digital Humanities." We utilized AI assistance to compose these poems, aiming to explore the question of whether computers or AI can generate and write poetry that resonates with human expression.
Here is a Lecture on Can a Computer Write poetry? This lecture is given by Oscar Schwartz.
Here is a Poem which I have generated from Chat-GPT. My Poem is based on benefits of DH and Disadvantages of DH:-
-These are a few examples of the activities we have undertaken as part of our exploration in the field of Digital Humanities.
Movie Based On DH
Let Me give one movie example which can be used as we are studying Digital Humanities.
One film that explores the intersection of technology and humanity is "Ex Machina" (2014). Although it's not directly about digital humanities, it delves into the themes of artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the impact of technology on human existence. The movie follows a young programmer who is invited to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot, leading to thought-provoking discussions on the nature of humanity and the ethical implications of creating intelligent machines.
-It indirectly touches upon several themes relevant to the field of digital humanities:
1.Ethical considerations: The film prompts us to consider the responsibility and consequences of developing advanced technologies that simulate or mimic human behavior.
2.Human-machine interaction: In digital humanities, human-machine interaction plays a crucial role in various aspects, such as user interfaces, data visualization, and interactive storytelling. The film highlights the complexities and challenges of creating believable interactions between humans and machines.
3.The nature of humanity: The movie's exploration of consciousness and self-awareness prompts us to question how technology can enhance our understanding of human existence.
4.Data and algorithms: The movie indirectly highlights the importance of careful data handling, algorithmic transparency, and the potential biases that can arise in the intersection of technology and humanity.
Ultimately, "Ex Machina" invites us to consider the potential of technology to shape and transform our understanding of ourselves, while reminding us of the importance of ethical decision-making and thoughtful engagement with digital tools in the context of digital humanities.
Conclusion:
Digital Humanities stands at the intersection of technology and scholarship, empowering researchers to explore human culture in innovative ways. As we embrace the digital era, Digital Humanities serves as a testament to the enduring value of the humanities and its capacity to adapt and thrive in the digital landscape.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Your attention is greatly appreciated.
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