In a world in which academia constrains us to tiny rooms and desks, the Digital Humanities breaks doors, windows, and even walls. It allows a multifaceted approach to knowledge, challenging the conventional definitions of what is scholarship.
Just as there is no set definition for what a house entails, digital humanities has a similarly arbitrary definition. Encompassing the broad spectrum of humanities through the use of digital tools, the rest of digital humanities has no rules. Your digital humanities project could be anything, from a small shelter in the woods to a castle in the sky. Anyone who says otherwise is pretending to be a part of a HOA that doesn’t exist.
Unlike in an HOA, there are no regulations as to what a house, or a project, should look like which allows for a uniqueness that is not seen in other areas. DH, in this sense, acts more like a series of snowflakes on a roof, no project is ever the same but they are all present in the same location: the Internet. This omni-present location may not exist in a tangible sense (unless you’re looking at the physical servers), but it does allow for the opportunity of these projects to become real. It’s like taking a blueprint for a house, reimagining it in your own style, and putting the house up. Digital Humanities projects are as tailored to the creator as houses are to the homeowner. Even if a house has the same layout, it does not mean that the interior or even the exterior will be decorated or modeled in the same way. This can be said for Digital Humanities as well, you could be using the same website builders (ArcGIS, WordPress, etc.) as another person, maybe even the same theme, but there will never be a project like yours.
Houses are always going to be works in progress. There is so much you can do to improve your house over time: remodeling the kitchen; paving a driveway; and inserting a patio. Each improvement increases the value of your house. Digital humanities projects, like houses, are investment pieces that can be built upon over time. Eventually, when you may wish to move out of your house, you leave behind your unfinished investment that the next person can improve upon. Even if you don’t find a buyer, your house will still remain in some form for years–perhaps decades, maybe even centuries. Digital humanities may not last for as long, but there will still be something left when people are no longer working to improve.
And sometimes the house will burn down and crumble into many pieces, leaving us the task of recalculating our routes and restarting all over again. Fortunately, we never build houses alone in this neighborhood, collaboration allows us to create houses, logs, penthouses, and even castles. Each project is part of a larger web of ideas, methods and perspectives. Unlike in academia and HOAs, DH allows for the breaking of boundaries and the integration of several disciplines. This means there are no perfect white picket fences in DH. There are no equal separations of plots of land or staying in your yard to avoid your neighbors, DH does not work without collaboration afterall. If there were white picket fences in DH, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun due to the options to create a project of what you want to do rather than abide by rules and regulations. The fences become a metaphor for everything DH is against, whether it be by not showing what’s going on behind the scenes to anyone, keeping collaborators out, or attempting to create a one style fits all for different projects.
There may not be a Homeowner’s Association in the digital humanities, but we still follow the law. Hence, no murder.
