Medieval History
Over the past several days, I've been thinking about the ethics of digital research. This has mainly been sparked by MLA's recent release of revisions to their "Guidelines for Evaluating Work in Digital Humanities and Digital Media"; and I've been looking at the TEI: Text Encoding Initiative, who proposes this on its main page:
- How Is New Media Reshaping The Work Of Historians?
The recent AHA survey of research and teaching shows that while very few historians can be considered power users of digital software and tools, most are deeply immersed in new media and thinking critically about its effect on the way they do history....
- Call For Papers: ?new Media And The Medieval Ages?
Hello all! Jenn here. Here's a CFP from some of my very good medievalist friends at the CUNY Grad Center. This sounds like it will be a great Kalamazoo panel. The Pearl Kibre Medieval Study is currently accepting abstracts...
- Call For Papers- ?new Media And The Middle Ages"
Hello all! My dear old CUNY Grad Center just put out their call for papers for their 8th annual grad student conference. It sounds like it will be a great conference this year. Please excuse the shameless self-promotion! ?New Media...
- What Is The Role Of Enumerative Bibliography In The Digital Age?
I think it is obvious from my posts on this blog, or if you follow my Twitter account, that I have been spending a lot of time the last several months considering digital humanities and my role in it. As I have been reflecting on how I fit in, I realized...
- Call For Submissions Digital Philology: A Journal Of Medieval Cultures
/Digital Philology/ is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of medieval vernacular texts and cultures. Founded by Stephen G. Nichols and Nadia R. Altschul, the journal aims to foster scholarship that crosses disciplines upsetting traditional...
Medieval History
Ethics and Digital Scholarship
Over the past several days, I've been thinking about the ethics of digital research. This has mainly been sparked by MLA's recent release of revisions to their "Guidelines for Evaluating Work in Digital Humanities and Digital Media"; and I've been looking at the TEI: Text Encoding Initiative, who proposes this on its main page:
The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a consortium which collectively develops and maintains a standard for the representation of texts in digital form. Its chief deliverable is a set of Guidelines which specify encoding methods for machine-readable texts, chiefly in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics.Both of these groups, then, have sought to establish guidelines for scholarly work in digital media. While this is outwardly in response to the need for evaluation standards, there are also underlying questions of ethics involved. Of course, some of my thinking is also linked to recent US legislative attempts (previously SOPA, now CISPA) that also raise questions of ethics in an electronic age (e.g. internet privacy, censorship, etc.). There are, of course, myriad questions related to ethics (broadly defined) and digital scholarship, and scholars have much to address in this regard (see, e.g., this 2011 article). While there are surely many questions--at least, I have many--I have few (no?) answers.
Still, one question foremost in my mind is about one's personal role in the electronic age. For myself, I've recently been thinking about my interactions with utilizing and/or contributing to digital scholarship--and I find myself much more of a utilizer than a contributor. For example, I use many digital tools, which (as I discussed here) have become a part of my whole life, and central to my scholarship. True, my contributions to scholarship in general are still few, and I am only beginning to position myself within medieval studies and even within the larger fields of humanities and academia. Perhaps my posts on this blog may be considered a small contribution, although I think of them more as musings toward future contributions. I do have some projects in the back of my mind that would be best suited for producing in digital media forms, but even these are most likely a long way off.
But here I find a set of what I consider to be ethical questions for myself: How ethical is it to be mainly a utilizer--essentially, a consumer--of digital tools, and how can this be balanced with genuine contributions? How does one navigate the dual roles of utilization (consumption) and contribution (production)? Again, I find myself with many questions revolving around these issues, but little in the way of answers.
- How Is New Media Reshaping The Work Of Historians?
The recent AHA survey of research and teaching shows that while very few historians can be considered power users of digital software and tools, most are deeply immersed in new media and thinking critically about its effect on the way they do history....
- Call For Papers: ?new Media And The Medieval Ages?
Hello all! Jenn here. Here's a CFP from some of my very good medievalist friends at the CUNY Grad Center. This sounds like it will be a great Kalamazoo panel. The Pearl Kibre Medieval Study is currently accepting abstracts...
- Call For Papers- ?new Media And The Middle Ages"
Hello all! My dear old CUNY Grad Center just put out their call for papers for their 8th annual grad student conference. It sounds like it will be a great conference this year. Please excuse the shameless self-promotion! ?New Media...
- What Is The Role Of Enumerative Bibliography In The Digital Age?
I think it is obvious from my posts on this blog, or if you follow my Twitter account, that I have been spending a lot of time the last several months considering digital humanities and my role in it. As I have been reflecting on how I fit in, I realized...
- Call For Submissions Digital Philology: A Journal Of Medieval Cultures
/Digital Philology/ is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of medieval vernacular texts and cultures. Founded by Stephen G. Nichols and Nadia R. Altschul, the journal aims to foster scholarship that crosses disciplines upsetting traditional...