[en] Welcome to Digital Humanities QuarterlyJulia Flanders, Brown University; Wendell Piez, Mulberry Technologies, Inc.; Melissa Terras, University College London
Abstract
[en]
A welcome to DHQ from the editors, with a brief summary of the journal's development and goals.
[en] Interpretative Quests in Theory and PedagogyJeff Howard, University of Texas, Austin
Abstract
[en]
In this paper, I extend theoretical understandings of the gaming activity and
literary form called the “quest” and its relationship to issues of
interpretation, focusing primarily on game theory with concrete examples as well as
some broadly applicable pedagogical uses of these ideas in literature classrooms. The
argument contributes to a recent theoretical and practical discussion of
“quests” by scholars of games studies such as Aarseth 2004, Juul 2005, Tosca 2003, and Tronstad
2001. I build upon and revise these theorists’ understandings by approaching
a “quest” as a goal-oriented activity in which players undertake a journey in search
of meaning. By demonstrating similarities between the literary traditions in which
quests are central and the practice of digital game design, I argue that quests can
be better understood theoretically and more productively used in the classroom if
meaning and action are regarded as complementary design principles instead of
conflicting impulses. A revised understanding of quests can help to mediate between
games and narratives by showing strategies by which game designers have created
meaningful action, often in ways that are either unconsciously similar to or inspired
by the literary traditions of mythology, epic, and romance. Specifically, game
designers can use level design to create labyrinthine spaces that encode thematic
implications, in the tradition of literary allegory. If these symbolic spaces are
coordinated with significant obstacles and challenges, the apparent conflict between
meaning and action can be resolved through engaging gameplay that allows players to
enact a range of thematic ideas, contributing to the ongoing replay value of a
digital game. I also suggest ways in which this understanding of quests can allow
literature teachers to plan assignments where students transform literary narratives
into interpretative quests taking the form of digital games. As a paradigmatic
example, I describe one such assignment, in which my students adapted episodes from
Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 into design documents and
prototypes, and I suggest some theoretical implications of its results for other
instructors. By adapting works of literature into quests, students learn to discover
and create meaning through the active exertion of cognitive and imaginative effort
rather than absorbing it passively.
[en]
“Webs of Significance”: The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, New
Technology, and the Democratization of HistoryDrew VandeCreek, Northern Illinois University Libraries
Abstract
[en]
Lincoln/Net (http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu), a product of the Abraham Lincoln Historical
Digitization Project at Northern Illinois University Libraries, represents a new type
of historically oriented digital library resource. Like many other digital libraries,
it contains a large amount of searchable primary source materials. Like a number of
other historically oriented online resources, project staff have organized
Lincoln/Net around a specific topic, in this case Abraham Lincoln’s life and times in
antebellum Illinois. In addition to Lincoln’s own papers, the project’s databases
contain resources shedding light on his context, including letters, diaries, and
publications prepared by his peers. Unlike most historically oriented digital
libraries however, the project Web site also includes a wealth of multimedia
materials, including image, sound, video, and interactive map resources. But
Lincoln/Net is perhaps most unique in that it furnishes its users with an extensive
set of interpretive materials. This approach suggests that historians may play an
expanding role in the development of digital libraries. It can also provide them with
a badly-needed means of communicating with an audience beyond their own scholarly
community and students. This communication can facilitate what one digital history
pioneer has described as the “democratization
of history,” as defined by an expanded user group enjoying primary source
materials and using them to engage in historical thinking .
[en] Encoding for Endangered Tibetan TextsLinda E. Patrik, Department of Philosophy, Union College
Abstract
[en]
For over a thousand years, Tibet has preserved and translated ancient Buddhist Sutras
from India, keeping the tradition of Buddhist philosophy and meditation alive long
after it died out in India by the 12th Century. Recent efforts to digitize materials
from this textual tradition offer opportunities to broaden the circulation of rare
materials to the exiled Tibetan scholarly community, but also suggest conceptual
challenges arising from the complexity of the texts and their inherently multimodal
character. This paper describes the scholarly and meditative traditions from which
these texts come, and discusses possible approaches to their digitization.
[en] Reading Potential: The Oulipo and the Meaning of AlgorithmsMark Wolff, Hartwick College
Abstract
[en]
Recent efforts to reconceptualize text analysis with computers in order to
broaden the appeal of humanities computing have invoked the example of the
Oulipo. Although there are similarities between the activities of the
Oulipo and the new approach to computer-assisted literary analysis, the
development of tools for the express purpose of encouraging scholars to
play with texts does not follow the model of Oulipian research into
potentialities. For the Oulipo, potential text analysis is less a question
of interpreting literature than of supplying algorithms for the good use
one can make of reading. Producing exemplary interpretations with
algorithms is a secondary consideration. Oulipian constraints are better
understood as toys with no intended purpose rather than as tools we use
with some objective in mind. The procedures for making sense of texts
provide for their own interpretation: they are not only instruments for
discovering meaning but also reflections on making meaning.
[en] Introducing Issues in Humanities ComputingJoseph Raben, Queens College, City University of New York
Abstract
[en]
This is the introduction to the inaugural issues of Digital
Humanities Quarterly, on “Issues in Humanities
Computing”.
[en] Tenure, Promotion and Digital PublicationJoseph Raben, Queens College, City University of New York
Abstract
[en]
This is a discussion of the impact of Digital
Humanities Quarterly's launch on humanities scholarship.
