As you may have heard, I am going to be getting an MA next year in the United Kingdom! Whoo! Under pressure from my parents and non-facebook acquaintances I have been cajoled into keeping a blog of my time abroad, so here it is! Unfortunately, I am not abroad just yet, but I will be leaving this Sunday, the 18th. I'm writing now so that I can feel less useless while waiting, and because I have had a lot of questions about exactly what it is I'm doing next year!
What are 'digital humanities?'
That's a good question, and there is no easy answer. Over the past decade or so, scholars have been taking advantage of the tools that computers and digital technology provide for humanists. This includes making texts accessible to millions via the internet, scanning documents for archival purposes, publishing journal articles online with links to their supporting evidence, and using algorithms to analyze data (such as word frequency, etc).
That's a good question, and there is no easy answer. Over the past decade or so, scholars have been taking advantage of the tools that computers and digital technology provide for humanists. This includes making texts accessible to millions via the internet, scanning documents for archival purposes, publishing journal articles online with links to their supporting evidence, and using algorithms to analyze data (such as word frequency, etc).
Recently, this field has expanded dramatically to include visualizations of data sets, attaching geographical information to items (GIS), studying human-computer interface
viability, and much much more. If you are interested, I will provide some links at the bottom to great examples of websites exemplifying the types of digital humanities projects that I am interested in.
Why UCL?
Well, University College London is one of the finest universities in the world at the moment (U.S. News & World Report ranked UCL 4th best world university in 2010, QS World University Rankings put it at 4th in 2010 and 7th in 2011), so that looks nice on the 'ole resume, but I picked UCL primarily for other reasons.
While I was at UNL I was sucked into the world of "digital history," and my professors urged me to look for graduate programs along the same lines. It may not come as a surprise that there are an underwhelming number of digital humanities and digital history programs out there in the world, though there are many schools such as UNL that are incorporating digital media center research into their programs. UCL is starting up their DH Master's degree this fall, so I'm going to be a guinea pig of a sorts. Their degree is very tech heavy, compared to the amount of humanities courses offered in other DH programmes such as King's College London, and that is one of the reasons I chose UCL; I may feel like I'm dying in the middle of a programming class, but I hope to have some marketable skills when I graduate!Other perks include: being in London, having one central campus, and knowing there is a famous dead guy on display.
So where are you living?
I am living in a UCL residence hall about three miles away from campus. The hall is a non-traditional dorm and is supposedly around 40 post-graduate student rooms in an old converted house / apartment thing. There's a kitchen and bathroom on each floor and a laundry room on ground level. And because it's such a small hall, there is no adult supervision! So...party?
My dorm is in the Belsize Park neighborhood, where I will be living alongside such stars as Chris Martin, Tim Burton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Sean Bean (according to wikipedia). I'm pretty excited to move in, and I will be sure to post pictures of my dorm and the area as soon as I figure out how to get internet!
I have to get my own internet set up if I want it at the dorms, so there is a good chance that I may not check in with the US of A for a few days unless I can find an internet cafe or wifi zone.
In the meantime, I only have six days left in the country, so if I haven't said goodbye to you yet then we need to get in touch! : )
Examples of digital humanities projects:
In the meantime, I only have six days left in the country, so if I haven't said goodbye to you yet then we need to get in touch! : )
Examples of digital humanities projects:
Perseus Digital Library - An unbelievable collection of Greco-Roman texts
Valley of the Shadow - In depth look at two opposing counties during the US Civil War (several books have been published using this resource)
Beyond Mannahatta - Determining topography / flora / fauna in pre-European Manhattan
ngram - The powerful tool of Google Books. Seriously, try it. It's amazing.
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