Words, Words, Words: How the Digital Humanities are Integrating Diverse Research Fields to Study People

Abstract

The rapidly developing field of digital humanities (DH) is showing how unprecedented volumes of data such as written expression can be studied to reveal new insights into humans and, therefore, into individual and collective experiences within and across societies. Scholars from disciplines such as literature and history are collaborating with scientists from disciplines such as statistics and computer science. Moreover, these interdisciplinary teams often reach beyond campuses to companies as well as local, national, and international public and nonprofit institutions. Surprisingly, the computational research that began in the humanities in the 1950s did not develop an important presence within mainstream scholarship until half a century later. The DH experiences thus far reflect the complexity of both human expression and research collaborations across diverse fields and sectors. Learning from past successes and failures will help meet today's data analytic challenges and prepare us for opportunities in statistical applications ranging from literary studies and cybersecurity to business intelligence and health indicators.