“A quote often attributed to Gloria Steinem says: ‘We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.’ “
I had never heard the words “digital” and “humanities” in the same sentence before registering for this class. After reading a couple of articles which expanded on the topic of “Digital Humanities” I remained clueless as to what it meant (I also found it difficult to explain to those who wanted to know what the class was about). The first day of class arrives and I discover: there is no answer, or rather, there is an infinite number of them. I guess one might expect that when it comes to introducing the word “humanity” in any context.
So, I dig deeper and attempt to find answers of my own to try and wrap my head around the significance of this area of study. I am unsure whether it involves all things “humanity” that are also relevant to the “digital” or vice-versa. Is one more relevant/significant than the other? Is there even anything nowadays that would not be considered a part of either of these realms? Are these even questions worth asking? I’m not sure but I feel like they might be.
Meanwhile, I plan on taking risks and drawing these connections, whether they’re obvious or perhaps non-existent, which is why I chose the quote above. In the article concerning the unjust over-appraisal of “makers” the author includes a quote by Gloria Steinem – an author I once read in a class which explored the subject of gender and sexuality – to underpin an argument about the importance of changing a common mindset as opposed to enforcing it as law. I take the quote above – present in an article with a focus on the digital world and studied in a digital humanities class – as a representation and a pillar of this interconnectedness. It seems as if there are no limits to the connections that can be made and I look forward to discovering more about this!
