“To design new structures of argumentation is an entirely different activity than to form argumentation within existing structures that have been codified and variously naturalized… For digital humanists, design is a creative practice harnessing cultural, social, economic, and technological constraints in order to bring systems and objects into the world. Design in dialogue with research is simply a technique, but when used to pose and frame questions about knowledge, design becomes an intellectual method.”
Burdick et al. “One: Humanities to Digital Humanities,” in Digital_Humanities, 2012, 12-13.
It is clear throughout the readings that we have done this week that Digital Humanities holds the potential to reshape the ways in which academics and the public interact with the various fields that are bound up in the humanities. This quote, focused on design, touches on a core reason why Digital Humanities can play such an influential role. Burdick et. al. emphasizes that designing new projects allows creators, whether they be academics, students, or computer technologists, to break out of conventional ways that have been developed to approach specific topics in both the past and present. Designing new frameworks not only expands what is possible in terms of the questions we are able to ask but also will inevitably create new sets of knowledge regarding the topic of focus. Moreover, given that we can continually redesign these projects and approaches, Digital Humanities opens the potential to bring new voices into an array of fields that would otherwise be kept out of traditional academic circles.
This quote spoke to previous experiences that I have with Digital Humanities, specifically “deep mapping.” Within the field of deep mapping there is a large emphasis on design, both in terms of the physical appearance of the maps themselves, but also the way that access is structured. When creating deep maps, it becomes clear that their design and the way that we work with data is integral to developing a set of inquiries as well as an argument. I have always found this aspect quite exciting, because certain structural choices make it possible to see the world in entirely different ways that would otherwise be hidden in traditional mapping practices.
Looking forward, I am quite excited to develop my 3D modeling skills, whether that be in programs such as Fusion 360 or through photogrammetry software. As an archaeology and history student, these tools seem very useful for recording objects or scenes of importance. On the whole, 3D models are much more accessible to a wider audience than would otherwise be possible if one had to go out into the field or visit them at a museum. Additionally, these objects can be integrated into deep maps, especially models of structures, which hold the potential to enrich our understanding of both space and place.