Monday, July 11, 2011

20 Best Blogs in the Digital Humanities

Considering how seamlessly it merges exciting new technologies with tried and true academic subjects, it makes perfect sense that plenty of professionals and students alike flock to the digital humanities. Both emerging technologies and the humanities encompass such a broad variety of interesting topics, anyone approaching their union is likely to find something absolutely fascinating. And these blogs, by no means listed in any particular order, make for an excellent way to get started exploring.


  1. Dan Cohen: Dan Cohen directs George Mason University's Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, co-hosts the Digital Campus podcast, and keeps an incredibly engaging blog about all things digital humanities. He's also written a very useful book about how to merge technology and archived history into one effective resource.


  2. arts-humanities.net: Follow this feed for job opportunities in the arts, social sciences and — of course — digital humanities. Be sure to hit up the hosting website for even more news regarding developments in this eclectic and ever-growing field.


  3. Blogs at HASTAC: Presented by Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboration, these blogs provide readers of all familiarity levels with multiple perspectives on the digital humanities. It makes for a great way to learn about upcoming conferences, calls for papers, and other events as well.


  4. Blogs at HCMC University of Victoria's Humanities Computing and Media Centre involves a wide variety of mediums, particularly computers, audio, and video, and explorations of their intersections with mankind's history and culture. The blogs cover pretty much every corner of the industry, reflecting the website's overarching desire to nurture research and collaboration.


  5. Gerald R. Lucas: This savvy English professor contributes to a staggering variety of different blogs and websites and possesses quite the expertise in humanities, media and their relationship. It's very easy to get absorbed into his blog, which sports some absolutely fascinating content for way more than just the literature lovers of the world.


  6. Planned Obsolescence: Kathleen Fitzpatrick keeps a wildly popular and outright essential resource for digital scholarship, not just within the humanities. But no matter one's area of expertise or interest, what she has to say certainly moves academia forward via technology and media. And with archives dating all the way back to 2002, readers can watch in amazement at how it all evolves and changes.


  7. Craig Bellamy.net(.au): Stop here when looking for digital humanities musings, particularly as they relate to Melbourne and its history. Craig Bellamy aggregates more than he does postulates, but all the same delivers a nice, passionate and informative blog dissecting the broad field's many little nooks and crannies.


  8. Sample Reality: Maintained by a George Mason University English professor and new media expert, Sample Reality sits at the forefront of digital humanities blogging. Literature, history and game buffs in particular will find plenty of postings to suit their fancy, though content is much more eclectic than that.


  9. digital digs: Higher education, technology, rhetoric and composition collide in Alex Reid's engaging blog about blending new digital developments with ancient academic subjects. This is an especially valuable resource for students and professionals hoping to learn all about how technology has changed the shape of writing, communication and pedagogy.


  10. DigitalKoans: DigitalKoans isn't explicitly about technology's role in preserving and distributing history, but it does certainly feature the subject with regularity. Beyond that, stop here to read up on new media's permanent influence on publishing, business and educational institutions such as museums, colleges and universities, libraries and more.


  11. Found History: Owned and operated by Tom Scheinfeldt with George Mason University, this excellent, insightful blog and podcast covering technology, media and history — and, of course, their myriad intersections. Pop culture aficionados can get their movie, TV and music fixes alongside some nourishing food for thought, too!


  12. Work Product: Literature and the digital humanities form the core of Matthew Wilkens' very focused, very informative blog. His collection of easy-to-read charts and maps do an excellent job of illustrating a wide variety of literary and publishing trends and phenomena.


  13. Edwired: Another engaging and educational read from the highly plugged-in George Mason University, Edwired focuses mainly on the history segment of humanities. Students and teachers from different fields can still learn quite a bit about applying technology to academia, however.


  14. Theoreti.ca: Browse or wholly absorb the research notes of University of Alberta professor Geoffrey Rockwell, focusing mainly on games and the humanities. Philosophy, history, new media, conference news and other relevant digital humanities subjects make frequent appearances as well.


  15. nicomachus.net: Not everything posted here revolves around the digital humanities, but all of it is certainly worth reading. Phillip Barron's obvious curiosity and interest in a wide number of different subjects proves just as endearing as educational.


  16. Open Culture: Open Culture makes for one of the best ways to view the digital humanities (and other subjects) in action without the explicitly academic lens. Watch free movies, listen to free audio, take free classes, read free books and plenty more provocative, educational media and resources at this breathtakingly cool blog and website.


  17. HyperStudio: Straight outta Cambridge comes an MIT blog that may not update as frequently as some of the others listed here, but still warrants a place for being spectacular. Keep up with events (typically local), research, trends and visualizations with a quick bookmarking.


  18. Grand Text Auto: With literature's myriad forms comprising a significant chunk of humanities resources, it pays to understand its broad interplay with computers and gaming. Collaborative blog Grand Text Auto challenges visitors to rethink everything they know about poetry and art, welding them to computers and games in some surprising and beautiful ways.


  19. DH Blog: As the title promises, University College London's DH Blog is…well…a digital humanities blog — and a mighty fine one at that! Fans of the field and the plethora of topics it encompasses could easily lose hours browsing its archives about pretty much everything relevant.


  20. Jerz's Literacy Weblog: Dennis Jerz at Seton Hill lovingly nurtures a fantastic resource merging literature, journalism, cyberculture and the humanities, with most postings revolving around writing and the digital world. Plenty of other topics trickle in, too, so even those with more of an interest in the technical element won't feel left flitting about the wayside.


Taken From Online College

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