A Companion to Digital Humanities. Edited by SUSAN SCHREIBMAN, RAY SIEMENS
and JOHN UNSWORTH. Oxford: Wiley–Blackwell, 2008. Pp. xxvii + 611. Paper,
$49.95. 978–1–4051–6806–9.
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Previously published CJ Online reviews are at
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CJ Forum Online 2009.05.01
It is by now old news that technology is of great relevance to the
Humanities in general, and to Classics specifically, and we would be remiss
if we failed to document the history of computing and Humanities in a
permanent way. Thankfully, Blackwell Publishing (now Wiley–Blackwell) saw
this need and produced the object of this review. Originally published in
hardcover in 2004, the volume was released in paperback in 2008, albeit
without updated content or extra essays documenting how Web 2.0 has
affected a paradigm shift in information sharing and research.
A Companion to Digital Humanities marks the 26th title (of 91) in
Blackwell’s Companions to Literature and Culture series, and appears to
be a fish out of water when book-ended by A Companion to Latin American
Literature and Culture and A Companion to Emily Dickinson. Blackwell
defines its Companion series as offering “comprehensive, newly written
surveys of key periods and movements and certain major authors, in English
literary culture and history…” written for “experienced”
undergraduates and new graduate students “with current and new
directions, as pioneered and developed by leading scholars in the field.”
This volume lives up to Blackwell’s promise by providing 37 accessibly
written essays by luminaries in digital Humanities from across a wide
spectrum as selected by a Trinity of editors revered in the field: John
Unsworth, Susan Schreibman and Ray Siemens. The book (unlike Gaul) is
divided into four parts:
• History (a sampling of computing in various disciplines)
• Principles (understanding the engines that drive digital Humanities)
• Applications (specific projects and current computing trends)
• Production, Dissemination, Archiving (digital publishing, libraries,
preservation, design).
The complex theory behind text analysis, promoting the usefulness of
relational databases, the singular importance of good interface design, and
other core concepts are clearly defined by each essay’s author and
together make the case for the indispensable quality of research,
scholarship and communication afforded us through technology. While
technology can seem a panacea in a volume like this, the authors approach
their subjects with due diligence and do not gloss over the problems and
hard work required to use emerging, constantly changing technologies, often
suggesting changes that have either already come to pass or that should be
effected by those who read this book. What I miss, however, is a chapter on
technology and teaching. I invite the editors to consider including one if
there will indeed be a second edition.
Two of the essays in the “History” section are written by the usual
suspects in regard to computing and Classics/Archaeology: Harrison
Eiteljorg II, on “Computing for Archaeologists,” and Greg Crane on
“Classics and the Computer: An End of the History.” Eiteljorg has been
merging archaeology and technology for decades and provides a history of
database management and usage by archaeologists, offering a first-hand
account of the technological changes that transformed the field. His call
for database standards among archaeologists and museum professionals still
resonates, as does his argument that we ought to preserve data-sets,
perhaps porting them to newer technologies including shared access portals
like the one currently in development by the AIA/APA. Eiteljorg’s essay
also
covers the rise in popularity and importance of GIS, CAD and imaging
software, and touches on virtual reality, all of which are firmly in the
mainstream as archaeologists work to reconstruct what they have uncovered,
in effect undoing the destructive process of excavation. Eiteljorg’s
suggestions for further reading and selected websites are particularly
useful. It would be beneficial to maintain a growing list of resources like
these on the website dedicated to this book, if not elsewhere.
Crane’s essay offers a lively account of computing and Classics, not so
much a history as a call to action. Crane reminds us that Classicists have
a rich tradition of engaging computers in their research; we in fact pushed
the envelope, at least in the early days, of what these devices can do for
the field and for Humanities in general. The issues facing us now are how
Classicists can be heard in the general dialogue about standards, and how
to bridge the gap between those who know and create technology and those
who merely use it. Crane cites the wrong, poor, or costly choices made by
Classicists in the early 1980s, not because we were not paying attention,
but because the field simply did not know enough about the tools available
or which would do the best job for the research tackled at the time. Crane
next describes the state of the art of computing in 1982: computer power
and storage, displays, networks, multilingual text editing and text
retrieval, issues that seem either trivial or transparent to a contemporary
undergraduate. The essay concludes with a look at past computing trends and
prospects for the future that inspire hope but also come with more than a
hint of caution and a call for Classicists to be proactive in getting the
tools they need built: “…we may find that simple steps that could
radically improve our ability to work in the future will have been
overlooked at crucial points in the coming years. Our history now lies with
the larger story of computing and academia in the twenty-first century.”
Aside from the essays, the Companion comes with a dynamic, online version,
presented as an easily navigable eBook with options to print and even to
send corrections to Unsworth. One has to search to find this online version
of the book, however. The URL printed on the back cover
http://www.ach.org/companion/ leads to a parking page with “Coming
Soon” positioned at the top. A search of the Wiley–Blackwell website
indicates an online companion but yields no URL. A quick search on Google
does provide the appropriate link, abbreviated here
http://tinyurl.com/d2fbpk via the TinyURL service.
The entire book is available here, making its contents accessible anywhere,
a boon to those readers burdened by the volume’s heft. The companion site
does fall short of its promise to host “essays to be included in future
editions, and other materials…”, but there is hope that this material
will appear soon. One could conceivably see Web 2.0 elements creeping into
the site to facilitate real dialogue about the concepts discussed in the
book. A wiki would be the best option, with one page dedicated to each of
the 37 essays, plus introductory matter by the editors.
In all, A Companion to Digital Humanities stands on its own as a
post-Revolution snapshot. It shows what happened immediately after
computing became both practical, necessary and omnipresent in the
Humanities. Looking back on the essays five years later, the underlying
arguments for integrating technology and art history, archaeology,
Classics, literature, music, linguistics and other fields remain unchanged.
It will be exciting to see how we stand upon these giants’ shoulders; let
there be another volume like this to document the next five years.
ANDREW REINHARD
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
eClassics
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