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Behind the Scenes of the Digital Liberal Arts

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This blog is not the first place to voice the connection between the liberal arts and the digital world. I want to give some background to the academic treatment of the intersection between the liberal arts and the digital. Hopefully students and professors alike can recognize the need for such an intersection and the fact that it is already happening!

 You might have heard the term “Digital humanities” thrown around before. It’s a term growing more common with each new school year as universities and faculty across the country offer innovative courses combining the digital with the human. Digital humanities specifically refers to the intersection between the humanities and computation, frequently in terms of research. Yet this narrow point of intersection has been insufficient for scholars like William Pannapacker and Rafael Alvarado who argue that “it seems more inclusive to call it digital liberal arts” (Pannapacker) because the name Digital Humanities “is perceived to be elitist, research oriented, and infrastructure intensive,” (Alvarado). Look below for links to their full articles.

I tend to agree with Pannapacker and Alvarado. So to make things simple, I’m going to use the term “Digital Liberal Arts” from now on as a more inclusive expression for the growing and fluid field. I like Mount Holyoke College’s definition:
 “Sometimes called the Digital Humanities, Digital Liberal Arts is not easily defined. Loosely, it is the use of computational analysis in fields that haven’t traditionally (or at least infrequently) engaged in this kind of inquiry. It can also be a new approach to digitally presenting scholarship and collections in dynamic and interactive ways that are not possible in analog form. Finally, DLA incorporates an element of self-reflection: taking a critical look at the technologies used, their capabilities and shortcomings, and their social and historical context.”

Hopefully the terminology and definitions help you get a broader sense of how the digital is affecting the liberal arts, and more importantly, how it can affect you as a student or professor of the liberal arts!

Check out our later posts on the specifics of how other colleges and universities are implementing the Digital Liberal Arts and what you can do to personally embrace the digital.

For more reasons why Digital Liberal Arts is a better name than Digital Humanities, check out these articles:

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