The takeaway from AHA2012 Chicago: Digital Humanities!
First, I had a terrific time in Chicago catching up with old friends and meeting new colleagues. It was great to see so many old and new friends.
Last year I wrote a somewhat scathing assessment of the AHA's treatment and understanding of digital approaches to doing history. But I have to say, this year the AHA committee deserves considerable praise for including multiple sessions about digital strategies in the field of history and more broadly speaking, the humanities as a whole. I was particularly impressed by the inclusion of a THATCamp session on Wednesday!
My takeaway from the conference is that many of my colleagues are doing projects that embrace new media and explore the potential of technology to revolutionize historical research. Several sessions explored how researchers can partner with non-academics via crowd sourcing projects to process bodies of data otherwise too large for us to deal with. While some had reservations about non-specialist's capabilities, overall the mood was positive.
Other researchers are using digital strategies as disparate as film, online resources and pod-casting (www.historyindigitalmedia.org) to reach new audiences and bring the wider public into the conversation. I know some of my archaeology colleagues are already pointing to the fact they have been quicker to catch on, but lets give kudos where they are due.
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