Digital humanities and their practices have significantly affected how traditional studies of texts and documents have been studied before. For starters, digital methods create accessibility, considerably impacting the field. The ability to access documents using digital collections online that have OCR or high-depth digital scanning now allows researchers to see things off the papers that haven’t been seen before. However, access to digital collections comes with various costs and downfalls.
As connected as we are, there are still missing links in the access of historical documents. It is also costly to digitize massive amounts of documents and to hold them somewhere in the digital universe. It is also expensive to pay for the technology that can scan or capture the physical and turn it into digital. For example, getting an OCR scanner or scanning software can cost between $156 and monthly plans of $14.99. These simple costs can become burdens for certain types of institutions.
Another major revolution in digital practices is the practice of metadata. Digital Historians have to worry about navigating what data has already been created or what is being created digitally. Online collections and artifacts have the advantage of providing consistent metadata and cataloging information. Eileen Gardiner’s book helps students like myself better understand where data comes from and how we use it. Historical texts can present data through the language in which they are created (Gardiner, 35). The document provides evidence for humanist research since it allows for raw data to be active in the relationship with the investigation process (Gardiner, 37).
Digital Practices now change how we access artifacts online. Objects can be viewed closer and more in-depth through digital imaging and creating reproductions closer to the originals than we have ever seen before. The new photogrammetry and 3D printing technologies offer a new frontier in copies and displaying artifacts. Museums like the Archeological Museum of Delphi, Greece, have incorporated this new technology into their exhibits. One of their more significant pieces to protect is the sphynx of Naxians, and they created a 3D model using UAV Photogrammetry. To preserve and help study the intricacies of the original massive piece within the palm of your hand.
Alongside this, the Museum of Delphi is launching a virtual reality app that allows you to get up close and personal with the museum collections. The platform was also intentionally built and designed to demonstrate an interactive virtual tour of the museum with added specifications for accessibility purposes. (including partially impaired visitors, partially blind and visitors with restricted hearing) The final intention for the mobile device is to create a comprehensive interactive experience that appeals to physical and web visitors, the latest trend in public history and museums.
Citations: Gardiner, Eileen, and Ronald G. Musto. The Digital Humanities: A Primer for Students and Scholars. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Ullyot, Michael. “Review Essay: Digital Humanities Projects.” Renaissance Quarterly 66, no. 3 (2013): 937–47. https://doi.org/10.1086/673587.
Comments