Discussion Topic

Since (at least) the rebranding of computational humanities scholarship as “Digital Humanities” in the early 2000s, there has been a strong association between the field and various forms of visualization: e.g. graphs, maps, timelines, and so on. This week we will investigate how digital humanists use such visual rhetoric, and how DH visualization might (or might not) differ from the use of similar figures in the sciences and social sciences.

Discussion Prep and Collaborative Notes Document

Core

  • Isabel Meirelles, “Visualizing Information” in The Shape of Data in Digital Humanities (2019), library link
  • Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, “On Rational, Scientific, Objective Viewpoints from Mythical, Imaginary, Impossible Standpoints” in Data Feminism (2020), external link
  • Ruth Ahnert, Sebastian E. Ahnert, Catherine Nicole Coleman, and Scott B. Weingart, The Network Turn: Changing Perspectives in the Humanities (2020), external link. Note: this is a very short book, but I wouldn’t expect you to read the whole thing. Read the (very short) intro and browse the rest meaningfully.
  • Moacir P. de Sá Pereira, “Representation Matters” external link. Also browse the visualizations of the Torn Apart/Separados project

Penumbra

  • Johanna Drucker, “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display,” DHQ (2011), external link
  • Ian Gregory, Christopher Donaldson, Andrew Hardie, and Paul Rayson, “Modeling Space in Historical Texts” in The Shape of Data in Digital Humanities (2018), library link
  • Uta Hinrichs, Stefania Forlini, and Bridget Moynihan, “In Defense of Sandcastles: Research Thinking through Visualization in Digital Humanities” (2019), external link
  • Randa El Khatib and Marcel Schaeben, “Why Map Literature? Geospatial Prototyping for Literary Studies and Digital Humanities” (2020), external link
  • Amy E Earhart,  Roopika Risam, and Matthew Bruno, “Citational Politics: Quantifying the Influence of Gender on Citation in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities (2020), external link
  • A. Miller, “Inclusive Design: A Method and Craft of Transforming Digital Humanities with User Experience” in Digital Humanities in the Library (2024), library link

Resources

Group Activity

Each group is assigned a DH data visualization (or set of related ones). In your group, spend some time looking at the visualization and answer these questions:

  1. Following Isabel Meirelles’ dichotomy, is your group’s visualization primarily “descriptive” or “argumentative?”
  2. What can you learn at a glance from the visualization itself, and what would require background reading or additional context to understand?
  3. What can you discern from the visualization about its underlying data?
  4. Is this visualization accessible? Why or why not?
  5. How would you describe the rhetoric of this visualization? Can you connect it with ideas from one of our readings?

Here are the groups:

Updated: