Digital Humanities

I'm back from a pleasant week's vacation in Vancouver, including two day's skiing at Whistler. One more year and I think my 9-year old son (and my now-8-year old daughter) will be faster than me ...

As a start to the new year, here is an interesting perspective on digital humanities (and what sounds like a fun course) from Michael Shanks, an archaeologist at Stanford:

Are information technology and digital media fundamentally changing the Humanities? I argue that the changes we are seeing in Humanities disciplines are not about new technologies, as conventionally understood. The quantitative expansion of information technology in contemporary society is precipitating reflection upon some age old questions in the humanities - the distinctiveness of the human, the role of science and technology in cultural production, authorship and creativity, the sharing of knowledge, the conservation of cultural resources for the future, the character of a community's public sphere, the propagation of a community's memory. Digital and analog media both prompt such questions. The questions sometimes historically become more urgent, but this is not because of technology.

Say "no" to technological determinism!