“Work that is already aligned with the digital humanities and perhaps even pushing the field in new directions should be celebrated and sought out, a process that will no doubt reveal, that some of us are brave.”
Bailey, Moya Z. “All the digital humanists are white, all the nerds are men, but some of us are brave.” Journal of Digital Humanities, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32szz.6.
Bailey’s reflection on diversity in digital humanities was really eye-opening for me. I found it incredibly ironic that “nerds” are a group of people whose identity is at least partially formed around the idea of being social outcasts, yet spaces for “nerds” can often feel very exclusive, especially toward marginalized groups. While I don’t have experience in digital humanities, I have gone through a number of “nerdy” interests over the years where I’ve absolutely witnessed cultures of gatekeeping and exclusivity. Ultimately, I can start to imagine the type of culture that Bailey describes as existing in the Digital Humanities field.
Bailey described how Dr. Carla Stokes studied online culture for Black girls and how she created her own online network for these girls to use based on her data. I loved reading about this aspect of digital humanities and how Stokes work didn’t just use data, but also turned it into action.
Along these lines, I’m interested in data visualization and crowd sourcing. I study history, but I’ve always been especially interested in what historical narratives lose by focusing on the extraordinary. For example, if we focus too much on the inspiring, “girlboss” energy of Queen Elizabeth I, we ignore the harsh truth of the many women who did not have autonomy during that time. It can be difficult to display these perspectives since there are so many of them, but I think creating interactive charts and maps that can show a lot of data at once would be a great option!
