In 2009, William Pannapacker surmised that digital humanities were “the next big thing,” and in 2017, Ted Underwood followed up, declaring the digital humanities “a semi-normal thing.” Nearly ten years later, digital methods of scholarly work may still be “semi-normal.” Still, perceived barriers to entry and questions about the role of the digital in the future of humanities research remain. How much digital engagement is required of scholars, even if one isn’t particularly invested in digital humanities methods? Is it true, as Lincoln Mullen declared in 2010, that “we’re all digital humanists now”? If so, where is digital training to be had, and what is sufficient training? Who should collaborate with humanities scholars in this endeavor, and how much collaboration is necessary? Given the fragility of digital creations the field has witnessed, how are humanists planning to preserve their efforts in the 2020s? And then where does generative AI figure in all this? Does it turn the (digital) humanities on their head once again? 

This roundtable explores such questions with a panel of experts in both digital technologies and early printing, one of the most influential media revolutions in human history.

Presenters

Guyda Armstrong is the Director of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library at the University of Manchester, and a book historian and early modern literary scholar who works at the intersection of languages, information design, and the digital.

Giles Bergel is a Senior Researcher in Digital Humanities in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. He is a book historian by training, with particular interests in cheap print, book illustration, early copyright, and the use of computer vision in bibliographical research.

Rebecca Bowen is an Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Specializing in the medieval and early modern periods, her research focuses on early Italian lyric poetry and the works of Dante, exploring the relationships between texts, images, and objects.