The sum of its parts: What a platform of digital humanities courses says about digital humanities

Abstract

This paper discusses a newly created platform of online courses covering a range of digital humanities methods and asks what the assortment of courses demonstrate about the nature of digital humanities (DH). The role of methods in defining the field of “digital humanities” is reviewed, followed by description of the educational platform itself – Digital Methods Platform for Arts and Humanities (DiMPAH) – before reflecting on what the ensemble of courses reveal about digital humanities in practice. Themes emerging from this reflection include: the division between research-driven and collection-driven initiative; the situatedness of methods; and the persistent role of disciplinary knowledge matters. The paper concludes by what the platform – produced by scholars from across Europe – along with the methods and use cases presented therein suggest about future stories for the continent through DH.