Table of Content

08 September 2021, Volume 1 Issue 3

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Digital Humanities from the Perspective of Cultural Techniques Theory

Liu Yongqiang Wu Hongyu

2021, 1(3):  3-10. 

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As an important academic resources for reflecting on digital culture, German Media Theory has gained increasing international attention over the past decade through translations by North American academics. One of the most interesting and productive paradigms is that of Cultural Techniques, which offers a new perspective for understanding digital culture and examining Digital Humanities, opening up a broader field of academic imagination. Focusing on the theoretical reflections and research findings of scholars of Cultural Techniques in the German-speaking countries, such as Friedrich Kittler, Sybille Krämer and Markus Krajewski, this paper outlines the exploration of digital culture and Digital Humanities from this theoretical perspective, with the aim of exploiting its potential for application and enriching the theoretical resources for the discussion on Digital Humanities.

Normativity Tendency, Cultural Differences, and Critical Creativity of Digital Humanities  —An Interview with Professor Johanna Drucker #br#

Johanna Drucker Sun Jiarui

2021, 1(3):  11-17. 

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With the vigorous development of digital humanities, it is of great significance for this field to critically examine and reflect on the achievements and limitations of its development. Through an interview with Professor Johanna Drucker, this paper examines and reflects on the development of digital humanities from the perspectives of digital humanities education, digital humanities and academia, and digital humanities research, focusing on issues such as education programs, curriculums, interdisciplinary collaborations, academic evaluation, sustainability and transparency, and research methods. There is a tendency towards normativity in the digital humanities work. “Normative digital gumanities” confines us to the shackles of conventional wisdom, stifles the possibilities of innovation, and even leads to the stagnation of the development of digital humanities. Respecting cultural differences, building integrated and sustainable digital infrastructures, and cultivating students’ critical thinking and creativity should be three primary goals for the future development of digital humanities.

The Revival of Quantification: Reflections on Old New Histories

Steven Ruggles Trans. Wu Jianze

2021, 1(3):  18-38. 

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Quantitative historical analysis in the United States surged in three distinct waves. The first quantitative wave occurred as part of the “New History” that blossomed in the early twentieth century and disappeared in the 1940s and 1950s with the rise of consensus history. The second wave thrived from the 1960s to the 1980s during the ascendance of the New Economic History, the New Political History, and the New Social History, and died out during the “cultural turn” of the late twentieth century. The third wave of historical quantification —which I call the revival of quantification—emerged in the second decade of the twenty-first century and is still underway. I describe characteristics of each wave and discuss the historiographical context of the ebb and flow of quantification in history.

The Application Attempt of Object Detection in Digital Humanities Images

Chen Tao

2021, 1(3):  39-50. 

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Image has become a new hot spot in digital humanities research, and image annotation is the main way of image knowledge transfer and value reveal. Object detection, as a computer technology related to computer vision and image processing, can quickly realize the location and classification of target objects in images in batches. The paper first introduces the relevant principles of object detection, and proposes a complete image application ecological process which combines the Visual Object Tagging Tool (VoTT) and the Multi-Dimensional Image Smart System (MISS). At the same time, an image multi-layer annotation model framework is proposed which contains four dimensions: image layer, object layer (content and label), and semantic layer. The selection of the annotation area and the label of the object layer will use the results of automatic labeling with VoTT. In the end, the paper exemplifies the proposed framework and technologies through cases, in order to provide more application perspectives for the research of digital humanistic images.

Enhanced Annotation and Interactive Rendering of Beijing Opera Facial images#br#

Yang Guancan Wang Xianyu

2021, 1(3):  51-62. 

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The presentation form of digital resources will greatly affect the effect of digital resource construction. In order to better protect, inherit and develop Beijing Opera Facial, the paper studied the characteristics of Beijing Opera Facial images digital resources, and extracts the pattern, decoration, color, spectrum, character and other elements of Beijing Opera Facial images by means of manual annotation, expert discrimination and machine learning from the micro and macro element perspectives. Design different presentation forms of digital resources corresponding to different elements, realize the diversified presentation of Beijing Opera Facial images digital resources, and use the "Beijing memory - Beijing Opera Facial" website to make a practical attempt of digital resource presentation design.

A Review of the Digitization Achievements of Chinese Antique Maps at Home and Abroad

Tian Qing, Li Xingui

2021, 1(3):  63-82. 

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Since the end of the 20th century, with the gradual rise of antique map digitization abroad, the introduction and discussion of antique map digitization technology in China has gradually matured. The needs of researchers and users for the sorting, research, storage and utilization of antique Chinese maps have promoted the digitization of antique maps to varying degrees. At present, there are abundant relevant achievements at home and abroad, and sorting them has become a basic work of Chinese antique map research. After sorting out and comparing these results through literature information retrieval and network information collection, it is found that although the existing digital results at home and abroad have their own characteristics, they still have major deficiencies in supporting humanities research. Using related research results to optimize the classification and attach importance to the digitization of related texts and documents should be the direction of improvement for the digitization of antique Chinese maps.

Key Technologies for Digitization of Ancient Chinese Books

2021, 1(3):  83-88. 

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Chinese historical and cultural classics are the great treasure of the Chinese nation. In the digital environment, the realization of digital documentation and utilization of ancient books can provide basic resources for digital humanities research, history research and other humanities researches, and it also serves as an important support for promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese civilization. The work of digitization includes the electronization of paper resources, as well as basic processing and deep knowledge extraction such as sentence segmentation, punctuation, and word segmentation based on electronic texts. This article reviews and comments on the existing technical methods and platforms of the digital collation of ancient books, analyzes its challenges, and discusses its future development direction.

What do Japanese Modern Literature Researchers Want to Do or Not to Do by Computer?

2021, 1(3):  89-92. 

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Recently, Japanese modern literature researchers have begun to use computer-based methods in their research, and three major types of research are now available, including: stylistic studies, content analysis of literary works, and content analysis of various literature-related reports. However, the first type is not mainstream in literary studies, and the second type is regarded as much weaker than the traditional "close reading" by literary researchers. The third type has few practical cases yet, but it is more likely to be intersect with quantitative research on literary tendencies that began in the late last century in Japanese literature circles, as well as with new theories and digital approaches such as "distant reading" that have been proposed in recent years. In addition, text data of a certain scale and standard, with standardized editing, that can be used for search and data analysis is also essential to promote relevant research. Digital humanities is one of the ways to develop literary studies, and even humanities studies. In the future, there will be interesting studies that can skillfully combine artificial close reading and computerized distant reading, and incorporate the problematic consciousness of literary studies,providing that the literary researchers make a thorough change from the problem awareness.

Digital Humanities in the iSchool

2021, 1(3):  93-112. 

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The interdisciplinary field known as digital humanities (DH) is represented in various forms in the teaching and research practiced in iSchools. Building on the work of an iSchools organization committee charged with exploring digital humanities curricula, we present findings from a series of related studies exploring aspects of DH teaching, education, and research in iSchools, often in collaboration with other units and disciplines. Through a survey of iSchools programs and an online DH course registry, we investigate the various education models for DH training found in iSchools, followed by a detailed look at DH courses and curricula, explored through analysis of course syllabi and course descriptions. We take a brief look at collaborative disciplines with which iSchools cooperate on DH research projects or in offering DH education. Next, we explore DH careers through an analysis of relevant job advertisements. Finally, we offer some observations about the management and administrative challenges and opportunities related to offering a new iSchools DH program. Our results provide a snapshot of the current state of digital humanities in iSchools which may usefully inform the design and evolution of new DH programs, degrees, and related initiatives.