An Argument for Digital Humanities Projects
Why this format is important to academia and what it means for students today.
In an article written by Rebecca Koenig for The Chronicle of Higher Education she interviews Mark Marino, Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Southern California, who is an advocate for "BuzzAdemia, a new journal, he's creating to encourage 'Buzzfeed-style scholarship'" (2014). Her own article links to Marino's Buzzfeed article entitled, "10 Reasons Professors Should Start Writing BuzzFeed Articles [...] Why do profs keep writing books? Go where the people are! Write what the people read! This is the manifesto for BuzzAdemia: a new Like-reviewed journal" (Marino 2014). His list presents a fun and light-hearted argument for "clickbait" academia; that humble recognition that people are oftentimes using websites like Reddit and Buzzfeed to "gather information." Marino's intent wasn't to create his own website, but to use sites that are already well established as a public forum on which to post these academic articles.
Naturally this form of academic writing has the opportunity to drum up skepticism with Marino and Chris Rodley, a graduate student at Australia’s University of Sydney, citing that, "There are lots of critics who would maybe suggest this is a sign of decline or decreased intellectual standards." The comments section of the article does present both sides of the argument, some are indictments of the idea of BuzzAdemia and the importance of scholarly journals and their use, arguing that academia isn't about writing digestible, easily and quickly read articles. Others have defended the idea of academic writing in this format and posting on Buzzfeed or even suggested other websites. Regardless of the skepticism, I believe that presenting information in this new digital format opens a range of possibilities.
For follow up reading also look at: CFP: 14 Reasons To Write Your Next Academic Paper As A Listicle*, by Kim Knight
So, what does this mean for my project?
For this Honors Project I could have written fifty or more pages in a traditional MLA essay format on the evolving roles of women and the representation of Arthurian characters throughout the canon. My original thesis was set to be a discursive study of female characters Guinevere and Morgan le Fay; how these two ladies foil each other and what their presentation in numerous works including new films and television shows means for the ever-changing role of femininity in our society.
While this project does still look at female characters in the canon, this format allows for a wider commentary not simply with other academics, but with fans and hobbyists who enjoy historical and literary context, the creation of "headcanon," and artistic renderings of their own favorite characters. The heart of this endeavor is to create not only an authoritative piece of academia which focuses on the aforementioned points, but which discusses the canon and the development of these core female characters across numerous centuries.
Because my work for this project included film and television in addition to literature, presenting my work in a digital format allows for more discussion of core character development rather than blending multitudes of description about stylistic wardrobe decisions made by costume and makeup departments for the electronic media used. Using a system like this, I am able to present a picture, gifset, or a film clip as an example which relevantly portrays a character and allows me to focus wholly on that person's presentation and why it is important from a literary, semiotic, and/or socio-political standpoint.
By creating this tumblr, I hope to show other prospective students for the program a possible option for their projects.
