Digital Humanities

Yes: you do a nice job of summing up how and why libraries matter to the future of humanities research. Yet the ironies, I think, are obvious: have you been in the Chester Fritz recently? Have you seen how many people (students, faculty, etc.) appear to be using its resources? What is the status of libraries in our current “information” age, and why have they fallen into apparent disuse? Does that disuse factor into (or affect) McGann’s arguments in this essay? What do you think?

You start big here by arguing that “man’s mastery of things” is “exactly how the human mind works.” I’d like some more specifics on this topic, especially since I think that, in McGann’s view, this is not how humans work but rather how they ought to (and how he would like them to work). We ought, McGann says, to be curious, to leap at the opportunity to learn new tools and methods, to seize opportunities for new mastery. But, more often that not, we aren’t: why is this the case, according to McGann? What prevents us from doing that?

I do still think there is some benefit to having physical books if your computer crashes, or there is a system malfunction, the physical book will still be there. That being said, digital books and resources are easily portable and can be accessed anywhere too.  Ultimately I think if we can find a way to make the transition from physical books to digital books easier and less of a hassle, things might go more smoothly. But I do still think there will still be a great need for libraries and librarians in the future, even if the librarian job was specifically centered to work online.

You made a very good point about how technology continues to improve and the reluctance many members of our society have over following these advances.  It ties in nicely with McGann’s comment on the idea of this technological movement happening whether we like it or not and us having little to no control over it.  I would also argue, that our society- or those who are more proactive in the technology oriented world- do not give the rest of the society a chance to catch up at a comfortable rate. It feels as if they are consistently being steamrolled each time a new form of technology is created or improved. In this regard, we are making it almost impossible for those who are technologically challenged to catch up.  

I don’t know where my brain has been for years, but until this class, I never realized how digital libraries and museums were becoming. The only new things I noticed in libraries were the computers that customers could use to look up a book. But now that I think of it, as you said, history is going to be lost if everything doesn’t start being digital. It’s going to take more than photocopying and keeping multiple records of the same text, they are going to have to upload them to the internet and other digital storage places as well. With great things comes great responsibility!

You’re so right. Really though, no matter how much people complain and don’t want to learn about the ever-changing technology, the technology that they are reluctant to learn about works more in their world than they even realize. Sure, old people are against computers and iPads and iPhones but what would their lives be like if those hadn’t been invented?

I like the comparison you use with Swinburn’s quote and the human life, because it’s right. We no longer can sit back and hope that we don’t have to move forward, because in order to keep up with the world and everyone in it, we will soon be forced to put in the work to catch up the ground we’ve already lost.