This project consists of several multimedia mini-essays which draw on both survey data and interviews with McMaster University faculty and instructors, in order to present an in-depth understanding of the landscape of the Digital Humanities at McMaster University. Our intention with this project is not only to synthesize this information, but to also have it in a publicly accessible format online, which will give McMaster University faculty, students, and other staff and instructors the ability to access this body of work and to learn more about the various projects and uses of the Digital Humanities that are ongoing at McMaster.
The initial phase of data collection consisted of an online survey, which aimed to investigate the current attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of McMaster Humanities faculty, instructors, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows in relation to the use of Digital Humanities in teaching and learning. This survey included a range of questions, which asked respondents to describe some of the benefits and challenges of the Digital Humanities, as well as to report on some of their opinions of the DH, to define the term, and to answer some questions which helped to capture the extent of their work and experience with the Digital Humanities. Responses were received from 22 participants and are included within several of the mini-essays on this site.
In addition to the online survey, participants were invited to take part in a semi-structured, video-recorded interview which further explored their perceptions and uses of the Digital Humanities. This phase of the project had a total of five participants engage in the interview process, all of whom are instructors or faculty members at McMaster University. In the following sections, we have included excerpts from four of the five interviews–those featuring Dr. Christina Baade, Dr. Wendy d’Angelo, Dr. Victor Kuperman, and Dr. David Ogborn–with the participants’ permission.
Findings from the survey and the interviews have been organized into mini-essays taking up the following topics as they relate to the Digital Humanities:
- Definitions of the Digital Humanities;
- Uses of the Digital Humanities by McMaster Faculty and Instructors;
- Benefits & Challenges of the Digital Humanities;
The interview clips have been edited in order to form larger video segments which are contextualized within each mini-essay.
Ethics clearance for the project was received from the McMaster University Research Ethics Board.
