The Sound of Many Hands Clapping: Teaching the Digital Humanities through Virtual Research Environment (VREs)

At the core of the work done within the digital humanities is a difficult interdisciplinary relationship between the at times divergent cognate fields of computer science and the humanities. This paper will explore some of the characteristics of the digital humanities and examine some of its hard interdisciplinarity relationships. It is the contention of the author that one of the central epistemological challenges within the field is to empower students to successfully manage the thorny interdisciplinary relationship intrinsic to technology and the humanities. Without understanding and managing this relationship, there is a danger that student projects lapse into exceedingly reductive pragmatism or overly theorised clumsiness. The author will suggest a model where this hard-interdisciplinary relationship may be taught and assessed through the critical use and analysis of digital objects within the framework of a Virtual Research Environments (VREs) (Link to DHQ article)