Digital Humanities: Getting Started

DH at VT

Our engagement with digital humanities (DH), or digital scholarship (DS) more broadly, intentionally intersects interdisciplinary, multi-modal humanities research, teaching, learning, and scholarship facilitated by digital methods and tools. Digital humanities benefits from and is also critical of digital technology and culture.

This LibGuide is meant to both introduce DH principles and practices, and also to introduce what support is available at Virginia Tech University Libraries. This includes faculty and student projects, common tools and resources for conducting projects, an overview of critical considerations in DH, standards for evaluation, and a list of communities focused on DH work.

What Is Digital Humanities?

Digital humanities integrates scholarly methodologies with new technologies to create interactive, accessible, and innovative digital publications. These can include the following: open-access publishing, virtual exhibitions, community-engaged research, multi-modal storytelling, educational resources, data visualization, and more.

You can also browse a few (817, to be precise) answers here.

DH Services at VT

The VT Library offers consultation and collaboration services for faculty, students, and staff interested in digital forms of research, teaching, and publication. These services include:

Research Consultations: Book a consultation to discuss digital methods and tools for your research and pedagogy projects.

Tutorials & Training: We can help you locate and learn specific digital tools.

Presentations & Discussions: We host a range of seminars and workshops anchored in digital humanities approaches.

Advice & Referrals: We provide advice on grants and other funding opportunities.

Athenaeum Services for DH

Our Athenaeum is a partnership of the Libraries and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and Virginia Tech University Libraries, and is the physical hub of our DH community. We have several spaces including the Athenaeum Classroom, the Collaboration Room, and the Media Den available for project work, classes, meetings, and media recording and editing.

The Athenaeum hosts a weekly Digital Scholarship Collaboration hour in the Collaboration Room (Newman Library 126) on Mondays 12–1pm. Come join us in conversation about digital humanities and digital scholarship. Details can be found on the Library Events page.

Projects

VPI in WWI

The VPI in World War One Project is dedicated to exploring and documenting the lives of Virginia Tech's World War I veterans and, through them, understanding this institution's role in that international conflict.

Lord Byron and His Times

LBT is a growing digital archive of books, pamphlets, and periodical essays illustrating the causes and controversies that preoccupied Byron and his contemporaries.

Viral Networks

This volume of original essays explores the power of network thinking and analysis for humanities research.

The American Solder Project

The American Soldier in World War II is a project to make available to scholars and to the public a remarkable collection of written reflections on war and military service by American soldiers who served during the Second World War.

Seventeen Moments in Soviet History

Seventeen Moments in Soviet History is a multi-media archive of primary materials designed to introduce students and the general public to the richness and contradictions of Soviet history.