For digital humanists, design is a creative practice harnessing cultural, social, economic, and technological constraints in order to bring systems and objects into the world.
2012. “Humanities to Digital Humanities”, Digital_Humanities, Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Peter Lunenfeld, Todd Presner, Jeffrey Schnapp
This quote resonated with me as it introduced how creativity, technology, and societal context play a crucial role in design. The quote demonstrated how the main core of digital humanities and design is taking the intersection between art, technology, and human experience to create a meaningful design. The word constraints also emphasize how our technological limitations play a crucial role in innovation.
As a computer science major, I have recently considered human interaction to further enhance my designs. I am also currently enrolled in human-computer interaction, and I have been learning ways to ensure that my designs are more inclusive for people with different backgrounds and societal experiences. This passage further emphasized to me the importance of grounding digital and technical work with human experience, with a consideration of cultural and societal implications. I now understand that the blending of human experience and digital innovation has great potential to create new forms of knowledge that are innovative for both technological and societal advancements. As I continue my career, I aim to be continuously thinking of ideas and ways to incorporate societal context into my work to create a meaningful impact.
Looking ahead under the large umbrella of digital arts and humanities, this quote has demonstrated to me that I am eager to explore the ways digital humanities encompasses societal context, technological innovations and limits, and human experiences. In my past courses, I have explored digital archives with interactive storytelling to learn more about different cultural heritages. With this experience, I am drawn to explore the creation of digital tools, such as data visualization, to study how a human-centered approach with the problem-solving methodologies of digital tools can allow us to better explore and preserve different cultures. I also hope to study how specific societal issues have influenced digital innovation throughout the history of digital influence. Lastly, I am interested in exploring ways different economic situations across the world influence digital innovation.
