CSDH/SCHN 2013
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On Tuesday June 4, 2013 the History and Archives group will be presenting the paper "Digital Activism and the Digital Humanities" at Congress in Victoria, Canada
Contents |
Abstract
At the close of every year TIME magazine awards a person or
group of persons the honourific ???Person of the Year???. In 2011
this title was awarded to The Protestor. From the Arab Spring to
the Occupy Movement activists worked to gather support, to connect
to each other, and to bring about change. In addition to massive
mobilizations The Protestor had an arsenal of digital technologies
at their disposal and terms such as Twitter Revolution, Revolution
2.0 and #__________ became ubiquitous.
Shortly before the unrest of 2011 a collective of digital
humanities scholars and practitioners in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and
Australia came together to found 4Humanities. In response to
alarming funding cuts to many universities and education programs
these advocates believe it is their responsibility to act in
defense of the humanities; ???The humanities are in trouble today,
and digital methods have an important role to play in effectively
showing the public why the humanities need to be part of any vision
of a future society.???[1]
This paper will discuss the potential for digital activism in
humanities advocacy from within the walls of academia:
??? First we will define the term digital activism discuss its
history and some tactics.
??? Next we will describe the international 4Humanities Initiative, its goals and activities.
??? Finally we will outline one activity undertaken at the
University of Alberta to assist in this grassroots endeavour - the
creation of an Advocacy Guide for digital humanists.
The Advocacy Guide is composed of five sections:
1. What???s at Stake - describes the funding and support issues prevalent in the Humanities.
2. Brief History of the Humanities - describes the historical ???splitting??? of the Arts of Sciences.
3. Arguments FOR and AGAINST - covers the arguments both in support of the Humanities as well as those with a negative view.
4. Preparing for Advocacy - describes the important factors to consider when developing an advocacy campaign for the Humanities.
5. Tactics - discusses appropriate digital advocacy tactics drawn from the literature on digital activism.
Alan Liu writes that:
"Truly to contribute, I believe, the digital humanities will
need to show that it can also take a leadership role. The obvious
leadership role at present is service for the cause of the
humanities. Now that the humanities are being systematically or
catastrophically defunded by nations, states, and universities, the
digital humanities can best serve the humanities by helping it
communicate in the new arena of networked and social public
knowledge, helping it showcase its unique value, and helping it
partner across disciplines with the STEM sciences in ???grand
challenge??? projects deemed valuable by the public and its
leaders." [2]
The digital humanities have an advantage and even a responsibility to make use of the improved analytical and communicative methods afforded to us today. This paper will show some of the ways we can.
Paper
In 2011 TIME magazine awarded the honourific 'Person of the
Year' to The Protestor. ???No one could have known that when a
Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it
would incite protests that would topple dictators and start a
global wave of dissent. In 2011, protesters didn't just voice
their complaints; they changed the world.??? Indeed from the Arab
Spring to the Occupy Movement activists worked to gather support,
to connect to each other, and to bring about change. In addition to
massive mobilizations The Protestor had an arsenal of digital
technologies at their disposal and terms such as Twitter
Revolution, Revolution 2.0 and hashtag 'insert slogan here'
became ubiquitous.
The role of digital technologies in activist causes is bothwidely championed and contested but our purpose here isn't tofocus on this debate. Rather our point in this paper is to show howwe, as digital humanists, can use these technologies in defense ofthe humanities. In this paper we will:
- Define digital activism;
- Outline the current 'Crisis of the Humanities' and theneed for our community to act in defense of the humanities;and
- Introduce the 4Humanities initiative, "a platform and resource for advocacy of the humanities, drawing on the technologies, new-media expertise, and ideas of the international digital humanities community."
Introduction to Digital Activism
Digital activism is one of many possible appellations referring to
the the use of digital technology towards the advancement of
political and social goals. Others include but are not limited to:
cyberactivism, internet activism, networked activism, liberation
technologies, or electronic civil disobedience. Following in the
steps of Mary Joyce in Digital Activism Decoded: the New
Mechanics of Change the term digital activism is chosen becauseof its exhaustiveness and exclusivity: ???Exhaustive in that itencompasses all social and political campaigning practices that usedigital network infrastructure; exclusive in that it excludespractices that are not examples of this type of practice.??? Forexample, electronic civil disobedience is not exclusive as it couldrefer to any use of electronics and such activities have long beenin practice. The cassette tape was integral to the 1979 IranianRevolution by allowing the Ayatollah Khomeini to distribute histaped speeches in opposition to the American backed Shah (EricSchmidt and Jared Cohen, "The Digital Disruption",Foreign affairs, November/December 2010). On the other handthe terms cyber- and internet activism are not exhaustive. Theyomit Short Message Service (SMS) one of the most commonly usedfeatures on mobile phones. In 2001 when corrupt PhilippinePresident Joseph Estrada was on trial and it appeared that Congresswas going to dismiss evidence against him and allow him to remainin power, thousands of Filipinos took to the streets of Manilaarmed with cell phones. Coordination by text messaging allowed forrapid mobilization and ultimately helped to force Estrada out ofoffice (Clay Shirkey, "The Political Power of SocialMedia". Foreign Affairs*
The universality of binary code, 0s and 1s, is the strength of
the digital network. By using 0s and 1s to store and process
information, and to exchange this information using the
standardized language ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Exchange), computers around the world are able to communicate with
each other., January/February 2011). The
term digital activism encompasses all actions that make use of the
digital network.By using 0s and 1s to store and process
information, and to exchange this information using the
standardized language ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Exchange), computers around the world are able to communicate with
each other. This universality of binary code, 0s and 1s, is the
strength of the digital network.
Examples of digital activism include organizing campaigns through email, SMS, or social media, spreading information via list-serves, blogs, micro-blogs and websites, uploading and posting targeted multimedia content to a website or web platform, participating in an on-line e-petition campaign, or even hosting webinars to teach less tech-savvy activists how achieve their goals using digital technology. Hacktivism is another way participants can engage in digital activism. One of the most well known international hacktivist groups is Anonymous whose activities range from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and website defacement to publicizing personal information about accused persons.
In Defense of the Humanities
===
According to Dr. Mike Lippman, University of Arizona, Department of
Classics, the Humanities originate in 5th century BC, Greece, where
we find the first concentrated development of tragedy or drama,
comedy, philosophy, and history, all the major disciplines included
in the Humanities today.
The online dictionary defines the Humanities as one part of what is
commonly referred to as the Liberal Arts. Also included under the
umbrella of Liberal Arts are the natural sciences, arts, and social
sciences. The Liberal Arts include those topics that are not
professional or technical subjects. The term 'liberal arts'
originates from the mid-eighteenth century, translated from the
Latin art??s l??ber??l??s, meaning 'works befitting a
freeman'.
Referring to the core skills employed in the civic life and public
debate of classical antiquity, the later termed 'liberal
arts' were skills that were thought to foster virtue,
knowledge, and articulation. Such skills included grammar,
rhetoric, and logic, known in medieval times as the Trivium, three
of the foundations that would form the basis for the Humanities.
During the era of the medieval church, the Trivium was expanded to
include the natural sciences, incorporating arithmetic, geometry,
music and astronomy. This new synthesis of the disciplines was
referred to as the Quadrivium.The term Humanities comes from the
Latin humanus, meaning human, cultured and refined, and originates
with the Renaissance ???humanists??? who redefined the traditional
subjects of the Trivium as the Studia Humanitatis, removing logic
and then adding to their newly defined corpus such disciplines as
Greek studies, (to complement the Latin grammar), history, poetry,
and ethics. As such, the Humanities were born.
===
The Yale Report of 1828 rallied against a gradual depart in
universities from the classical liberal arts education of the core
subjects contained in the trivium and quadrivium towards the ever
encroaching elective based curriculum. The report was significant
in two ways, first, that it was seen by many as a decades long
setback in the advancement of education options, and second, that
is stands as a historical landmark in the conversation surrounding
the dissolution of the classical liberal arts education.
One of the original and often quoted discourses pertaining to the
split in education is Cardinal Newman???s The Idea of a University.
Newman wrote and lectured extensively in the 1850???s on the nature
of the university, focusing on the value of the liberal education.
His belief was that knowledge was universal and that truth was
anything but relative. Newman claimed that truth was specific and
attainable through reason and intellect. He is often cited as the
original proponent of a generalist education as opposed to a
vocational education.
C. P. Snow???s famous 1959 lecture and subsequent book entitled
===
The Humanist Listserve is likely well known to many in thisroom today. In operation since 1987 it is described as "aninternational online seminar devoted to all aspects of the digitalhumanities." On October 23rd, 2010 Andrew Prescott, Directorof Research at the Humanities Advanced Technology and InformationInstitute at the University of Glasgow posted a message to thediscussion group with the subject heading 'Digital Humanitiesand the Cuts'. He begins his communique:
"Dear Willard,
I am surprised that we have not so far had any discussions on
Humanist of the devastating effect that the current financial
crisis will have on the study of the arts and humanities
internationally."
Prescott goes on to describe the situation in Britain where
dramatic cuts to higher education were resulting in the slashing of
state funding for the teaching of arts, humanities and social
sciences. Without a measurable economic value the humanities were
under attack; not only universities but service providers such as
the national museums and libraries as well. He suggests a silver
lining may be the survival of the British Arts and Humanities
Research Council (AHRC) as in spite of the cuts, funding for
scientific research was to be protected. This council, he states,
would likely prioritize the digital humanities which could act as a
go-between for arts and humanities faculty and their scientific
colleagues. He then calls this hopeful prospect into
question:
"But what will be the value of this if the wider study of arts
and humanities has been devastated?... Digital humanities cannot
thrive if the study of humanities more widely is under
attack."
Also citing the recent closure of the Italian, French, Russian,
Classics and Theatre Programmes at SUNY Albany in the USA Prescott
than posits two possible responses to this international
crisis:
(1) demonstrate a financial value of the humanities; or
(2) follow the argument of Stanley Fish writing in the New York
Times "drop the deferential pose"
As fish writes:
"Leave off being a petitioner and ask some pointed questions:
Do you know what a university is, and if you don't. don't
you think you should, since you're making its funding
decisions? Do you want a university "an institution that takes
its place in a tradition dating back centuries" or do you want
something else, a trade school perhaps? (Nothing wrong with that.)
And if you do want a university, are you willing to pay for it,
which means not confusing it with a profit center? And if you
don't want a university, will you fess up and tell the citizens
of the state that you're abandoning the academic enterprise, or
will you keep on mouthing the pieties while withholding the
funds?"
Prescott finishes his piece with a call to arms for digital
humanists - researchers holding a diversity of skill sets and
perhaps at an advantage to support such an endeavour. And the
responses came quickly and passionately. Researchers from the US,
UK and Italy wrote about the peril of their own funding
experiences. Some wrote to assert the value of humanities study and
the resulting skills not "easily quantifiable" (James
Rovira, October 29, 2010). Some took the opportunity to vent their
frustrations and worries; one respondent wrote: "academia as a
whole is pretty thoroughly sold out to the bean counters"
another "I fear the worst case scenario will be the most
likely one: Most people will go to university to do a vocational
degree in the vain hope this is how they get a job, whilst the
Humanities and Social Sciences wither on the vine until they become
something only rich, privileged people do." Some offered
suggestions such as taking on the expertise of marketing
departments.
(insert slide of suggested advertisement):
"Modern Science brought us:
Mustard Gas - death toll
Zylon-B - death toll
Atomic Weapons - death toll
Weapons Production - death toll (possibly with an image of an
AK-47)
Cut to 3 part screen, teaching of the Koran, the Torah, and the
Bible
Teaching people not to kill - Priceless
Support the humanities."
Mostly respondents agreed with the call to arms. On Monday October 25th Alan Liu of University of California Santa Barbara wrote the first post alluding to what would become an international, interdisciplinary grass roots organization of digital humanists working in defense of the humanities. This post first outlined the reasons to act:
(slide?)
1. If the humanities are in trouble,
2. If the digital humanities now have a special potential and
responsibility to represent the humanities
a. because the digital humanities are affecting an ever larger arc of the humanities,
b. because the (modest) ability of the digital humanities to gain funding shows that they have the potential to seem relevant to administrators, government agencies, and possibly even legislators who otherwise have already dismissed the humanities as yesterday's news,
c. because the digital humanities contribute to the advancement and deployment of technologies that link the humanities with other disciplines (including some STEM fields that need the participation of humanists to pursue interdisciplinary grants) [i.e., the digital humanities have true interdisciplinary potential],
d. and because the digital humanities have the means to communicate quickly and directly to the public in ways that short-circuit the traditional, ponderous levers of university and governmental action,
He then listed opportunities for action:
3. The the natural course of action for interested members of the
Humanist list at this extraordinary time is to start a site that,
without necessarily engaging in direct political advocacy,...
[does] the following:
a. Advocates for the public value of humanities discoveries and projects... We could also likely recruit advocacy statements for the humanities,
b. Provides tools, templates, media expertise, social-network methods, examples, etc., for the local or national networks of humanities educators to make their case before the public.
From this rather exploratory posting behind the scenes scholars
from the U.S., Canada, and U.K. collaborated and rose to the call
originally presented by Prescott - on Friday November 19, 2010 the
launch of the 4Humanities initiative, advocating the humanities,
powered by digital humanists, was announced.
The 4Humanities Initiative
4Humanities is a collaboration of scholars in the field of
digital humanities, the goal of which is towards an advocacy of the
future of humanities in a society where the importance of the
humanities is increasingly neglected. Recognizing the advantageous
position of digital technologies in the humanities, 4Humanities
capitalizes on the opportunity to further the cause for humanities
through popular and widely distributed information streams. The
initiative focuses on the use of Digital Humanities technologies
and experience, comprising an international-wide collective. Using
multi-media and scholarly experience, 4Humanities advocates on
numerous levels, both through the 4Humanities online platform and
through the collection of networked initiatives of similar design
such as blogs, newsletters, audio-visual formats, and more.
Resources utilized include digital technologies founded in
best-practices.
Due to the failing support of government and private funding for
the traditional humanities as well as a general societal attitude
of apathy towards the humanities, those concerned with the survival
and understanding of its value to society have recognized a need
for active intervention. As the humanities plays an important role
in all sectors of society, including those portions of society that
would see its demise, those concerned have began to collaborate in
an effort to spread an understanding of its importance, whether for
business initiatives, scientific endeavors, or just a basic
understanding of human nature as represented through culture and
history. 4Humanities understands that society will be better
equipped with a humanities background, and likewise, worse off
without it.
The 4Humanities initiative employs multiple mediums in order to
reach the widest possible audience, using every means, from
newspaper to social media. As stated in their Mission, found on the
website http://4Humanities.org, 4Humanities:
???is both a platform and a resource for humanities advocacy. As a
platform 4Humanities stages the efforts of humanities advocates to
reach out to the public. We are a combination newspaper, magazine,
channel, blog, wiki, and social network. We solicit well-reasoned
or creative demonstrations, examples, testimonials, arguments,
opinion pieces, open letters, press releases, print posters, video
???advertisements,??? write-in campaigns, social-media campaigns,
short films, and other innovative forms of humanities advocacy,
along with accessibly-written scholarly works grounding the whole
in research or reflection about the state of the
humanities.???
4Humanities is an ongoing and evolving project, originally founded
in 2010 by scholars from Canada, the United States, Australia, and
the U.K. With increasing interest in the initiative and an
ever-growing partnership of digital humanities communities from
around the world, 4Humanities is establishing itself as a critical
and authoritative center in digital activism for the value of
traditional humanities. Already partnered with groups such as the
Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, centerNet, HASTAC,
and SDH/SEMI, 4Humanities is quickly rising to prominence on a
global scale.
For More information about 4Humanities, contact any of the
4Humanities coordinators: Christine Henseler, Alan Liu, Geoffrey
Rockwell, St??fan Sinclair, Melissa Terras. Contact:
ayliu@english.ucsb.edu.