Developing Academic Capacity in Digital Humanities: Thoughts fromthe Canadian Community

By Lynne Siemens1, INKE Research Group1

University of Victoria

Despite DH’s long history, it is still perceived as a relatively emergent academic disciplinewhich has several implications for its ongoing development and acceptance. In order tounderstand its role in supporting the field’s development…

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Despite DH’s long history, it is still perceived as a relatively emergent academic disciplinewhich has several implications for its ongoing development and acceptance. In order tounderstand its role in supporting the field’s development and acceptance, SSHRCcommissioned a survey of the larger Humanities and Social Science’s community tounderstand the issues related to DH’s development and acceptance and the types ofactivities that should be funded. The survey results suggest there is reason for optimismregarding the growing acceptance of digital methods, resources and tools and electronicdissemination as instructors, researchers, and students are using and publishing indigital outlets and creating and employing digital recourses, methods and toolsandventuring into new research fields. This trend is likely to continue as students andyounger scholars continue to embrace the digital in all aspects of their personal andprofessional lives. However, this optimism should be tempered to some extent asstudents and junior faculty are still less likely than associate professors to present andpublish their digital-oriented research for a variety of reasons. The field’s more seniorfaculty can mentor their junior colleagues and students to this end and shape salary,tenure and promotion policies to recognize and reward these efforts. Finally, issuesremain around the amount of funding required for the initial development and ongoingsustainability and relevance of digital resources and may become more critical over time.Granting agencies will need to evaluate their funding role in this regard.

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Original publication: Siemens, Lynne. "Developing Academic Capacity in Digital Humanities: Thoughts from the Canadian Community." Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 1, 2013, http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/7/1/000114/000114.html

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