Digital English is a part of academia’s future. The days of “codex-based” literature is not the only option that students and faculty have when studying literature.  Now is the time to find answers to questions such as what does it mean to be ‘bookish’ in a digital age? What are the new purposes of bookstores such as Barnes and Nobles versus online stores like Amazon? How do people who really love the feeling of holding a book, smelling the pages, and putting it away on the bookshelf handle the influx of cheaper e-books? In regards to teaching on all levels, new challenges need to be addressed. Is it better to provide every 5th grader a Kindle and ask them to read their Language Arts assignments digitally? Or do we force them to read from a physical book? How does education, especially English, move into the future with the choice of having e-books versus the “real thing?” Although it is important to introduce children to the book as a physical object it is also necessary to prepare them for a future where technology is evolving at a rapid pace.

In the field of Early American Literature the Digital Humanities has become especially prevalent, especially with archiving. Old documents such as diaries and letters that are being pulled from abandoned homes, churches, and other historical sites need a home where they can be accessed with relative ease for academics and the general public. Archives are especially prevalent in Digital English today as they offer new modes and interpretations of reading a text, or multiple texts side by side. Combining technology and English has provided new ways of exploring geography in relation to Early American Literature as well. For example, digital maps have helped to show the trajectory of the outbreak of the Salem Witch Trials in context with the the transcript records. Lehigh University has even built a website including letters (in a timeline format) from Thomas Jefferson’s estate that reflect on his personal relationship with race and slavery.

While there is something familiar and comforting about browsing the bookshelves at a local bookstore and sipping tea while flipping the pages of a paperback, scholars and general readers alike need to find a balance between the physical and digital. Moving forward with the promise of new technology to make scholarship more efficient is an enticing concept; but, it is equally important to not forget how English has been researched and taught without digital assistance. I look forward to finding this balance in my own scholarship, teaching, and personal reading as well.

2 Comments on What is Digital English to me?

  1. Hi Kait,
    I find the accessibility to newly discovered documents/archives, etc. one of the most interesting ways that we can use new technology in a positive way. However, there is always the question of whether or not the technology gets in the way, especially with extremely old/brittle texts. When you hold these old works, sometimes you can see things that may not come across on a screen. Or does it even matter?

  2. Alex, I seldom get to hold these brittle texts. I enjoy the ancient object — have an old Whitman, for instance, that I treasure. But I’d argue that if technology really seems to get in the way — then it may not be done very well. And we are still in a phase where screens and interfaces can be less than ideal (and they certainly aren’t as intuitive as turning pages in a book.)

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