Thinking about the future of the Digital Humanities means thinking about the way students, both in college and K-12, will be introduced to technology and English. There are several positives when considering how technology can help students better understand literature, especially in a world where “common core” and testing is the standard for success (note: in no way do I condone the common core and I am adamantly against standardized testing). However, with it being the reality of K-12 education right now, there are several ways that the Digital Humanities can help students prepare. Using apps on tablets and smart phones are just a few of the ways that students can access study materials, not to mention that developing technology can assist students with learning technical and analytical writing and reading skills. The Digital Humanities is helpful in teaching students literature as it adds a new, flashy way of reading texts that may seem “boring” or otherwise uninteresting to students. For example, Rap Genius is a great website that breaks down some classic poems, such as Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.” Seeing the poem in a regular anthology side by side with the way Rap Genius presents it might help students better understand the poem’s message and attract their interest in general.

Although there are many positives to the evolving world of the Digital Humanities I can’t help but be more concerned by some of the negatives. Is the progress of technology  ruining how students process literature emotionally? I just read a great article in The Atlantic by Michael Godsey titled “The Wisdom Deficit in School” and he talks about how his role as an English teacher is changing as English becomes more digital. He mentions for instance that rather than teaching Shakespeare as a primary text, he used the podcast Serial (the popular podcast on This American Life) to teach “common core anchor standards” (1). He begs the questions where are students getting their wisdom from these days? The common core has not built into their agenda how students are supposed to “feel” or emotionally process what they are learning from literature. Godsey writes that instead of asking students how they sympathize with Hamlet, he is asking them to “evaluate the sufficiency of the evidence” in the play (1).

Hearing about these types of changes concerns me and I can’t help but wonder where we draw the line between using the Digital Humanities to enhance our understanding of literature and stepping back from it a little in order to remember that literature is also about emotion. One of the questions that I hope to find an answer to, or at least start contemplating the answer to, is how do we negotiate these changes in education? How do we help students to embrace technology (and pass these damned standardized tests) while simultaneously asking them to consider other aspects of learning, such as feeling and empathy?

If you are interested in Godsey’s article, here is the link:

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/the-wisdom-deficit-in-schools/384713/

Thinking about blogging as a new form of communication is odd at first. I have always thought about it as a hobby; something that is simply an addition to a more permanent source of communication and expression. However, in retrospect blogging is probably one of the most permanent forms of discussion that exists in the world today. As a scholar, I have yet to join the world of academic blogging, but I have noticed that more are appearing everyday. The Junto Blog, one of my favorites, allows budding scholars and graduate students to showcase their newest work in Early American studies. Despite the wealth of information it provides, and it’s accessibility, I never thought of it as on par with an actual book or scholarly journal. I’ve always thought of blogging as something people do when they have extra time on their hands, but as I read more about the blogging world I am starting to change my mind.

Reading Trevor Owens “The Public Course Blog: The Required Reading We Write Ourselves for the Course that Never Ends” allowed me to realize that the blog is useful for new approaches to writing. Rather than writing for our professors, editors, students, etc…we are writing for a larger audience who is interested in communicating on a larger discourse for a longer period of time. Blogs allow for interaction that books and journals do not and this allows the conversation to expand into new avenues and spaces it might not have reached before.

I also like Owen’s point that the blog he made his course for is never over, and thus the course is never over. Later students will add their own contributions, building on what has existed before them and encouraging what will come after them.  Aimeee Morrison points out that blogs are often distinguishable by their “non-static” appearance, another aspect of the blog that makes it perfect for the constantly changing and moving world that we are living in.

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.