Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 234.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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        Date: 2025-11-25 14:39:54+00:00
        From: James Rovira <jamesrovira@gmail.com>
        Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.233: a starting point, not a subject?

You always ask the best questions, Willard. I think the work that you say
digital humanists usually do and the work that maybe more of them should be
doing instead are two completely separate things and people need to be working
on both of them.

Now taking the next step, maybe the problem is that the people focusing on
implementation of AI, which is the overwhelming majority of our focus, I agree,
need to be more self reflective along the way.

But we need a basis for self reflection. That's where the historical work from
different perspectives becomes valuable and necessary. It's out there. But maybe
some consideration of it should be built in at the beginning of every project
and then consulted throughout the execution of the project? Based on our current
knowledge, what are the implications of this project? The possible effects?
Surely this happens at least sometimes. I don't know.

I think that sentence ending in "reshaping the norms and practices of science"
sounds like exactly that work. But it could be just a matter of continued
implementation.

I think the tone of the work matters and how it is focused. Worst case scenario
is that it just descends into a sales pitch. University administrators just love
that stupid bullshit. Then business faculty will follow, jumping up and down
like frogs in a pond, because what really matters is seeming like we're being
innovative rather than actually thinking about what we're doing and the best way
to do it.

Better would be something like a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
approach.

Jim R


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