Critic speak is tough, but we've got you covered.
Quote :"The Digital Humanities is not about building, it's about sharing "
The promise of the digital is not in the way it allows us to ask new questions because of digital tools or because of new methodologies made possible by those tools. The promise is in the way the digital reshapes the representation, sharing, and discussion of knowledge. We are no longer bound by the physical demands of printed books and paper journals, no longer constrained by production costs and distribution friction, no longer hampered by a top-down and unsustainable business model. And we should no longer be content to make our work public achingly slowly along ingrained routes, authors and readers alike delayed by innumerable gateways limiting knowledge production and sharing.
Digital Humanities is all about sharing. The reason it's such an important field is that it has transformed the way we access and approach knowledge.
Thanks to digital technology, we can read books on a computer screen now. We can share that awesome English essay we wrote with someone who lives across the world by uploading it to a website, or emailing it to them. We can self-publish our books online, instead of waiting for some uppity publisher to give us approval and backing.
Sample's point is that the digital age has made information much more easily available to us. Now, with the click of a button, we're on the Shmoop website and on our way to understanding the history of a literary movement, or a Renaissance text. This is what the Digital Humanities is all about: it's about allowing us to share knowledge in new and more open ways.