The digital humanities face a variety of challenges as Big Data becomes more essential to the field. One of these difficulties is the broad skill set that a digital humanist must acquire to organize and analyze these large data sets. Lev Manovich states in his chapter Trending: The Promises and the Challenges of Big Social Data, that most social and humanities researchers do not have the skills in computer science, statistics and data mining needed to take advantage of Big Data. There is a divide between those interested in the social implications of Big Data and those who can properly analyze it.
Typically when one thinks of a humanities or anthropology student, they do not associate computer science or statistics classes within their course schedule. A math or computer science student is typically not required to ask humanities questions in their studies. Although I know little about the humanities program at Davidson, I’ve found that there are two course sequences offered, The Western Tradition, and Cultures and Civilizations. These courses “encourage and reward clear thinking, speaking and writing.” Perhaps they could also benefit from computer science and data analysis skills that will be important for future social science discoveries.
From our conversations with Micki Kaufman, we learned she took a very non-traditional route to gain the skills see needed to become a digital humanist. Many of the skills she acquired over time through practice and experience with computer programs came not from her History studies at Columbia, but from the necessity to learn these skills so she could pursue her interests. The changing experiences of humanities with the advance of Big Data may require a rethinking of how students interested in these fields are educated.
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Good point about Micki Kaufman. My sense is that humanities people who also know how to work with data will have an advantage over other people.