The dual impact of digital humanities: evaluating the role of DH approaches in historical and cultural resource development

Abstract

Purpose. Digital humanities (DH) approaches have irreversibly impacted historical and cultural resource development. This study critically examines the dual impact of DH approaches to highlight their contributions and limitations in resource preservation and enhancement.

Method. Based on the input-process-output (IPO) model in system theory, we proposed the source-transformation-result (STR) framework to guide our content analysis of 34 selected projects awarded and nominated for the digital humanities awards (2019-2023).

Analysis. Our content analysis reveals a paradigm shift in three critical areas: (1) source: transition from isolated individual work to integrated corpora from multiple works; (2) transformation: evolve from manual interpretative close reading to computational distant reading; (3) result: advance from primary forms to interactive visual representations.

Findings. The findings indicate that DH approaches facilitate the regeneration of new knowledge, provide structured insights into extensive datasets, and enhance user engagement. Still, DH approaches also pose risks, such as the erasure of unique details and contextual richness, reduced interpretative depth, and the oversimplification of complex data.

Value. This study underscores the necessity for a balanced approach to DH methodologies to optimize their benefits while mitigating inherent drawbacks.