Encounters with the digital world
There are no specific definition for digital humanities, in general it is an academic field concerned with the application of computational tools and methods to traditional humanities disciplines such as literature, history, and philosophy.
Being born in the late 90’s I experienced the evolution of digital humanities during my whole life. The instruments used like computers or portable phones shaped a part of my life. Growing up I think I used digital humanities 40 to 50 percent during the day ; for example, computers to study and do my homeworks, afterwards I play video games or listen to music and finally at the end of the day I watch TV during dinner.
My first encounter with digital devices was through my parents. My dad had a PC and a PlayStation that I enjoyed using for games. Growing up, I frequently used digital devices (PCs, Gameboy, PlayStation, iPod and tablets). At first, I used them for entertainment mostly playing games. And with time and advances in technology, these devices were more present in my daily life for many purposes such as sending emails, researching information, streaming videos and getting in contact with people.
School introduced to me a new door, new ways of using digital devices for researches, streaming videos, reading the news, excel, word and PowerPoint for presentations. Digital devices now play an important role in how I learn and accumulate knowledge.
My first experience joining an online community was through Facebook. I enjoyed joining groups that reflected my interests such as the Manchester United football club fan page where I could interact with people who shared my passion. I also began joining online gaming communities and my friends and I would share our achievements at school, for example, in expanding our “farms “(in Farmville city on FB). As we grew older our gaming interests became more varried and we would discuss games on the computer or on video game consoles, such as Call of Duty or FIFA and many more…
The major game we all played and discussed at school
| Social media | Hours per day |
| 1 | |
| 0.5 | |
| Whats app | 1 |
| 0.8 | |
| Soundcloud | 2 |
I recently created an Instagram account and am following friends and also my favorite DJs, producers and record labels. I joined twitter in 2012, at first I was an active user and I used to tweet a lot, but nowadays, I use twitter as a tool to gather information by following several news outlets.
Facebook used to be my go to platform to socialize with people and I used to rely on its chat feature but I now use it to be aware of events around me.
I love listening to music and Soundcloud is my favorite streaming platform. I stream music when studying, relaxing, playing video games and through Soundcloud, I can find some of my favorite songs that don’t exist on other platforms.
The use of digital humanities helped me a lot for my education, making research and presentation much more easier. Also, making learning and studying more interactive and interesting. Furthermore, digital humanities slietly shaped a part of me with my social skills too. Because when you see all these different platforms created during the years, you feel that you are now more connected with others and you also feel the urge to use these platforms sometimes to talk to someone instead of doing it personally face to face.
For every kids from the 90’s and 20’s, digital humanities is without a doubt part of them in life.
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