One of the most prominent aspects of Digital Humanities is its connectedness and fluidity in multiple social science and humanities-based disciplines. The fusion of digital tools and humanities research optimizes the approach and availability of graduate and scholarly-level projects for the public. It expands the accessibility of knowledge by being available as an open resource in a digital space. Many digital humanities projects invite collaboration which further the conversations that often related to projects connected to activism, awareness, decolonization, and so on.
One such example of a digital humanities project is the Colored Conventions Project (CCP). This project is based on the history of colored conventions that occurred throughout the early to mid 1800s as political organizations that strategized for racial justice. The project acts as not only an archive of digital records but provides exhibits and teaching materials to learn about this history, as well as collaborative projects with artists and other educational institutions to further their outreach of educating the masses of the underrepresented history.
Based on the readings, digital humanists often have conflicting theories and understandings of what it means to be a digital humanist. In “The Digital Humanities Moment by Matthew K Gold, Gold quotes Stephan Ramsay who posits that digital humanists must know how to code and that “if you are not making anything, you are not… a digital humanist.” Gold argues that other digital humanists disagree in that one doesn’t need to build the tools but utilize the tools to share humanities research on a digital plane. CCP is an example of a digital humanities sites that takes advantage of those tools, such as Omeka, Piktochart and Google Maps.
The CCP offers a site for educators by providing resources for professors and exhibits they can share with their class that are created using the previously stated digital tools. What is unique about this project is how they not only tell this history, but also strongly use the movement’s social justice beliefs within their team and formation of the CCP. Not only are they expanding the American history dialogue of underrepresented populations, but being a source of predominantly Black woman who have for so long not had the access to a proliferate organization focused on advocacy for Black lives.
Again, digital humanists can argue over whether the CCP is a digital humanities project on the notion that the aim of this is heavily geared towards educators. Some digital humanists as Gold pointed out, expect accessibility to be public facing. Due to the specificity of the topic of CCP, this site would not be stumbled upon by the average public-facing person, but is specifically designed to be provided to educational professors and academics. It also comes across as a history or virtual museum, which some digital humanists might point out that it is too focused or not welcoming of utilizing various fields. This come from the Big Tent theory, where DH should have non-central relations, whereas I feel CCP starts with a central field and has been influenced by digital tools that portray digital humanities. What this does offer to the evolution of digital humanities is the fight against the diversity issues that were once “ills” amongst DH, by supporting Black voices by Black voices.
