POST: Embracing ephemerality in the digital humanities

In a post on his blog, “Embracing ephemerality in the digital humanities,” Andy Schocket (Bowling Green State University) writes about the long-term sustainability of digital humanities projects and how the ephemeral nature of some of this scholarship can impact DH work.

One thing that not many digital humanists write about directly, but has become increasingly clear to practitioners in the field, is how ephemeral so much of our thought and work is, especially in comparison to traditional humanities products likes articles and books. What if, while still trying to make our projects more sustainable, we were also to accept ephemerality as central to digital humanities practice?

Shocket closes his post with three suggestions for embracing ephemerality:

1. “Include a ‘snapshot’ plan as a requirement for grants.”
2. “Embrace intentional project sunsets”
3. “Live in the moment.”