RESOURCE: Digital Cultures, Big Data, and Society

Geoffrey Rockwell (University of Alberta) has shared his conference notes from the Digital Cultures, Big Data, and Society symposium, which took place at the Royal Irish Academy and University College Dublin (February 15-16, 2018).

Rockwell gave a keynote, “Thinking-Through Big Data in the Humanities,” which he summarized in the notes:

• First, I outlined how the humanities have a history of dealing with big data. As we all know, ideas have histories, and we in the humanities know how to learn from the genesis of these ideas.
• Second, I illustrated how we can contribute by learning to read the new genres of documents and tools that characterize big data discourse.
• And lastly, I turned to the ethics of big data research, especially as it concerns us as we are tempted by the treasures at hand.

The conference also featured a keynote from Alison Booth (University of Virginia), “Biographical Networks, Gendered Types, and the Challenge of Mid-Range Reading,” in which she discussed her work with the Collective Biographies of Women project and, as Rockwell notes, “the challenges of the typological gendered history.”