https://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/author/pmurrayjohn/Recent content in Pmurrayjohn on Journal of Digital HumanitiesHugoen-USThu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000https://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/conversations/theory-digital-humanities-and-noticing-by-patrick-murray-john/Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000https://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/conversations/theory-digital-humanities-and-noticing-by-patrick-murray-john/<p>When disciplines collide, as they do throughout digital humanities, the various practitioners mutually benefit from the different knowledge and skill sets that others bring to our collaborations. But there is also an inevitable gap between how different individuals working in different areas understand their various tools and techniques, and in how they understand their own thought processes. For THATCamp and digital humanities, that causes two related tensions as programmers and critics move more closely together in their joint work. The first tension is the relationship between “hack” and “yack” in the phrase often heard at THATCamp: “more hack; less yack.” The second is the broader question of the role of theory in digital humanities — its perceived absence among some and what steps can be taken to recognize what others call theory in digital humanities. Those tensions, though, will be easily resolved by addressing the disjunction between what coders know to look for as being important and what critics look for in their work to develop theory. In short, the two groups do not yet know what the other notices (in text or in code) as the first step toward understanding their work.</p>