Welcome

Welcome to Critically Evaluating DH Projects and Tools. This site is the class project of Critical Pedagogy and Digital Praxis in the Humanities from DHSI 2023. Participants in that seminar created the material on this site to help others think through considerations for adopting tools and starting projects in the digital humanities. This learn-as-we-build project is by no means authoritative or complete, but it does showcase the kinds of thinking that lead to informed decision-making regarding DH resources. The project iterates on the Critically Evaluating Digital Tools activity originated by Jesse Stommel. This site expands on Stommel’s guide, expanding the scope of inquiry and presenting questions appropriate to ask before embarking on a full DH project.

In this self-directed resource, you can explore a collection of critical questions designed to help you investigate and conceptualize projects and tools used in the digital humanities. The pages listed below can help guide your assessment of DH projects, and the themes offer collections of examples, from individual tools to specific critical questions for further consideration.

Each of the Deep Dives on this site offers a guiding question, a discussion of that question’s significance and implications, and examples of how the question can lead to a more-complete conceptualization of how a digital tool or project engages with people—both those who use the system and those who are represented within it.

By offering these questions, we hope to generate productive discourse about the issues that all too often go overlooked when designing or implementing digital projects.