Events

Organised by the Department of English Language and Literature with support from the Science, Technology and Society Research Cluster of Asia Research Institute, and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Miguel Escobar Varela, Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Over the past two decades, the digital revolution has had a major impact on research, creativity, and knowledge in all disciplines from the humanities to the sciences. Established ways of working and traditional disciplinary divisions have needed to be rethought to support new digital methods and to enable the shift from individual to collective and collaborative authorship and toward multimodal and multimedia textuality. In the humanities, such developments have helped to alter the dominant research culture over a relatively short period. New communities of researchers and practitioners are emerging, made up not only of experts in these disciplines but also computer scientists, communication professionals, business experts and policymakers, a mix that was uncommon even a decade ago.

With increased collaboration, novel research topics are being formulated, and a new language, used by a new generation of scholars, is evolving. The increasing capacity for interoperability and aggregation is supporting this trend, as is the ever expanding toolkit of digital devices, programs, and applications that make it easy for people to converse and share ideas and information regardless of physical location or, notably, status or wealth. Yet, there are also challenges to address. The same technologies that are supporting collaborative data-driven research practices are being deeply integrated into everyday communications, leading to serious concerns over privacy and digital identity. This paper reflects on these broad shifts in research and in society, in different settings – local, national and international – with a focus on the Australasian context.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Paul Arthur is Chair in Digital Humanities and Social Sciences at Edith Cowan University, Australia. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he speaks and publishes widely on the global impacts of technology in culture and society. He has held visiting positions in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America and is Co-Chair of centerNet, the worldwide network of digital research centres. Paul Arthur has served on the executive boards and councils of the global Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO); centerNet – the worldwide network of digital research centres (Co-Chair, 2015-2017); the International Auto/Biography Association (IABA); the Australasian Association for Digital Humanities (founding President, 2011–2015); the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres (ACHRC); and the NeCTAR (National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources) Super Science initiative of the Australian Government.

REGISTRATION

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