Digital humanities: Mission accomplished? An analysis of scholarly literature

Abstract

The field of digital humanities (DH) has evolved throughout the parallel evolution of computers, software and networking techniques, as well as the different attitudes of interested scholars. Since the earliest historical phases of this research field, scholars have been debating whether it can be considered as a new academic discipline and whether it is revolutionary in nature. About 20 years ago, the early denotation of ‘humanities computing’ evolved to the present label of DH, and deep changes occurred in digital information technologies, as well as in their humanities applications. Meanwhile, dedicated academic curricula were launched, thus adding an argument in favor of the debated disciplinarity of DH. This paper gives an account of the relevant scholarly debate, distinguishing between the early period and the most recent years; it then tries to frame this process in a model of scientific revolution.