I was asked by my Harvard colleague from the Department of English, Stephen Osadetz, to participate in his Harvard X course, Digital Humanities in Practice: From Research Questions to Result, available on the EdX platform.
Since our lesson focused on collaboration, we used the interview format to discuss collaborating on digital humanities projects. Here I am speaking with another colleague, Christine Fernsebner Eslao, a metadata specialist from Harvard University Library, on creating teams for digital humanities projects.
Since collaborative work is at the base of our work in the digital humanities, it’s crucial that we reflect on the full range of possible contributions that each team member can make in order to advance the work and create a gratifying working environment for everyone.
Usually, the first thing that we think about when we think about participating in a dh project is the digital part. We think about the technology, but in reality, we need to be thinking about the second part, the humanity. While we may be making bold strides with the technology, we should never lose sight that we are coming at it as human beings.