Sarah Lang (she/they)

Is computational history a thing now? 🤔

What does the term (and practice) even mean? 🤷‍♀️
I made an attempt…

But please do discuss with me and share your definitions!

https://latex-ninja.com/2026/06/21/opportunities-and-limitations-of-computational-history/
#dh #digitalhistory #digitalhumanities

Opportunities and Limitations of Computational History

By now, we have all heard of computational humanities. We knew of digital humanities and digital history, but now, all of a sudden, it seems that computational history is a thing. I will not get in…

LaTeX Ninja'ing and the Digital Humanities
Jun 22 at 6:13amWeb
Show threadMia1d ago
@sarahalang my spicy take is that the 'computational' split from DH was partly people impatient with or dismissive of feminist, anti-racism etc work in DH, and partly about positioning their work closer to higher status non-DH
Show threadMia1d ago
@sarahalang but it's a great piece - you nailed some of the unconscious (?) expectations people have of digital / computationally-aided history
Show threadSarah Lang (she/they)1d ago
@mia I’m glad you think so - but hope there will be more discourse to figure the issue of the split out 🫠 #dh
Show threadMia1d ago
@sarahalang I am normally a complete nerd about the right word for the right thing, but I'm also impatient with labels that get in the way (like infinitely split genres of music) so I'm happy to lump them together. Digital Humanities already contained so many multitudes
Show threadChristof S. 🇪🇺1d ago

@mia @sarahalang

I agree that there is a lot of "positioning" relative to other domains and approaches going on here. But also real, increasing differentiation within the Digital Humanities.

In the case of "Computational Literary Studies", the label was intended as much as an analogy to "Computational Linguistics" (very established and successful) as it is meant as a subfield within "Computational Humanities" (which I see less as an alternative to DH than a facet within DH).

Show threadJames Baillie23h ago
@christof @mia @sarahalang Graz is currently hiring for a computational humanities post. I'm probably not going to apply in part because I don't *think* I do computational humanities, but it does feel a very fuzzy category - like Mia, I worry that the idea of a computational humanities ends up as a way to forefront the technical aspects and throwing shiny new tool at humanities problems, at the expense of critical work on code and how tech interfaces with humanities conceptually.
Show threadChristof S. 🇪🇺22h ago

@JubalBarca @mia @sarahalang

My advice would be: don't let yourself be stopped by such a label. You'll find out what they are looking for when you talk to the people hiring...

Show thread@frueheneuzeit22h ago
@christof maybe the second iteration of the debate about whether people in DH must be able to code. What goes around comes around. @JubalBarca @mia @sarahalang
Show threadJames Baillie21h ago
@stefan_hessbrueggen @christof @mia @sarahalang I can code alright for someone untrained, I just very much focus is on code-simple tools and small data... I'd rather build simple things that last and spend the time working on rigour in the data modelling and trying to solve the human problems. Whereas I feel like "computational" usually implies a lean to something more heavy duty & novel on the computing front than "look, janky looking PHP webpages that will likely still run okay in 2040".
Show threadSarah Lang (she/they)1d ago
@mia yeah that’s what I have also read in much of the feminist literature but that and other discourses don’t really communicate or agree I think 🤔 #dh
Show threadMia1d ago
@sarahalang it's not something that CH folk would say out loud (well, actually, some might), or even realise themselves
Show threadJoe Roe20h ago

@sarahalang Thanks for this! If you CTRL+H 'history' with 'archaeology', it reads almost as well, though we have a slightly longer tradition (starting in the 50s) and a more distant relationship to text-centric Digital Humanities.

Will be a very handy citation when trying to communicate that no, I'm not talking about 'big data'!

#DigitalArchaeology #ComputationalArchaeology