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7Things to Consider about the

Humanities and Social Media

Some definitions:

Hu•man•i•ties|(h)yoōˈmanitēs|

Academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences.

Source: Wikipedia

Liberal arts |ˈlib(ə)rəl ärts|

Curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities.

The seven classic liberal arts are......grammar, logic and rhetoric (the Trivium)...arithmetic, geometry, music and

astronomy (the Quadrivium)

Source: Wikipedia

Refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communications into an interactive dialogue.

So•cial me•dia |ˈsō sh əl ˈmēdēə|

Source: Wikipedia

1The potential for learning about the

Humanities through Social Media is huge.

Some statistics:

Source: AIJC (2009)

of Filipino schoolchildrenuse the Internet.

74%

Social NetworkingEmail

BloggingOnline

GamingSchoolwork

89% 88%

83% 77% 27%

Source: AIJC (2009)

Use of the Internet by Filipino Students

The Humanities still have some ways to go to harness the potential of social media.

2

More statistics:

0

25.00

50.00

75.00

100.00

73.7079.20

83.7084.0090.00

Academicians’ Use of Social Media for Research (by Discipline)

Environmental Science

Social Science

Math & Computer

Science

Arts & Humanities

Business & Management

Perc

ent

Source: CIBER (2010)

There are already many innovative ways to use digital/social media to study the Humanities.

3

Web 1.0 Data aggregation “Computational Humanities” Humanities 1.0

Web 2.0 Interactivity and user participation

Customization, collaboration, decentering of knowledge and

authority

Humanities 2.0

Source: Davidson (2008)

The Internet and Humanities: Parallel Developments

Some examples:

Digital Humanities

Hastac.org

Google Earth Historical Imagery

Twitter

4The Humanities are meant for “sharing” and are therefore suited to social media.

Why do we use social media?For LikesFor HitsFor CommentsTo RelateTo Go ViralTo ParticipateTo RepresentEtc.

What makes ideas spread?

Exposure.

Attention.

Motivation.

Source: Zarella (2011)

Meme|mēm|

A unit of cultural inheritance.

Source: Zarella (2011)

Fe•cun•di•ty |feˈkəndətē|

Refers to the number of offspring produced in each generation.

Source: Zarella (2011)

Lon•gev•i•ty |lônˈjevətē|

Refers to the lifespan of an individual.

Source: Zarella (2011)

Longevity

Fecu

ndit

yReligion

Retweets

Source: Zarella (2011)

Longevity

Fecu

ndit

yReligion

Retweets

Source: Zarella (2011)

Humanities

5New media pose challenges that the

Humanities have yet to fully consider.

The humanities...have the power to shape human community. Offering a vision of that which is common to mankind, the humanities at their best capture the shared elements of human experience.

“

”Howard Bloch

The Internet as we know it is only in its adolescence!

Privacy

Security

Credibility

Authority

Identity

Originality

The challenge is that new media have the potential to change us (and possibly, the Humanities, too).

6

What we’re experiencing is, in a metaphorical sense, a reversal of the early trajectory of civilization: We are evolving from cultivators of personal knowledge into hunters and gatherers in the electronic data forest.

“

In the process, we seem fated to sacrifice much of what makes our minds so interesting.

“”

Nicholas Carr

A liberal education helps us understand how to put new media to good use.

7

When in doubt about confronting new technologies, remember the words of

Alan Simpson:

If there is some ambiguity about the knowledge an educated man should have, there is none at all about the skills. The first is simply the training of the mind in the capacity to think clearly...

“

The other basic skill is simply the art of self-expression in speech and on paper. A man is uneducated who has not mastered the elements of clean and forcible prose and picked up some relish for style.

“

The standards which mark an educated man can be expressed in terms of three tests.

“

The first is a matter of sophistication... An educated man can be judged by the quality of his prejudices.

“

The second test is a matter of moral values...we do not really believe that a college is doing its job when it is simply multiplying the number of educated scoundrels, hucksters, and triflers.

“

Finally, there is the test imposed by the unique challenge of our own times. We are not unique in suffering from moral confusion – these crises are a familiar story – but we are unique in the tremendous acceleration of the rate of social change...

“

An indispensable mark of the modern educated man is the kind of versatile, flexible mind that can deal with new and explosive conditions.

“”

Alan Simpson

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