At the start of class:

DH is augmented reality that includes immediate access to information whether on the internet or not.

Updated:

The idea of children using devices for entertainment or learning without knowing “how it works” came up in class last night and I thought  accessibility is complimented by eversion.   Technology marches forward, and so long as there is curiosity, there will be discussion, research, art, growth.  The field provides an interesting and exciting framework for advancing learning, and creating.

Start of class:

How new developments in technology and connectivity influence the study of humanities and conversely, how the humanities can influence the direction and development of technology.

I tend to want to stay with my original answer.  I still have contention with attempting to define a field of study with what it does rather than what it is.  The terms digital and humanities are both extremely broad terms so to define them requires a broad definition.

That being said, the difficulty within the digital humanities is how to pinpoint just what the definition includes.  For example, humanities is defined broadly as “the condition or quality of being human.”  Academically, we try to study this from different disciplines with different techniques making defining “who’s in and who’s out” difficult.  I feel the same problem arises within digital humanities.

However, just because I feel the definition must be broad and vague, I don’t feel it needs to be restricting.  I think the debate is important in shaping the field and what it includes.  I think it should be inclusive just as the humanities is.  It is purposely broad and vague to encompass a lot of exciting possibilities.

At the beginning of class: DH is research, study and teaching at the intersection of digital technology and the humanities.

At the end of class: Is DH a transitory “big tent”? To a humanist, any digital technology is potentially a tool, a text or a metaphor.

I have many questions and I am not sure of the answers (or even if there are any real answers).  What are the parameters of DH? Is it one field or many? Is it the eversion of humanities computing? is it a new set of tools to change academia as a whole? Can an academic program with established departments, journals, and grants be considered a transitory phase? I like the hands-on praxis and the quantitative side.