• A Braided Narrative for Digital History

    Author(s):
    Lincoln Mullen (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Digital Humanists
    Subject(s):
    Academic writing, Interdisciplinary approach in education
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Digital history, Writing in the disciplines
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6VC3T
    Abstract:
    Computational digital historians have tended to elucidate their methods rather than advance interpretative arguments. While this attention to method is salutary, given the absence of methodological discussion in history generally, it is not clear how computational historians can advance historical arguments while also explaining methods. Drawing on a classic essay by David Hackett Fischer, "The Braided Narrative: Substance and Form in Social History," this essay proposes a model for argumentative writing in computational digital history. Rather than using models such a methods section drawn from other disciplines, a braided narrative weaves together methodology and interpretation. The two strands strengthen one another when digital historians can elucidate how their methods and interpretations are mutually constitutive.
    Notes:
    This chapter will be published in Debates in the Digital Humanities 2019, edited by Lauren F. Klein and Matthew K. Gold (University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2019), http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/. This preprint has been posted with the permission of the editors. Please cite the forthcoming version.
    Metadata:
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    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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