Digital Humanities (DH) is an interdisciplinary field that combines technological tools with traditional methods and approaches from the humanities. The central goal of DH is the analysis, interpretation, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge related to the social sciences and disciplines such as literature, linguistics, philosophy, and art, using technologies such as artificial intelligence, data mining, network analysis, data visualization, interactive databases, and more. This approach is transforming the way we research and teach within the humanities. In addition to opening up new lines of inquiry, it allows scholars to explore questions that were previously inaccessible or difficult to investigate using traditional tools.
The academic community considers Roberto Busa to be the founder of DH. In the 1940s, this Italian Jesuit used computational techniques to lemmatize the works of Thomas Aquinas. His work later led to the well-known Corpus Thomisticum. Since then, linguistic corpus analysis has remained a key area within the field of Digital Humanities.
In recent years, DH has gained significant relevance worldwide for several reasons. Among those, digital technologies that provide new methods of research and analysis allowing scholars to conduct large-scale analysis of texts, images, and historical data. For example, social network analysis in historical contexts or processing large literary corpora enables discoveries that would be impossible with manual methods. Also, the access to and preservation of cultural heritage. The digitization of historical archives and museum collections, along with digital preservation tools, ensures access to fragile or dispersed materials. This has transformed research in fields such as art history, archaeology, and literary studies by facilitating both access to and conservation of primary sources. Lastly, the democratization of knowledge. Digital Humanities not only serve the academic community but also expand public access to knowledge. Digital tools such as open learning platforms and digital libraries promote free access to academic materials and historical resources.
