"The Gates of Hell: History and Definition of Digital | Humanities | Computing", a DH Month talk

Edward Vanhoutte, Centre for Scholarly Editing and Document Studies, Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature

The origins of the Digital Humanities dating back to the late 1940's are quite well known, or so it seems. In The Gates of Hell, Edward Vanhoutte recounts the story of the use of computational techniques through history and frames its early history within the context of failure from the part of war technology. He will show how the use of the computer for electronic text analysis developed into Humanities Computing and how the schism with Computational Linguistics occurred. He will argue that these historical insights are important for our current thinking about where the Digital Humanities come from, what they are, and where they should head to. Vanhoutte will use Auguste Rodin's sculpture La porte de l'Enfer or The Gates of Hell as a metaphor throughout the lecture.

All welcome, a drinks reception will be held after the talk. Please register as places are limited.

Part of UCL's Digital Humanities Month.