In our information age, deciding what sources and voices to trust is a pressing matter. There seems to be a surplus of both trust and distrust in and on platforms, both of which often amount to having your mindset remain the same. Can we move beyond this dichotomy toward new forms of intersubjective dialogue? This book revaluates the hermeneutic tradition for the digital context. Today, hermeneutics has migrated from a range of academic approaches into a plethora of practices in digital culture at large. We propose a ‘scaled reading’ of such practices: a reconfiguration of the hermeneutic circle, using different tools and techniques of reading. We demonstrate our digital-hermeneutic approach through case studies including toxic depression memes, the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial, and r/changemyview. We cover three dimensions of hermeneutic practice: suspicion, trust, and dialogue. This book is essential reading for (under)graduate students in digital humanities and literary studies.
In a modern and fast-evolving technological world, precarity has become more notable. Digital transformation has ushered in an era of ‘datafication’, profoundly impacting societies and individuals in such a way that there are emerging complexities and potential vulnerabilities in our interactions with technology. Thus, it is crucial that the Humanities subjects focus on human beings, their culture and values.
This book focuses on the challenges and opportunities experienced in the Digital Humanities. The main thesis of this book is on Digital Humanities in precarious times, while also reporting on topics and research methods in a variety of Humanities subject fields. Digital Humanities is a dynamic multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field that encompasses a wide array of disciplines, methodologies and approaches. It represents a fusion of computational methods with humanistic inquiry, leveraging technology to explore and analyse various facets of human culture, society and history.
At its core, this field’s nature allows scholars from diverse backgrounds – including literature, history, linguistics, cultural studies and more – to collaborate and engage in innovative research projects that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. All the chapters in this book represent a scholarly discourse and provide original research, they are based on different methodologies ranging from an interdisciplinary approach, a philosophical desk study, case studies, qualitative studies and a semi-structured survey.
The Hybrid Face: Paradoxes of the Visage in the Digital Era
This original and interdisciplinary volume explores the contemporary semiotic dimensions of the face from both scientific and sociocultural perspectives, putting forward several traditions, aspects, and signs of the human utopia of creating a hybrid face.
The book semiotically delves into the multifaceted realm of the digital face, exploring its biological and social functions, the concept of masks, the impact of COVID-19, AI systems, digital portraiture, symbolic faces in films, viral communication, alien depictions, personhood in video games, online intimacy, and digital memorials. The human face is increasingly living a life that is not only that of the biological body but also that of its digital avatar, spread through a myriad of new channels and transformable through filters, post-productions, digital cosmetics, all the way to the creation of deepfakes. The digital face expresses new and largely unknown meanings, which this book explores and analyzes through an interdisciplinary but systematic approach.
The volume will interest researchers, scholars, and advanced students who are interested in digital humanities, communication studies, semiotics, visual studies, visual anthropology, cultural studies, and, broadly speaking, innovative approaches about the meaning of the face in present-day digital societies.
