The Development of Digital Humanities in Poland as an Opportunity for New Research Perspectives

Abstract

Digital humanities is a new discipline, the emergence of which was determined by several important factors. One of them was the development of computer technologies and the possibilities offered by the automation of tasks performed by computers. The second was the progressive dataization of reality, that is, registering a large amount of information in a digital form. Also, cultural heritage has been digitalized to a great extent and can be processed by advanced algorithms. The development of digital humanities was also influenced by the very nature of contemporary culture, in which the perception of reality takes place mainly through the absorption of images. Digital humanities allows for the transmission of information in a visualized form, and its projects are of interactive and multimedia nature, which is in line with the prevailing cultural trends. The article discusses the processes which influenced the development of digital humanities in Poland over the last thirty years. An attempt is also made to answer the question of the position Poland currently holds in the international arena in the context of the dynamic development of this modern branch of the humanities in the world.