Screening Methodology: Visualization in Digital Humanities

The paper problematizes methodological status of visualization in digital humanities . Digital humanities offer a critical comprehension of the social, epistemological and methodological effects of using computer in contemporary humanities. The process of knowledge production is considered here in the light of computation. It turns out to be shared between human thinking, technologies, digital networks, working of algorithms and program code. In such conditions visualization becomes a point of junction between a human and a computer. The production of meanings and interpretations here becomes especially intensive. At the same time orders and strategies of visualization used in various disciplines of humanities are often not comprehended critically by the scholars. In such situation posing methodological questions to digital visualization from the point of constructionism is especially timely. The starting point for this paper was the challenges we faced in the Obninsk digital project. In order to develop visual analytical tools we conducted our research on the existing visualization experience in different digital humanities projects. With the help of comparative analysis we identified and described the main problems and effects of digital visualization use. Basing on the results of the analysis, we will show how turning to the idea of data visualization reduc es epistemological potential of digital visualization in the humanities, and how new visual technologies change practices of work with visualizations. We will show also how using multidisciplinary approach, the order and methodology of kno wledge production can be changed through visualization technologies.