Unworkable Hermeneutics

Photo of Binary Code

A Baker-Nord Digital Humanities Event

Digital Humanities scholarship, among other things, is focused on the question of interpretation. Most notable in initiatives such as topic modeling, where algorithms are employed to identify unnoticed patterns in texts or time periods, hermeneutics (the study of interpretation) dominates one facet of Digital Humanities thinking. Yet, hermeneutics is merely an interface for engaging with a text or idea. In this talk, Jeff Rice, Martha B. Reynolds Professor in Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies at the University of Kentucky, asks how an unworkable Digital Humanities interface, such as hermeneutics, prevents certain types of digital work from occurring, particularly that involving pedagogy, MOOCs, and what Marshall McLuhan called “roles.”


About the Speaker

Jeff Rice

Jeff Rice is Martha B. Reynolds Professor in Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies at the University o Kentucky. He is the author of The Rhetoric of Cool: Composition Studies andNew Media, Digital Detroit: Rhetoric and Space in the Age of the Network, and numerous articles and chapters on new media, rhetoric, and pedagogy.


Additional Resources

Professor Rice’s faculty page

Rice’s blog “Yellow Dog”

Rice’s blog “Make Mine Potato”