I have come across two amazing examples of digital humanities in which traditional content, in particular Hamlet and the Canterbury Tales -can’t get more traditional than that- is shared via fundamentally new interfaces. The way this content is styled allows for the viewer and reader to interact with these classics in almost startling new ways.
The Canterbury Tales and tech? Chaucer’s 14th Century classic ? Yep, there’s now an app for it. And it’s amazing. Plus, it is a great example of how embedding print within multimedia can enhance understanding.
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VR is another medium that shows great promise. Thus far, it seems that the military and gaming industry are using it more than anyone else. Artists, scholars and writers really haven’t figured out what to do with it yet.
Last year pre-pandemic, I looked at a lot of VR so I could filter the junk and share the good stuff with all of you. To be honest, much of it wasn’t very good. So, I was thrilled to come across this 360 performance of Hamlet. When you return to campus next week, grab a Google Cardboard headset or get an even better VR headset from the tech suites to watch it. You haven’t really seen anything like this before- At least I hadn’t.
(Watch the video below on an iPad or smartphone to get some sense of the 360. This won’t work on a regular Chromebook or laptop).
Here’s what the NYT had to say about it.
Both of these are stunning. Check them out! I urge us to think more about teaching kids how to begin to do things like this. It will be sloppy and messy. For instance, how do we grade such work? It takes us far out of our comfort level and areas of expertise.
But wouldn’t it be fun?