Making he Digi al Humani ies Mo e Di e se
and Inclusi e
Sa ah Lang*
DH Ros ock Ring-VO
*Max Planck Ins i u e o he His o y o Science (Be lin)
1/17
Cu en da k sides o DH and how o make DH mo e di e se
1. ‘da k side o DH’ discou se ca. 10 yea s ago
2. wha a e cu en da k sides o DH?
2/17
Upcoming Z dG Wo king Pape (S. Lang & E. Suá ez C onaue
1. Da a Feminism isn’ jus o women
2. Da a Feminism as his o ical sou ce c i icism
3. DH wo k is mo e poli ical han i may seem
3/17
Da a Feminism
1. P inciple – Examine Powe (Mach s uk u en un e suchen)
2. P inciple – Challenge Powe (Mach s uk u en he aus o de n)
3. P inciple – Ele a e emo ion and embodimen (Beach en on
Ge ühlen und Ausd ucks o men)
4. P inciple – Re hink bina ies and hie a chies (Bina i ä en und
Hie a chien übe denken)
5. P inciple – Emb ace plu alism (Di e si ä ö de n)
6. P inciple – Conside con ex (Den Kon ex beach en)
7. P inciple – Make labo isible (Die A bei sich ba machen)
P inciples o Da a Feminism acco ding o D’Ignazio & Klein (d .
Übe se zungen nach Juen 2021).
4/17
Cu en ‘Da k Sides o DH’ (Chun e al. 2016; Smi hies 2022)
The E hical Gap in Digi al Humani ies
• DH lacks e hics (Be y 2022)
• ML lacks accoun abili y (Raji e al. 2020)
• Algo i hm audi ing and da ase p obing add ess hese conce ns, as seen in
da ase e isions (e.g., ImageNe cleanup, c . Yang e al. 2020; C aw o d 2021)
Bias and Gaps in His o ical Da ase s
• Colonial and s uc u al bias demand mi iga ion s a egies
• Con ex ualising gaps imp o es AI explainabili y
• T anspa ency aids di e si y, equi y, and igou by a leas being able o s a e
which pe spec i es a e missing (and begin o ill gaps).
•Da a Feminism, C i ical DH, c i ical da a s udies, and c i ical code s udies
p o ide amewo ks o in e oga ing da a.
5/17
Valo izing da a wo k i
FAIR and CARE P inciples
• Widely ecognized in digi al humani ies (Egan and Mu phy 2022)
•FAIR: Findable, Accessible, In e ope able, Reusable.
•CARE: Collec i e bene i , Au ho i y o con ol, Responsibili y,
E hics (Global Indigenous Da a Alliance 2021).
FAIR Da a is No Enough
• Needed o explainabili y, eplicabili y, and c i ical engagemen .
• Issues like da a gaps, c i ical DH, and da a/code s udies equi e
iche me ada a.
• Cu en p ojec desc ip ions o en lack he dep h needed o
ue, p ac ical da ase eusabili y.
6/17
Documen a ion as Ac i is P ac ice
Why Documen ?
• Tackles colonial biases, gaps (e.g., gende )
• Exposes digi isa ion poli ics (Zaagsma 2023)
• Suppo s decolonisa ion by making s uc u al bias isible
Suppo Needed
• Acknowledge documen a ion as esea ch
• P o ide unding, pla o ms, and incen i es o p obing &
documen a ion
7/17
Documen ing da ase s
Da ashee s o Da ase s
Geb u, Mo gens e n, Vecchione,
Wo man Vaughan, e al. 2018 /
Geb u, Mo gens e n, Vecchione,
Vaughan, e al. 2021
Model Ca ds o Models
Mi chell e al. 2019
Da ashee s o Digi al Cul u al
He i age Da ase s
Alkemade e al. 2023
Da a-En elopes o Cul u al
He i age: Going beyond
Da ashee s
Lu h a and Eske ich 2024
Plus da a pape o ma s, such as:
•Re iews in DH,
•Zei sch i ü digi ale Geis eswissenscha en (Z dG),
•Jou nal o Open Humani ies Da a (JOHD)
8/17
Analyzing His o ical Biases wi h Da ashee s
Da ashee s as a Tool o C i ical Inqui y
• Who is ep esen ed in he da ase ? Whose oices a e missing?
• Wha biases eme ge om he collec ion p ocess?
• How can anspa ency imp o e da ase eusabili y?
Applying Da a Feminism
• Recognizing sys emic inequali ies in da ase s.
• Unde s anding he limi a ions o his o ical sou ces.
• Making in o med decisions on da ase in e p e a ion and usage.
9/17
Re e ences i
[13] Inioluwa Debo ah Raji e al. “Closing he AI Accoun abili y Gap:
De ining an End- o-End F amewo k o In e nal Algo i hmic
Audi ing”. In: Con e ence on Fai ness, Accoun abili y, and
T anspa ency (Fa * ’20). New Yo k, NY, USA: ACM, 2020, p. 12. DOI:
10.1145/3351095.3372873.
[14] Donna Riley. “Rigo /Us: Building Bounda ies and Disciplining
Di e si y wi h S anda ds o Me i ”. In: Enginee ing S udies 9.3
(2017), pp. 249–265. DOI: 10.1080/19378629.2017.1408631. URL:
h ps://doi.o g/10.1080/19378629.2017.1408631.
[15] Shawna Ross and And ew Pilsch. “Labo , Aliena ion, and he
Digi al Humani ies”. In: The Bloomsbu y Handbook o he Digi al
Humani ies. Ed. by James O’Sulli an. Fi s . Bloomsbu y Handbooks.
London: Bloomsbu y Academic, 2022, pp. 335–346. DOI:
10.5040/9781350232143.ch-32.
[16] James Smi hies. “The Da k Side o DH”. In: The Bloomsbu y
Handbook o he Digi al Humani ies. Ed. by James O’Sulli an.
Bloomsbu y Handbooks. Accessed June 12, 2025. London: Bloomsbu y
Academic, 2022, pp. 111–122. DOI: 10.5040/9781350232143.ch-11.
URL: h ps://dx.doi.o g/10.5040/9781350232143.ch-11.
16/17
Re e ences
[17] Kaiyu Yang e al. “Towa ds Fai e Da ase s: Fil e ing and
Balancing he Dis ibu ion o he People Sub ee in he
Imagene Hie a chy”. In: P oceedings o he 2020 Con e ence on
Fai ness, Accoun abili y, and T anspa ency. 2020, pp. 547–558.
[18] Ge ben Zaagsma. “Digi al His o y and he Poli ics o
Digi iza ion”. In: Digi al Schola ship in he Humani ies 38.2 (2023),
pp. 830–851. DOI: 10.1093/llc/ qac050.
17/17
