Established in 2017 by the Taiwanese Association for Digital Humanities, the “Journal of Digital Archives and Digital Humanities” aims to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners in furthering knowledge in the related areas of digital archives and digital humanities. It is the leading journal focusing on publishing peer-reviewed original research concerning research and applications in digital humanities in the Chinese speaking world and also aspires to broaden its international reach.
The past decades have witnessed a growing interest in utilizing information technology to represent and preserve cultural heritage digitally. These efforts not only greatly advanced our expertise in the management of digitalized cultural assets, they also opened up innovative ways for utilizing these digital assets for the advance of education and scholarship.
The newly available digital infrastructure for cultural resources presents a fertile ground for social scientists and humanities researchers to raise and explore questions that would otherwise not be feasible or even conceivable. Using novel analytical tools and methods for the study of humanities has captured the imagination of humanities scholars and computer scientists whose collaborative efforts have resulted in a vibrant scholarly community of digital humanities both internationally and in Taiwan, whose government has actively promoted a wide variety of national initiatives in digital archives since the 90s. Such an interdisciplinary endeavor highlights the vital need for a forum for exchanges of ideas and networking for scholars of diverse intellectual and institutional backgrounds.
Since 2009, the annual “International Conference of Digital Archives and Digital Humanities” held in Taiwan has provided such a venue for scholars who are interested in applying computational means for humanities research and effective pedagogy. Yet as the participation in the field broadens, the need for a more inclusive and permanent outlet for the sharing, presentation and discussion of research is deeply felt by the concerned scholars. The publication of “Journal of Digital Archives and Digital Humanities” by the Taiwanese Association for Digital Humanities aims to address the need to further advance and consolidate the substantial momentum already gained. It is hoped that the cross-fertilization of computing and humanities, previously considered to be at the opposite ends of academic culture, will bring about innovative ways of deepening our understanding of the past, shedding light on the present, and paving the way for the future.