Department of Fine Arts

Digital Humanities? Exploring Technology’s Roles in Studying the Past

Dr. Peter J. Cobb
Faculties of Education and Arts, HKU

Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 5-6 pm
Run Run Shaw Tower 4.34, Centennial Campus

A recent trend finds humanities programs explicitly promoting engagement with emergent digital technologies. Yet definitions of the term ‘Digital Humanities’ and agreement on the motivations for its use remain very much open to discussion. This talk explores the concept through examples from the study of the human past, particularly within archaeological research on material culture. A reflection on topics ranging from learning and public outreach to the research data lifecycle aims to promote dialogue on the roles of the digital in the humanities.

Peter J. Cobb is an Assistant Professor in the Faculties of Education and Arts. He is the director of the Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project (APSAP), which conducts archaeological survey and excavation in Armenia. He also engages in fieldwork in Turkey and Laos. Peter is a specialist in archaeological ceramics, investigating the social contexts of pottery production and use. His research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages (ca 2000-200 BCE) of the ancient Near Eastern and Classical worlds. He received his PhD in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also served as a lecturer in the Department of Classical Studies and the Penn Museum’s archaeological sciences division for two years before joining HKU in January 2019. At Penn, he was a Mellon Fellow in the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.