oa Big data, grand challenges: On digitization and humanities researchThis article is an original translation of José van Dijck’s Ketelaarlezing: ‘Big Data, Grand Challenges. Over digitalisering en het geesteswetenschappelijk onderzoek’, organized by the Nationaal Archief and the Koninklijke Vereniging van Archivarissen in Nederland at December 10, 2014. www.kvan.nl/files/Ketelaarlezing/Ketelaar12_2014-DEF.pdf.

Summary

Due to the digitization of sources, humanities scholars have to develop new research questions and methodologies. This article theorizes the ‘digital turn’ by looking at three challenges: the necessity of combining qualitative and quantitative methods; the dilemma of multidisciplinary cooperation; and the ideological question of why and how the humanities should be concerned with a new digital materiality. We need the expertise of humanities scholars – their critical insights, analytical acuity, and knowledge of ambiguity and diversity – to make sense of a digital culture that permeates and directs our daily life.