The Phenomenology of Technical Knowledge: Research Software Engineering, Product Development, and Digital Humanities

Presented at BRIDGES 2022
Symposium: Towards inclusive pedagogical foundations of information communication technology curriculum in digital humanities
Chairs: Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Barbara McGillivray
Friday, 15th September 2022, 10:30am - 1:30pm

Digital Humanities (DH) pedagogy often focuses on introductory programming and data science at the expense of product management (incorporating product design, development, and maintenance). This is unfortunate, because product management offers a framework for introductory programming and Research Software Engineering (RSE) training, and encourages students to consider cultural and ethical issues conducive to broadening participation and inclusivity. By incorporating RSE product management methods (which naturally attend to and promote inclusivity due to their evolution within the education sector), into DH pedagogy, we can square the circle between commercial, government, and educational values and priorities. Product management is a growth area that will have a significant impact on the future digital world. The values and principles used to design and develop products, and the diversity of people leading product design initiatives, will have a direct bearing on the future shape of digital economy, culture, politics, and society. When delivered in parallel to programming and coding courses, DH product management has the potential to produce graduates with an understanding of core analytical and engineering skills such as design thinking, requirements and stakeholder analysis, risk management, and communications in addition to core coding and data science principles. More fundamentally, it provides opportunity for students to design and implement applied projects and experience the challenges of infrastructure provisioning and sustainability on their own terms. This is vastly different, but complementary, to the experience of programming and less daunting to students wary of technical activities. Incorporation of product management into DH pedagogy is not without its challenges, however, and care should be taken in course design and delivery. It assumes the need for reflection on the phenomenology of technical knowledge - what is a digital ‘product’, what are our values and goals, who are we designing for, who is included or excluded by our design principles? We could be so bold as to suggest that product management is the natural next phase in the elaboration of an inclusive and purposive agenda for DH as a discipline but, if our phenomenology of design and use is off key, our resulting pedagogies (and products) will be too.