“Making is not a rebel movement, scrappy individuals going up against the system. While the shift might be from the corporate to the individual (supported, mind, by a different set of companies selling a different set of things), it mostly re-inscribes familiar values, in slightly different form: that artifacts are important, and people are not.“-Debbie Chachra Why I Am Not A Maker
This article and quote resonates with me for many reasons. The Atlantic piece dives into how it is important to separate the individual from their works not to lessen their accomplishment, but rather to put an emphasis on who they are outside of what they have made. In the high pressure society we live in today, people are often seen for what they have done or lack thereof rather than the other things that make them the person that they are. Even with the exercise that we did in class today where we googled ourselves, it was scary to think of what that google looks like to a potential future employer. Will they look at how you have expressed yourself in your cover letter, or is the main deciding factor of whether you get hired the things that the internet knows that you have created? Chachra also dives into to the historical problematic nature of valuing individuals only for their creations as most of the creations that have retained value were made by males. It is important to be cognizant of that pattern. If we continue down the road of placing high values on creation, we are feeding into this gendered practice and it will be difficult to break free.
Reading the articles for this weeks makes me interested in how we can address these problems that are in the Digital Humanities world. I am excited to explore how we will strike a balance in displaying our creations throughout the course while not falling into the trap that Chachra emphasizes in Why I Am Not A Maker. I look forward to working on technical skills but also intertwining them with important social justice issues, and gaining a deeper understanding of what Digital Humanities is overall.
