Qualities of a Quality DH project

1. Easy to Navigate

2. Clear and Concise  information

3. aesthetically pleasing

4. Multiple sources are used and they are all cited

5.  If there is a search engine, the results are not too narrow or broad so the person browsing can search for what they are looking for and find many relevant sources

Creating a successful DH project is not simple, but that does not mean it cannot be done. The best DH projects contain information that is easily interpreted and understood. The people looking at the DH project should be able to find trends and correlations in the research if the project is topic modeling, visualizations, etc. If the project is a digital archive, all the information sources should have relevance to one another so readers are able to draw common conclusions from the multiple sources. The information in the DH project should be relevant and useful– scholars should be able to use this information knowing it is accurate to the original source.

And once a DH project is successful, it will allow scholars to ask new questions. Digital mapping can allow a scholar to start wondering why a certain epidemic was concentrated  in a certain place– what during this time and place could’ve been going on to cause this epidemic?  DH projects opens ends for more research– it makes scholars wonder why and how certain research is a certain way. In the same sense, DH projects show trends that might not have been seen before, so scholars can look into these trends more. For instance, if topic modeling reveals a before unseen trend of women in a literary work , scholars can then start looking into the role of women in that literature. Are women prevalent through out? How are they portrayed? DH projects allows for scholars to do research in a different light, it allows them to look more in depth and at their topic and question aspects of the topic they might not have considered if DH projects did not draw attention to them.