Page 144 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

CAI Yingchun / Digital humanities evaluation: discipline, professionalism and technicality 143

and enriching infrastructure construction. This stage is a dynamic process that constantly updated
and supplemented basic data with the development of literature and information in different fields.
(2) Intermediate stage: using basic data and information technology to automate data processing,
or conduct in-depth data analysis and intelligent computing. Data visualization and knowledge
map are the main methods used in this stage. The analysis results of this stage may complement or
support traditional humanities research. This stage is based on the humanities data constructed in
the earlier stage and lays the foundation for more advanced humanities research, which is the only
way to move towards the advanced stage. This is the stage where most current digital humanities
projects and research are located in.
(3) Advanced stage: humanities scholars participate deeply in the process of data analysis or
intelligent computing, utilizing the results of analysis and calculation to produce innovative results.
The integration of digital humanities into research in the field of humanities and social sciences can
help humanities scholars achieve breakthroughs that traditional methods cannot achieve, promote
academic innovation, ideological innovation, and knowledge innovation in the field of humanities
and social sciences, and make up for the shortcomings of traditional humanities research. This
should be the high-level goal of digital humanities development. Moreover, with the deepening
of the digital transformation of the whole society, the digital transformation of the humanities
research paradigm will become the norm, and “digital academics” will become the direction of
future development.
The above three stages are jointly completed by humanities scholars, professionals of the
library, information and archives field, and professionals of technical research, development and
application. The collection, organization, and digitization of professional literature in the field of
library, information and archives together with the establishment of humanities data platforms
and other infrastructure by technical professionals, are the basis of digital humanities projects
and the prerequisite for the continued progress of projects. In China, professionals of the library,
information and archives field play the leading role. They collaborate with humanities scholars
to conduct data analysis and calculation by use of basic humanities data and assist research in the
field of humanities, which gradually attracts the attention of more humanities scholars. Humanities
scholars have gradually realized the role and impact of “digital” on humanities research, and
deeply involved in it. They are also producing academic results recognized in the humanities field,
which is the key to evaluating digital humanities projects. The division of stages and understanding
of digital humanities projects or results is the prerequisite and foundation for scientific evaluation.

2 The three dimensions of digital humanities evaluation: discipline,
professionalism, and technicality

Since its inception, digital humanities has received widespread attention from the industry
and academia, and there have also been different voices from different fields. There are active