Facets of Friction: Investigating epistemological friction between computing and the humanities to support Digital Humanities computing education

Learning computing can often be challenging to Digital Humanities (DH) students because its knowledge-production practices and values do not necessarily align with those of humanistic inquiry. Further, the breadth of the technologies used in the field can make it difficult to identify which computational ideas and skills are most essential to teach in DH. This paper argues that, in order to teach students to enact a paradigm of 'humanistic computing' which is reflective of humanistic interests and ways of knowing, it is necessary to centre the epistemological friction that exists between computing and the humanities. It proposes a four-faceted framework to aid in the identification and exploration of that friction, with the intention that it be used by DH educators to structure their computing curriculum – regardless of the technologies or level of abstraction it engages with – and by students or even practitioners to scaffold a critical approach to computational DH work.