Digital Humanities, Identity and a Made-in-Taiwan Laptop Computer

The use of computers, digital devices, and the Internet today has created an unprecedented space for communication and information sharing, which influences every aspect of material, social, cultural and political life. This paper discusses the significance placed on digital agility or internet readiness by various organizations in the world, and especially by the government of Taiwan.It reexamines the term "digital humanities" by reviewing introductions by prestigious universities’ digital humanities programs. It also discusses the term "digital" and "humanities" by looking into definitions in different dictionaries. It argues that digital as a language, and humanities, also as a language, should have bilateral communication. The predominant notion of digital humanities as using computer for the study of humanities, and especially involving digital texts, has its historical background as Index Thomisticus is considered to be the beginning of digital humanities. Nevertheless, as a discursive space, digital humanities should also entail the reciprocal communication of ideas from the humanities to digital technology.A personal anecdote involving a small made-in-Taiwan computer is given to show that the understanding of how digital technology is linked to our lives and our identities can be made with an imaginative metaphysical conceit. The paper argues that digital humanities can also be conceptualized as humanities digital because digital technology involves language and culture, which are originally the subjects for study in the humanities.